The reference to
Miss Havisham plays a large part with the persona of my character- she will
wear a wedding dress (the one which she was jilted at the alter with) and also
will remain in a solemn state of mind. I feel that there is something quite
eerie about the way she prolongs her nightmare and that it haunts her for the
rest of her life. I plan to transfer this into my character. I am a fan reading
books, especially fantasy- I think this is down to the way I feel transported
into a different unrealistic world. Books have definitely influenced my
character type and choice- my villain will wear black, which is often a trait
that could be found in mystical books.
The story behind the
character:
When I first read
the brief, I struggled to think of a character from the top of my head.
Yelena's classes helped me to overcome this, by looking at ways shapes and
animals can help to create something unusual. I needed a starting point. So I
brainstormed ideas which would help me to create a story behind my choice; I
felt that if I could not justify my characters motives, it would be extremely
hard to make a believable environment for it.
Pulling on all my
inspirations and research I had collected, I decided on a character. The
character is a villain who lives under a church in the 1900s. Interestingly
when she was younger she had discovered the ability of persuasion- at first she
did not realise the full extent of her power. Her parents were French, but she
moved to England after becoming engaged . She was hopelessly in love with her
fiancé, but could not see past his false façade. She was born into a wealthy
family, therefore she, herself was wealthy. On the day of the wedding, her
fiancé left her at the alter, and stole from her a small fortune. This
devastated her and sent her into a frenzy, she never left the church. This is
when she understood the full usefulness of her power and persuaded everyone to
leave her and let her live under the church alone. From this point she grew
bitter and spiteful, she now spends the rest of her days planning to ruin the
weddings which take place in the church where she was jilted- by using her power
to persuade the man against his love and to fall in love with her. Of course
she has no appeal for the men after she seduces and therefore she lets them go.
However her work has been competed knowing that she has successfully wrecked
another couples happiness.
Choosing the name:
Choosing the name
for my character has been a difficult progress, I haven’t had something pop
into my head which I have thought would fit perfectly. To help me solve this
issue I looked at female French names and their meanings. I thought it would be really good to have a
direct link to the characters origin, my favourite names were:
Penelope:
Greek myth name of the patient wife of Odysseus who waited ten years for his
return during which she refused several proposals of marriage by princes. The
name is composed of the elements pene "needle" and lopas
"spool," which is taken to mean "weaver of cunning,"
denoting someone whose motives are hard to decipher.
Apoline:
Translates to destroyer
Emeline:
Translates to rival
Desiree:
Means, to be desired. Connotations of mystery.
Francette:
Means, to be free
Henriette:
Translates to home ruler
Leonne:
Means lion
Lilliane:
Translates to lily, which has connotations of death
Marceline:
Means to be warlike
Perrine:
Means- Rock, stone
From
above you can see the collection of names which have meanings which reflect on
my villain. My favourite is Desiree, because of its translation. I think it
fits perfectly, her appearance is seductive, she is attractive and powerful.
The meaning is mystical and compliments her story, the men she plots against
her desire her too. However 'Desiree' wasn't enough, I felt that I needed a
slight edge which would give her more power. I thought about 'miss' and 'ms',
but this was too similar to 'Miss Havisham', it finally struck me to use the
French version of Madame. 'Madame Desiree'-
is the name I have decided on, I think it reflects faultlessly on her persona.
The Environment:
From the context of
my character, I have had to think about this in relation of the theme I am
inspired by. The theme I have been looking at is: gothic, barbaric, medieval,
eerie, unearthly and spectral. The instant link I thought about was the link to
English churches. Earlier on in my development I looked at Hogwarts and the
work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi this confirmed my thoughts on wanting to
create a space with is like a church.
The story of 'Madame
Desiree' lets me be able to build a space which would involve part of a church
and use the influences of the architecture to help me model my own space. I am
not certain on what rooms I want to model for definite as there is more development
to be considered. However I am confident that the character's lair will be
underneath the church.
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