Works of Inaction
So, I'm doing research on my writing project for my Giselle/Norrington idea and I've just been confronted with the fact that this epic narrative is going to be one of inaction. Giselle spends most of her life having things happen to her - she is an exceptionally passive character 90% of the time. That galls me somehow. Perhaps it is the age I'm writing in or the rearing and lifestyle of the character, but why is it that the epic literature of women is always about inaction? Has my women's lit. class trained me this way or merely reinforced the way gendered literature works.
She is the complete anti-thesis of my Anamaria - who is a woman of action 90% of the time. Anamaria plots and schemes and carries out her adventures while Giselle has these fantasies and she keeps them locked in her own head and she spends her days listless and depressed - thinking and thinking and rarely acting.
What am I trying to do with Giselle? Honestly, the whole point of the narrative is to expose how a creature such as Giselle can come to exist. Giselle certainly never thrives, but she does manage to survive. She survives poverty and she survives luxury. She constructs these fantasies about Commodore Norrington, a man she has never met, so that when he finally does show up - disgraced - Giselle acts unwisely for the second time in her life and ensnares him. Norrington will come off looking very badly in this story - not because he is a bad man, but because he doesn't understand. He sees Giselle and thinks that if he can find redemption then he can remake Giselle into Elizabeth. His intentions are both good and bad. They each want something from the other, but it turns out they want different things and their incompatibility will lead them from a relationship neither fully understands into mutual dislike.
Eventually, they will part ways - Giselle will take the path of least resistance and Norrington will continue to plow forward. If you were looking for a romance then you'll be disappointed. I'm not going to say that the book ends poorly, both Giselle and Norrington come away with a little bit of good - a little bit of enrichment to their lives. Giselle comes to the realization that she is incapable of love - but she has her art to satisfy her. What does Norrington realize? I haven't worked out as to whether or not this is important. Really, this isn't a Giselle/Norrington story, but a story about Giselle and Norrington is a ship passing in the dark of her harbor.
Maybe I'm just pissed off because I'm more like Giselle than Anamaria. Too many times I've let life pass me by without acting and I regret it and I hate that I didn't have the strength or the knowledge at the time to act.
She is the complete anti-thesis of my Anamaria - who is a woman of action 90% of the time. Anamaria plots and schemes and carries out her adventures while Giselle has these fantasies and she keeps them locked in her own head and she spends her days listless and depressed - thinking and thinking and rarely acting.
What am I trying to do with Giselle? Honestly, the whole point of the narrative is to expose how a creature such as Giselle can come to exist. Giselle certainly never thrives, but she does manage to survive. She survives poverty and she survives luxury. She constructs these fantasies about Commodore Norrington, a man she has never met, so that when he finally does show up - disgraced - Giselle acts unwisely for the second time in her life and ensnares him. Norrington will come off looking very badly in this story - not because he is a bad man, but because he doesn't understand. He sees Giselle and thinks that if he can find redemption then he can remake Giselle into Elizabeth. His intentions are both good and bad. They each want something from the other, but it turns out they want different things and their incompatibility will lead them from a relationship neither fully understands into mutual dislike.
Eventually, they will part ways - Giselle will take the path of least resistance and Norrington will continue to plow forward. If you were looking for a romance then you'll be disappointed. I'm not going to say that the book ends poorly, both Giselle and Norrington come away with a little bit of good - a little bit of enrichment to their lives. Giselle comes to the realization that she is incapable of love - but she has her art to satisfy her. What does Norrington realize? I haven't worked out as to whether or not this is important. Really, this isn't a Giselle/Norrington story, but a story about Giselle and Norrington is a ship passing in the dark of her harbor.
Maybe I'm just pissed off because I'm more like Giselle than Anamaria. Too many times I've let life pass me by without acting and I regret it and I hate that I didn't have the strength or the knowledge at the time to act.