This paper is an analysis of the Spanish film Pans Labyrinth based on the theories and themes of Greek mythology and storytelling. Here, we take mainly into account Aristotles description of a tragic hero or the tragedy in his treatise of Poetics. In this film, Ofelia moves into a military camp with her mother to meet her stepfather who she strongly dissents. She slips into a fantasy world occasionally where she is promised to be made a princess. Her actions in both the worlds become interconnected and explainable only to her. Her one flaw in the fantasy world creates havoc in the real world. She moves from prosperity to doom in the course of the film, and only because she chose to act when inflicted with all the injustice. This film is an excellent example to analyze the themes of the Greek mythologytragedystorytelling.
Analysis of Greek Tragedy themes in the film Pans Labyrinth
According to Aristotle, the plot is the most important aspect in a tragedy. A plot is an arrangement of incidents in which the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions. The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so hisher change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.
In the film Pans Labyrinth or El laberinto del fauno, we are introduced to Spain in 1944 post the Civil war and during the Second World War. It is a very bad situation where the Republican rebels are fighting against the strict fascist regime of General Franco. Our protagonist Ofelia comes to the military camp near the mountains of Navarra, with her pregnant mother and to meet her new stepfather Captain Vidal. Ofelia creates her own fantasy world to escape from the harsh realities of her times. The whole film has been depicted in a series of incidents (the plot) where cause-and-effect controls the flow of events. Here, in this story things seem to go wrong because of Ofelias one fatal mistake, though things may have anyway happened as in the real world. Captain Vidal is an absolute personification of a fascist, disciplinarian and inhuman nature. On the other hand, Ofelia is a symbol of ultimate innocence. Thus, they both comply the requirements of a Villain and a Hero in a Greek Tragedy. Captain Vidal is a villain not only to Ofelia but also to the rebels in the mountain and the people who are helping them from his own camp, like his housekeeper Mercedes and the doctor. The terror of the time has been well established by showing incidents of Captain Vidal brutally killing a farmer father-son duo on grounds of suspicion without any proper evidence. The father had simply gone to the mountains to hunt for rabbits.
Ofelia is a noble person born to a loving father and mother. But she is put into unfavorable circumstances after her fathers death. Her mother is left without any options and marries the Captain. Ofelia is also very courageous and stands up for herself. But this is often mistaken as disobedience by her mother and stepfather. Ofelia is a protagonist who is perfect because she is true to her conscience but has her own flaws, primarily because of her circumstances and secondly because of her innocent childish nature.
In her fantasy world, she is led by the dragonfly fairies and given instructions by the faun. The faun or Pan, according to Greek mythology is a half-man half goat creature who is considered the God of Nature. The faun is ready to serve her and informs her that she is the princess Moanna of his world, and that her father, the King is looking forward to her return. But she has to prove herself. She has to prove that she is not just a mere mortal by completing three tasks before the moon is full. Three has always been an important number in mythology. It is the number of personal completeness. Triangle is the most powerful shape. Similarly, power (administrative) systems mostly consist of three bodies.
The faun gives her a book that will tell her what tasks to do. Her first task is to go to a dying hollow tree, find the toad that is killing the tree, feed it with three stones Again note the number 3 and take a key from its belly. The stories form mythology has always been like this. The Hero sets out to attain something. And on the way, he will have to complete one task and go to the next and in the process even kill people or cause havoc. But after completing all the tasks, the Hero is sure to attain the elixir.
Ofelia very bravely goes on completing the tasks. She in spite of wearing a beautiful party dress and shoes doesnt hesitate to remove them and go inside the tree in her petticoat. She wasnt doing it for fun, but as a valiant princess to retrieve her kingdom. She goes inside despite the bugs from the mud, and finally reaches the huge toad and introduces herself as Princess Moanna. Without flinching a bit, she feeds the toad with the stones. The toad, in turn, spews out his belly through the mouth. Ofelia collects the key from the huge mass of flesh, that is the toads belly. She comes out of the tree and finds its almost night and finds her party dress immersed in the mud.
She couldnt do her second task because her mother starts bleeding and ends up with total bed-rest. The faun scolds her and gives her a stinking plant root, which the faun describes as the plant who wished to be human. She keeps it immersed in a bowl of water and feeds it 2 drops of blood everyday. The root begins to move like a baby. This root becomes synonymous to the baby in her mothers womb and to her mothers health. As the baby-like root starts moving, her mothers health recovers. Ofelia even promises her baby brother inside her mothers womb that if he comes out without hurting her mother, she will make him the prince of her kingdom.
