Maria's Role in Silent Hill
"I'm here for you, James. I'm real."
When the month of October rolls around, I get the urge to play Silent Hill. Preferably on the night of Halloween, staying up as late as I can and trying to beat the games in one go. Last year, it was Silent Hill 3, and I had difficulty sleeping at night. See, I have a great fear of noises that come out of nowhere. This is why Eraserhead is a very scary film for me. Because my imagination will fill in the rest. (What I love about Silent Hill 2 is that there is a very obvious reference to David Lynch's Blue Velvet in the apartments). I am easily freaked out by sound, perhaps because it's one of my stronger senses.
This time, I decided to play Silent Hill 2 in doses. When comparing Silent Hill 2 to 3, there is a definite lack of scares. In fact, I'd go as to say that 2 isn't a very scary game. It's definitely a depressing one, though. James Sunderland returns to Silent Hill because he received a letter from his wife, Mary. But . . . dead people can't send letters. Mary died years ago due to a disease. The game leads the player on an ambiguous and depressing story that is wholly captivating. There are scenes in this game that are so memorable, I can recite lines from it perfectly. ("Anyway? What do you mean anyway?")
All of the characters are fascinating pieces of tortured psyche. James is suffering from the same problem as Nathaniel in E.T.A. Hoffman's The Sandman. And I would make an argument that Pyramid Head is the sandman in this story, as he exists to destroy James' idealized ego but also to help him see the truth. I'd like to focus on Maria in this analysis, though. And beware, for there will be plenty of spoilers under the cut. I know, the game's been out for a long time, but I'd prefer not to spoil it for those few who might not have beaten it.
Rule of thumb in surreal settings like Silent Hill is that you don't trust the character who tells you flat-out they're real. It's like a hallucination trying to convince you it's real. And for James, Maria is simply a figment of his damaged psyche. Much like his idealized ego, she's an idealized form of his wife, Mary. When she was sick, it's revealed that Mary was, at times, quite cruel to James. She told him she wanted to die, but she also told him she wanted to live. He smothered her to end the torment they were both going through. But James wasn't able to accept that he actually killed the wife he had once loved. The memory was repressed and Mary was split in two: the saint that James sees in his memories and Maria, a fully sexual woman with a sarcastic streak.
Game-wise, it's insinuated that Maria was created by Silent Hill to torment James. In the prequel to the game, Born From a Wish, Maria is shown to have no real form (and much like the Mary James sees in his memories). It isn't until Ernest gives her explicit information that she realizes her duty to the town: Maria is the Athena of Silent Hill. Athena was known as the defender of the patriarchy, at that time, Athens. For Maria, Athens is Silent Hill. It's quite clever that she's found in a park that is structured. On Athena, Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen said, "Her spirit is found in the city; for Athena (in contrast to Artemis), the wilderness is to be tamed and subdued." And I think it's also quite clever that it's a park with a female statue in the middle, much like the statues devoted to Athena.
However, what strikes me as most important in this Athena figure is that she latches onto James. Athena was said to latch onto heroes only. She whispered advice into their ears, telling them how to act. This is the same with Maria, who latches onto James and insists they do certain things, such as chasing after Laura. But she also mocks James' masculinity, which falls into the realm of defending the patriarchy. "Aren't you a big strong man?" It's a way of trying to evoke this masculinity in James by using sarcastic form. This is reiterated by Angela, who is also not very serious when she asks James if he wants to save her. As if it's in his repertoire to save damsels. But this isn't true. In fact, it's quite false compared to what he actually did. By forgetting his previous action, James allows Maria to become a dream figure.
His wife? Alive? Running around Silent Hill without a bruise on her? Maria represents a dream image for James. Constantly, he mistakes her for Mary, but Maria allows this to happen, as if she's meant to merge with James' image of Mary. Both Mary and Maria represent a figure of life and death; for Mary, she lives in James' memories while he knows she died and Maria, that she is the living image of Mary but dies constantly. They're both dream women and they're both Kali figures.
While Mary is the true dream woman, Maria is a figment made by the town meant to mirror his dream image. She is a wayward dream woman. Mary is more of an actualized version of a goddess of life and death. She represents life as her presence keeps James moving to find her. To journey through Silent Hill like a valiant knight while all hell breaks loose. By realizing that he killed her, Mary represents death as well, death of the idealized ego that James created. He is no longer her knight in shining armor. Maria exists as a less subtle version of Kali. She physically is the living image of Mary and she is killed in many gruesome ways in front of James. She is a reminder of what he did to Mary, because James feels as though he has to be punished. In the end, she transforms into a Kali-esque figure, a monstrous image.
I would go as far as to say that Mary is James' anima, his inner female side. Mary's illness and death was so traumatic that it forced him to snuff out his anima, his more emotional side. As though he smothered it along with Mary in order to keep on living. Shutting off an emotional side in a situation like this isn't living, though. James has to confront what he did and accept his anima again. Not a copy that the town has provided for him. He has to accept those feelings or else the same will happen all over again. In an ending where James chooses Maria, it's shown that she's growing sick as well.
The town, as a whole, exists to lead James to the truth and delude him. This is a reflection of his mental state rather than "evil" on the town's part. James is trying to delude himself into believing that he is an innocent in a strange town. But James is also leading himself to the truth by insisting on punishment through the forms of Maria and Pyramid Head. It's only through accepting what he did that he can continue his life and walk away from Silent Hill with Laura.
It's a good idea to brush up on Silent Hill trivia, readers, just in case you're ever stuck in an elevator! Trick or treat!