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Ok…this is long and I apologize in advance 🙂
As I was thinking about Dr. Whale, the hospital/asylum, the One flew over the Cuckoo nods, the Frankenstein theory, the clues, and some (mostly) hidden props in Desperate Souls, I noticed something I had not seen before.
From the Storybrooke dating video description of Dr. Whale – he “frames himself as victor in all conflicts”
Could it be that the word frames, is referring to frame story (frame narrative)?
From the wikipedia article:
Frame Story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_story“A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc.) is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it…………Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is another good example of a book with multiple framed narratives. In the book, Robert Walton writes letters to his sister describing the story told to him by Victor Frankenstein; Frankenstein’s story contains the creature’s story; the creature’s story even briefly contains the story of a family he had been living among.”
One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Frankenstein have several things in common. They are both frame stories and they both employ unreliable narrator (something that has been discussed before regarding August W. Booth).
From Wikipedia Unreliable Narrator – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised.[1] The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction.
The nature of the narrator is sometimes immediately clear. For instance, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or the story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to his or her unreliability. A more dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story’s end.
Signals of unreliable narration – (my thoughts on Dr. Whale in bold)
Whichever definition of unreliability one follows, there are a number of signs that constitute or at least hint at a narrator’s unreliability. Nünning has suggested to divide these signals into three broad categories.1. Intratextual signs such as the narrator contradicting himself, having gaps in memory, or lying to other characters Our first introduction to Dr. Whale is his date with Mary Margaret. We are not given a name or a profession. Her date with him is so distasteful due to his ogling Ruby that she pays her own bill and leaves. Our next encounter with him is SURPRISE, he is the doctor who responds to her calls for help regarding David moving his hand. Then we immediately see him lie, calling Regina and telling her the opposite that he told Mary Margaret.
2. Extratextual signs such as contradicting the reader’s general world knowledge or impossibilities (within the parameters of logic) His behavior does not fit our expected norm. In our world we expect that our doctors are not lustful letchs, who ogle women and try to pick up girls on street corners.
3. Reader’s Literary Competence. This includes the reader’s knowledge about literary types (e.g. stock characters that reappear over centuries), knowledge about literary genres and its conventions or stylistic devices Dr. Whale’s behavior reminds us of characters (mad scientist, Jekyll/Hyde etc) we have encountered before.
After looking at many lists of classic novels, stories, myths, and fables, that are told as a frame story with unreliable narrator, I cannot find another story that fits that criteria and also fits the clues any better than Frankenstein. Although we cannot know for sure if Whale is Dr. Frankenstein, he does fit the “mad scientist”, sane/insane persona almost perfectly. I think we will hear him “narrate” truth in the first few episodes of Season 2, but I think we will soon find out that he is an unreliable narrator. And isn’t that a twist. We all expected August Booth, Pinocchio, to lie to Emma, but he told the truth. I fully expect that the good doctor will be the one full of lies.
And as a footnote thought…the background props that are behind stage in City Hall contain props that also seem to point to frame stories with unreliable narrators (camel and traveler – 1,001 Arabian Nights).
[attachment=1:1n9yo2c8]pic 1.png[/attachment:1n9yo2c8][adrotate group="5"]That’s some good research 🙂 I ran into similar information during Season 1 of OUAT. “Heart of Darkness”(s1e16). That is also the title of a Joseph Conrad novella, which is also a frame narrative/unreliable author. When it comes to K&H, just about everything is/can be connected. They are heavily into classic literature and film, as well as modern adaptions and epic stories. As you pointed out above, the clue from Archie’s notebook, ‘frames himself as victor in all conflicts’ could very well have multiple meanings…especially if you interpret the words on their own- frame, victor, conflict…
@Gypsy wrote:
That’s some good research 🙂 I ran into similar information during Season 1 of OUAT. “Heart of Darkness”(s1e16). That is also the title of a Joseph Conrad novella, which is also a frame narrative/unreliable author. When it comes to K&H, just about everything is/can be connected. They are heavily into classic literature and film, as well as modern adaptions and epic stories. As you pointed out above, the clue from Archie’s notebook, ‘frames himself as victor in all conflicts’ could very well have multiple meanings…especially if you interpret the words on their own- frame, victor, conflict…
Thanks for the heads up on the Joseph Conrad novella. I think the most interesting thing about Dr. Whale is that the first time we saw him, they purposefully did not use a name, a profession, and he left a very negative impression. Then the next time we see him, he is the doctor in charge of David. Maybe that is our biggest clue of all.
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