She sets out to do her second task. The dragonfly fairies that the faun had given her guide her. She draws her own door with the magic chalk and steps in to another world. She has to return before the sand finishes in the hourglass. Theres a sumptuous feast laid out on the table and an eyeless pale creature (which is not human according to the faun) sits still at the end of the table. The creature with his eyes laid out on a platter in front of him doesnt move.
Ofelia checks out the whole place and opens a locker with the key she had retrieved from the toad. She finds a gleaming dagger inside. As she returns, she is tempted to taste something from the feast. In spite of repeated warnings from the faun and the fairies against eating or drinking anything from the feast, she succumbs to her temptations and tastes a grape. This is the very fatal error that Ofelia commits which seeks her the entire wrath.
As soon as the food is touched, the creature starts moving. He fits the eyes on the platter on to his palms and gets up. He has to lift his hands up to see. Ofelia runs for her life. In the commotion, some fairies and killed and gobbled by the creature. Ofelia somehow manages to escape into her real world.
But the faun gets angry and disregards her as the princess of his kingdom. He says she has broken the rules and is not fit to be a princess. She deserves the life of a mere mortal.
But the after-effect of her fatal flaw begins to show. The baby-like root stops moving and her mother fall sick again. Captain Vidal finds out about the root. Her mother throws the root into the fire despite Ofelias pleading. As soon as the root starts burning, Ofelias mother falls down. She dies during childbirth. That was the first blow to Ofelia.
The cause-and-effect starts working here. But in real life things begin to happen naturally. Ofelia loses all her freedom after her mothers death. Captain Vidal comes to know that Mercedes and the doctor are helping the rebels in the mountain. The doctor is killed and Mercedes escapes into the forest, after wounding the Captain.
When the rebellion goes out of control, the faun appears and gives Ofelia a last chance. She is asked to follow his instructions without questions. The faun asks her to bring her baby brother to the Labyrinth. Ofelia somehow manages to do that but the Captain follows her. The faun tells her that few drops of blood of an innocent are required and thats the last task, and thats why her brother has been brought. Ofelia refuses to hand over her brother. By this time, the Captain reaches, takes the baby from her hands and shoots her. The fantasy world vanishes for now.
By the time Mercedes and her men come searching for Ofelia, she is dying. Her drops of blood fall on the labyrinth and thus pave way to her entry into the kingdom. The king announces that instead of an innocents blood, she chose to give her own and thats more noble.
In her real life, she moves from life to doom even though the rebels attain freedom from the fascists. But in her fantasy life, she attains the throne of a princess. Here, the concept of life after death comes into place. The Greeks also believed in this concept.
Analysis of Greek Tragedy themes in the film Pans Labyrinth
According to Aristotle, the plot is the most important aspect in a tragedy. A plot is an arrangement of incidents in which the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions. The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so hisher change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.
In the film Pans Labyrinth or El laberinto del fauno, we are introduced to Spain in 1944 post the Civil war and during the Second World War. It is a very bad situation where the Republican rebels are fighting against the strict fascist regime of General Franco. Our protagonist Ofelia comes to the military camp near the mountains of Navarra, with her pregnant mother and to meet her new stepfather Captain Vidal. Ofelia creates her own fantasy world to escape from the harsh realities of her times. The whole film has been depicted in a series of incidents (the plot) where cause-and-effect controls the flow of events. Here, in this story things seem to go wrong because of Ofelias one fatal mistake, though things may have anyway happened as in the real world. Captain Vidal is an absolute personification of a fascist, disciplinarian and inhuman nature. On the other hand, Ofelia is a symbol of ultimate innocence. Thus, they both comply the requirements of a Villain and a Hero in a Greek Tragedy. Captain Vidal is a villain not only to Ofelia but also to the rebels in the mountain and the people who are helping them from his own camp, like his housekeeper Mercedes and the doctor. The terror of the time has been well established by showing incidents of Captain Vidal brutally killing a farmer father-son duo on grounds of suspicion without any proper evidence. The father had simply gone to the mountains to hunt for rabbits.
Ofelia is a noble person born to a loving father and mother. But she is put into unfavorable circumstances after her fathers death. Her mother is left without any options and marries the Captain. Ofelia is also very courageous and stands up for herself. But this is often mistaken as disobedience by her mother and stepfather. Ofelia is a protagonist who is perfect because she is true to her conscience but has her own flaws, primarily because of her circumstances and secondly because of her innocent childish nature.
