Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Identity Theft
2 And Judith was left along in the tent, and Holofernes lying along upon his bed: for he was filled with wine. . . . 4 Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart, O Lord God of all power, look at this present upon the works of mine hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. 5 For now is the time to help thine inheritance, and to execute thine enterprizes to the destruction of the enemies which are risen against us. 6 Then she came to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his fauchion from thence, 7 And approached to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day. 8 And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him. . . . 15 So she took the head out of the bag, and shewed it, and said unto them, behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, and behold the canopy, wherein he did lie in his drunkenness; and the Lord hath smitten him by the hand of a woman. (Judith 13)
Isis created a magical serpent out of dust and Ra's spittle. She placed the serpent on the path that the sun god usually took when he was traveling by day, and the serpent bit him. Ra had power over all things, and so he ordered the poison to leave his body. However, as the serpent had been made from Ra's own spittle he was unable to cure himself. He called on Isis (who was already a great magician and healer). She told him that she could only heal him if she knew his secret name. Ra tried to fob her off with some of his lesser names, but eventually he relented and told her his true name. Isis immediately cured Ra, but he could not take back the power that he had granted her by telling her his true name and from that point on Isis was equal even to the sun god in power. (J. Hill)
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| "Kings should never give their Word." |
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| She'll beat you if she's able |
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| 1962½ |
(Lew in Sky with the Queen of Diamonds)
Murder, She Wrote (Dea Ley)
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| Oedipus Rex (L. Harvey Oswald) |
1963: "He teaches her what she can do . . ."
(A deal with God)
Flash Dance
(Note: insert image of Evey receiving her baptism here)
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| 237 (wherein a deceased girl is recalled) |
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| Dance of the Seven Veils |
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| Ordo ab Chao |
Michael: Since Shakespeare is pinging, I think of The Taming of the Shrew. The play is allegory for an alchemical rape - the forced capitulation of the Id by ego. It's all about the dowry - aka the money bin, grail, etc.
I dunno. On the one hand, I can see my subconscious needing a good smack down every now and then. She is terribly unruly. But on the other hand, once I've "been there", I see her side. I'd rather work with her, than tie her up and force her. She deserves my respect, my devotion, and even... my love.
Naturally, Heath Ledger played" Petruchio" in '10 Things I Hate About You'.
Leo=Heath, we've already seen him play every 'King David' role. Translating to Inception, Mal = Katherina, the Shrew that must be "tamed" or pacified. Kate, Kali, etc.
Kate also married the Lion King (William). Royal Wedding bells?
Poe's story 'The Fall of the House of Usher' (from now on: TFOTHOU) was about a brother and sister (Roderick and Madeline) who live in a big mansion and were both insane. Why? Because their family, for generations, was inbred: their parents were siblings, their parents' parents were siblings, and so on. Because they are both mentally and physically ill, they remain in the house at all times and are cut off from society. As the last scions of the Usher lineage, therefore, the only chance they have to continue the family is to reproduce together - to committ incest. This destiny, along with faulty genetics due to inbreeding, is what drives them both insane.
NOW.
MacLeod's play and Waters's movie 'The House of Yes' (from now on THOY) presents a similar (but definitely not the exact same - like I said, it is a loose reflection) situation: two incestuous, insane siblings (Marty and Jackie O.) in a big house cut off from society (at least Jackie O. still is). . . .
THE HOUSE
In TFOTHOU, the house is the strongest symbol. The "house of Usher" is the house itself, but it is also the family line, as well as Roderick's mind. The house is deteriorating, crumbling, just like the family line and Roderick's mind. The windows of the house are likened to vacant eyes - specifically, Roderick's eyes, the windows to his similarly vacant soul. At the end of the story, he dies, and the house finally collapses and crumbles. How poetic (Poetic? Ha.)!
