Desperate Souls…First Act in a Greek Tragedy

[nonnie]

Gee I remember being hot under the collar when I wrote this… I was remembering friends and family being drafted into the VIET NAM war. They were not cowards, they did not believe in the war. Some served and died, some served were never the same, some went to Canada.

In a way I see Rumple in the same situation and I refuse to label him a coward til I know more about the situation. Yes some can say I read into the story but we all bring our experience and life to what we see and hear and that is how we base our conclusions on the stories we see.

There are times I absolutely despise Rumple and his actions but there are times I agree with him… I enjoy the different aspects of each character in the show. I keep in mind we are suppose to love them and hate them all at the same time.

Nonnie
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[obisgirl]

that’s a good point, Nonnie.

[maryrose d.]

I agree with Nonnie that Rumple was not a coward for not wanting to be in the Oger war. War isn’t something everyone is made for and when people are benign forced to do it for others selfish reasons, it is not a cowardly thing to say I wont die for someone who knows nothing of me.
That being said, even though saving his skin during the war wasn’t as cowardly as they portrayed, Rumple does follow up by doing much more cowardly things which allows us to sum up he is a coward.

Also I love the whole Rumple story is like a Greek tragedy, because even though tragedies are well tragic, the lessons learned from those stories and the stories themselves are usually the ones we remember best. If you don’t believe me just go look at some of the greatest movies of all time and Titanic will be on that list, and for greastest plays I’m sure you will find Romeo and Juliet.

Rumple is a perfect match for a tragedy, he is single-minded(does everything to find Bae) he doesnt think things through ( the whoe im going to kill a man and then control some evil powers, and the whole ill come with you Bae and then changes his mind) he is extreme ( the dark one thing, revenge in Milah and Hook, killing the maid, the curse in general ) he has problems with emotions,( Belle and the whole, because i cant be loved, thing he pulls, so annoying )and he when he is without something he wants he is miserable. (without Bae he is miserable evn whe he has Belle, almost all the time in Sotrybrooke he is miserable).Also Greek tragedies usually have some extreme plot twist in them which makes them even better and more tragic, example Oedipus finding out he married his mom, which ultimately leads the character to their death.

Also I think that Regina may also come to face a tragic death by the end of the series because she fits the bill for a tragic character. Single minded ( the whole you told my mom a secret but because I won’t kill her even though she was the cause of my true loves death, you will face my wrath. Come on Regina, taking her revenge on Snow White so far that she trapped them in Sotrybrooke, makes Emma grow up alone, and then be mean to Henry who is her son,) doesnt think things through ( the curse, the sleeping curse, the whole revenge thing, trapping Cora in Neverland thing, and getting Emma to eat the sleeping curse, she even said to Gold, “well my victims arent suppose to wake up, so I haven’t cared what happens to them afterward until now” no direct quote) extreme ( the curse, the revenge) emotion isssues ( the whole your my weakness mother because I love you, and the whole well my true loves dead so instead of moving on Ill make sure everyone pays for my misery) and finally is always miserable ( she just is) .

So in all I can see Rumple or Regina going tragic in the near future, more so because they are both trying to redeem themselves, redemption for an evil dude in Greek story is just forshadowing by saying, yah this dude, he gonna die, yep, he did bad now try to do good, when he actually gets to be good, he will die. So yah I would warn Rumple and Regina fans to be ready for some death because Rumple and Regina look like they just bought third class tickets on Titanic, and like Jack, ( in both Titanic and Once) they aren’t going to see the end.

Keeper of Swanfire's dream catcher, the Blue Fairy Plot Device, the contact name "Her", the lanyards, the trigger, the Netherworld room and necklace, Charming's quote on Thanksgiving, and PP's pic of Henry

[once_dude]

a further disection of Rumplestiltskin’s tragedy written with the lense of season 3 episode 11 in mind so spoiler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Act the First: Manhattan. A poor spinner, Rumpelstiltskin gets to be a soldeir in the ogre wars which he is originally excited because he can cure the terrible reputation of his father Malcolm (side note did the villagers in his town ever wonder where Malcolm absconded to after Rumpelstiltskin returned?)

This honour and the name of family was very important to both feudal society like Enchanted Forest and to Greek society. Your family’s honour determined your status as a man and a citizen. (granted in the Enchanted Forest it seems women had more rites than they did in those other cultures)

Rumpelstiltskin gets the word from the seer that his actions on the battlefiled would leave his son fatherless.

This is very akin to several prophesies of an oracle at delphi or even if we look through a Shakespeare lense to the tragedy of Macbeth and the witches.

The Crocodile: Rumpel’s wife leaves, and Rumpel takes revenge on her and the pirate Killian Jones.

This aspect of revenge is another key theme to tragedy (not sure of other examples but Hamlet comes to mind)

Desperate souls (well this one has been recounted already)

Nasty Habits: Rumpelstiltskin confronts the Pied Piper Peter Pan who tricks him and further widens the gap between Rumpel and Baelfire, Baelfire can hear music of the unloved, which in intself is tragic because I think that we can clearly see that Rumpel loves Baelfire.

The Return Rumpelstiltskin loses Baelfire and makes his vow (vows are very important in tragedy I think every Shakespeare tragedy I have read can be said to have one and I am less familiar with greek tragedies but I think this might be a feature there as well) “I will do nothing else, I will love nothing else”

Miller’s Daughter: Rumpel manipulates and falls in love with cora, she rips out her own heart. This relationship had no potential to work, because Rumpel was teaching her to be as magic crazed as himself.

Skin Deep: Rumpelstiltskin makes a deal for Belle (nota good first move) they eventually fall in love, however due to Rumpel not revelaing everything to Belle she runs into Regina and Regina convinces her to have true love’s kiss with Rumpel. when this happens, Rumpel starts to lose his power and pushes her away. Instead of revealing the real reason he is afraid of losing his power he focuses ont he secondary reason of his power means more to him than she does. She responds “all you will have is an empty heart and a chipped cup.”

Most of the modern day in Storybrooke can be summarised with the phrase Rumeplstiltskin acts in order ot get what he wants. In Neverland his motives are ambiguous in the Nasty Habits epsiode at first, but gradually we learn that he really did want to save Henry despite wanting to kill him a few days ago.

Finally in Going Home we get the grand conclusion to Rumpel’s tragedy: He confronts his father his weakness, and he sacrifices himself for the townspeople who are truly his friends. He says a sad and solemn farewell to Belle and Baelfire. He then stabs himself and Pan going into…

Well thats my best aproximation of a tragic analysis.

Magic always comes with a price, so I pay with visa.

[obisgirl]

Nice @once_dude 🙂

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