In her fantasy world, she is led by the dragonfly fairies and given instructions by the faun. The faun or Pan, according to Greek mythology is a half-man half goat creature who is considered the God of Nature. The faun is ready to serve her and informs her that she is the princess Moanna of his world, and that her father, the King is looking forward to her return. But she has to prove herself. She has to prove that she is not just a mere mortal by completing three tasks before the moon is full. Three has always been an important number in mythology. It is the number of personal completeness. Triangle is the most powerful shape. Similarly, power (administrative) systems mostly consist of three bodies.
The faun gives her a book that will tell her what tasks to do. Her first task is to go to a dying hollow tree, find the toad that is killing the tree, feed it with three stones Again note the number 3 and take a key from its belly. The stories form mythology has always been like this. The Hero sets out to attain something. And on the way, he will have to complete one task and go to the next and in the process even kill people or cause havoc. But after completing all the tasks, the Hero is sure to attain the elixir.
Ofelia very bravely goes on completing the tasks. She in spite of wearing a beautiful party dress and shoes doesnt hesitate to remove them and go inside the tree in her petticoat. She wasnt doing it for fun, but as a valiant princess to retrieve her kingdom. She goes inside despite the bugs from the mud, and finally reaches the huge toad and introduces herself as Princess Moanna. Without flinching a bit, she feeds the toad with the stones. The toad, in turn, spews out his belly through the mouth. Ofelia collects the key from the huge mass of flesh, that is the toads belly. She comes out of the tree and finds its almost night and finds her party dress immersed in the mud.
She couldnt do her second task because her mother starts bleeding and ends up with total bed-rest. The faun scolds her and gives her a stinking plant root, which the faun describes as the plant who wished to be human. She keeps it immersed in a bowl of water and feeds it 2 drops of blood everyday. The root begins to move like a baby. This root becomes synonymous to the baby in her mothers womb and to her mothers health. As the baby-like root starts moving, her mothers health recovers. Ofelia even promises her baby brother inside her mothers womb that if he comes out without hurting her mother, she will make him the prince of her kingdom.
She sets out to do her second task. The dragonfly fairies that the faun had given her guide her. She draws her own door with the magic chalk and steps in to another world. She has to return before the sand finishes in the hourglass. Theres a sumptuous feast laid out on the table and an eyeless pale creature (which is not human according to the faun) sits still at the end of the table. The creature with his eyes laid out on a platter in front of him doesnt move.
Ofelia checks out the whole place and opens a locker with the key she had retrieved from the toad. She finds a gleaming dagger inside. As she returns, she is tempted to taste something from the feast. In spite of repeated warnings from the faun and the fairies against eating or drinking anything from the feast, she succumbs to her temptations and tastes a grape. This is the very fatal error that Ofelia commits which seeks her the entire wrath.
As soon as the food is touched, the creature starts moving. He fits the eyes on the platter on to his palms and gets up. He has to lift his hands up to see. Ofelia runs for her life. In the commotion, some fairies and killed and gobbled by the creature. Ofelia somehow manages to escape into her real world.
But the faun gets angry and disregards her as the princess of his kingdom. He says she has broken the rules and is not fit to be a princess. She deserves the life of a mere mortal.
But the after-effect of her fatal flaw begins to show. The baby-like root stops moving and her mother fall sick again. Captain Vidal finds out about the root. Her mother throws the root into the fire despite Ofelias pleading. As soon as the root starts burning, Ofelias mother falls down. She dies during childbirth. That was the first blow to Ofelia.
The cause-and-effect starts working here. But in real life things begin to happen naturally. Ofelia loses all her freedom after her mothers death. Captain Vidal comes to know that Mercedes and the doctor are helping the rebels in the mountain. The doctor is killed and Mercedes escapes into the forest, after wounding the Captain.
When the rebellion goes out of control, the faun appears and gives Ofelia a last chance. She is asked to follow his instructions without questions. The faun asks her to bring her baby brother to the Labyrinth. Ofelia somehow manages to do that but the Captain follows her. The faun tells her that few drops of blood of an innocent are required and thats the last task, and thats why her brother has been brought. Ofelia refuses to hand over her brother. By this time, the Captain reaches, takes the baby from her hands and shoots her. The fantasy world vanishes for now.
By the time Mercedes and her men come searching for Ofelia, she is dying. Her drops of blood fall on the labyrinth and thus pave way to her entry into the kingdom. The king announces that instead of an innocents blood, she chose to give her own and thats more noble.
In her real life, she moves from life to doom even though the rebels attain freedom from the fascists. But in her fantasy life, she attains the throne of a princess. Here, the concept of life after death comes into place. The Greeks also believed in this concept.
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