In THOY, the house is also a symbol of the family line, as they all live exclusively in it (except for Marty - even he, for the most part, lives there exclusively). More importantly, the house symbolizes Marty's mind. Notice at the beginning of the hurricane, Jackie O. puts Xs over the windows? These are like cartoon Xs over the dead man's eyes, letting us know from the beginning that Marty (as soon as we recognize him as the central character which the house symbolized) will die at the end. And how appropriate that Jackie O. puts the Xs on the windows, since she is the one who kills him. . . .
Also, interesting to me is that at the very end of the movie, after Jackie O. explains what happened (or did it? No one can be sure, but I believe it did.), we follow Lesley running away, and then where do we turn? The camera zooms directly into the front door of the house, entering darkness. HERE is the first time we really get to look inside Marty's mind! And what do we find? The truth: Marty provoked Jackie O., perhaps even seduced her, and maybe - just maybe! - drove her insane. (roguekingofnothing)
El: The characters of The House of Yes represent the Court Cards of the Tarot. Marty (= JFK) is the King of Wands (Yod), Jackie is the Queen of Cups (Heh), Anthony is the Knight of Swords (Vau), Lesly is the Page of Pantacles (Heh). The house is the Underworld; the mother (Magna Mater) compares the hurricane to the tornado that catapults them into Oz. Jackie and Marty are twins. Crazy Jackie, like Mal, wants to trap Marty in the house (Limbo, Grimmauld Place, etc.) forever. All Marty wants is to live a normal life in the daylight realm, with Lesly, but he can't do it. Jackie will have the King's head. Her darkness is the Mystery. Another Fall of the House of Usher.
(Alternatively,)
In both Arrested Development and The Royal Tenenbaums, the light-haired sister-lover has been adopted--i.e., she comes from outside of the closed system (the house of darkness) in order to redeem it (thus "Aunt Steel-Breaker" and "Grace" overcome the Law).
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| "Rita Hayworth. Can you get her?" |
“. . . Dumbledore kept that sister of his quiet for a long time!”
“Untrue!” wheezed Doge, “Absolutely untrue!” . . . “The reason Albus never spoke about Ariana,” began Elphias in a voice stiff with emotion, “is, I should have thought, quite clear. He was so devastated by her death—”
“Why did nobody ever see her, Elphias?” squawked Muriel, “Why did half of us never even know she existed, until they carried the coffin out of the house and held a funeral for her? Where was saintly Albus while Ariana was locked in the cellar? Off being brilliant at Hogwarts, and never mind what was going on in his own house!” . . .
“It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless.
“And my father went after the bastards that did it, ” said Aberforth, “and attacked them. And they locked him up in Azkaban for it. He never said why he’d done it, because the Ministry had known what Ariana had become, she’d have been locked up in St. Mungo’s for good. They’d have seen her as a serious threat to the International Statute of Secrecy, unbalanced like she was, with magic exploding out of her at moments when she couldn’t keep it in any longer.
“We had to keep her safe and quiet. We moved house, put it about she was ill, and my mother looked after her, and tried to keep her calm and happy.
“I was her favourite,” he said, and as he said it, a grubby schoolboy seemed to look out through Aberforth’s wrinkles and wrangled beard. “Not Albus, he was always up in his bedroom when he was home, reading his books and counting his prizes, keeping up with his correspondence with ‘the most notable magical names of the day, ’” Aberforth succored. “He didn’t want to be bothered with her. She liked me best. I could get her to eat when she wouldn’t do it for my mother, I could calm her down, when she was in one of her rages, and when she was quiet, she used to help me feed the goats.
“Then, when she was fourteen… See, I wasn’t there,” said Aberforth. “If I’d been there, I could have calmed her down. She had one of her rages, and my mother wasn’t as young as she was, and… it was an accident. Ariana couldn’t control it. But my mother was killed.” . . .
She pointed to the dark stone. Harry stooped down and saw, upon the frozen lichen-spotted granite, the words KENDRA DUMBLEDORE and, a short way below her dates of birth and death, AND HER DAUGHTER ARIANA. There was also a quotation:
Where you treasure is, there will your heart be also.
