Deviation Actions
Literature Text
SHAKESPEARE’S TOUHOU
or
THE COMEDY OF THE SCARLET DEVIL
Inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, Ian Doescher and Team Shanghai Alice.
ACT II
SCENE 1
The misty lake.
Enter CHORUS.
CHORUS
Still absent of the tainting sanguine fog,
The misty lake doth haven make for her,
The priestess still encours’d. The end of course
To be the newborne island ‘cross its plane.
With haste she maketh move to cross, but lo!
The mist, as doth the blood, becomes a broth,
Repelling sight but not the maiden’s will.
[Exeunt.]
Enter DAIYOUSEI and a FAIRY.
DAIYOUSEI
Hark, my friend. A ripple wand’ring
With a sound accompany’d.
Something clueless this way comes.
Strike now, while the metal’s hot!
FAIRY
Yes, attack’s the plan. Strike thus.
DAIYOUSEI
Not at all. Strike out the notion.
Temper keep, but temper still.
Keep in mind, when man doth falter,
Lost in mist the road he treadeth,
‘Tis the work of us, the fairies!
FAIRY
Cautious as thou dost not strike me.
DAIYOUSEI
Have it thou, or hence I’ll strike thee.
Enter REIMU, across the stage.
DAIYOUSEI
Did you see that shadow there?
Be ‘t the source of splash ere now?
FAIRY
‘Tis a shade of human likeness.
REIMU
Some sort of Purgatory be this state.
The swath of clouds upon this lake doth make
A blinding scene, though if this limbo be,
I need no more concern for she who made
The scarlet mist that flows beyond its shore.
Mayhaps the undiscover’d country's yet
The golder choice? Fie, what a fool I am.
DAIYOUSEI
Voice, but I can see no girl.
Doth she comfort take in that,
Speaking foreign to herself?
Tarry not, for here’s the act:
I will beat my wings at her.
Such disgrace if she doth bear it.
FAIRY
Truly thou art great a genius.
DAIYOUSEI
Thanks to thee. Now let her have it!
REIMU
I humbly greet you curs, o loonish elves.
What trouble hast thou plan’d for me this day?
DAIYOUSEI
Churlish one, the trouble’s on thee!
Beat my wings, I do toward thee.
REIMU
And sayeth what the act? ‘Tis fairly tame.
DAIYOUSEI
Great disgrace be brought upon thee.
REIMU
A small mistake. I’d mind that thou had’st plans
For deeper acts to runneth me afoul.
FAIRY
Thou do strikest out with that.
DAIYOUSEI
Striker, thee I’ll deal with later.
REIMU
A simple task I have. Could’st thou lend aid?
The or’gin of the bloody mist tonight
Doth sit upon the isle present light.
Within this mist, amidst it I have miss’d
The site and miss my sight. Could’st thou lend aid?
DAIYOUSEI
Nonsense. That was naught but nonsense!
FAIRY
Seek the birthèd island? There.
Arrow’s path through yonder bank
‘Spite the lack of markèd path.
DAIYOUSEI
[Aside:] Kin she be, with ears of humans?
REIMU
Surprising ‘tis, the fact doth shock myself
That thou couldst once impart a single thought
Such was not borne of scorn or slandering.
My thanks to thee. Now do withdraw before
The horse my kindness rides on out has mind
To come back home upon thy bickering.
Enter CIRNO.
CIRNO
Misery upon thy house, o miser!
Do abandon hope for thou dost enter
Into here, our realm of septem’s circle.
DAIYOUSEI
‘Tis the lady of the lake!
Fly my friend, else we be caught
‘Twixt the banter of the foolish.
[Exit DAIYOUSEI and the FAIRY.]
REIMU
I charge thee, speak and make clear what thou art.
CIRNO
Thou dost grace us with the maiden’s presence
Holding not the nomen of the monarch?
Cirno is thy matchèd rival standing thus, the
Sov’reign of our fairies and our kingdom.
REIMU
[Aside:] If subjects be the ones who fled from here
Then wherefore did they mark their king a fool?
A boldish claim thou makest that I shan’t take,
'Tis just a fairy clamm’ring on her throne.
If now the jest be done I must be off.
CIRNO
Just a fairy? Fie on thee! Thou findest
Here the ablest fairy of the aether!
See the liquid mirror’s image glisten,
Thee and I, that we are but of likeness,
Fairy, maiden, standing ‘cross as equals.
Treachery’s the game thou playest, priestess
Of the house of Hakurei, the mother
Over men and monsters, yet thou treatest
My kind rather not as men or monsters;
Dirt. Not worth a stone of lesser beastlings.
Titles are for those to seize and seize I
Will thy title as the sacred mother.
REIMU
Thou speakest of the matters past thyself.
I pay in full the fee that all are due,
And thine is of the dirt, as thou art too.
The fairies’ mother is the treasur’d earth,
But thou didst not inherit quite her rank.
CIRNO
Are not hawks the journey’s end for hatchlings?
Born were they with talons at their beckon,
Having sharper eyes for prey and slaughter?
Or as I suspect, are chicks through hardship
Made the hunters that we strive to envy?
REIMU
A hawk is destin’d by the Fates to fly,
As with the arrow drawn by archer’s hand.
Thy logic is the two-edg’d blade, by this
Thou prove’st thy fate is one of peasantry.
The fault, dear fairy, lies within thy stars
And thus thyself, a fairy underling.
CIRNO
Never will I have the bravest’s honor?
Nothing but a feeble rebel daughter?
I won’t have it! I will not believe it!
I’ve the title of the strongest fairy
So might I be seen as thy kind’s weakest!
REIMU
Know'st thou the fate that fell'd the Scottish king?
Continue on and such a fate’s thy end.
Thy kindreds of the lake send thee no love,
As do the hands of fate, which shall collapse
Shouldst thou continue with this stupid farce.
Begone! This fairy isn’t worth my words.
CIRNO
I am more than that! I’m only dreaming,
Dreaming of a fate that might be someday.
Maiden, say no more, for I will prove thee
That my power as an icy fairy
Isn’t just the talk of craven braggarts!
[They fight. CIRNO is slain.]
REIMU
She claim’d the power of the freezing air,
But here am I with shivers left to spare.
[Exeunt.]
Notes:
* The FAIRY is, by error, not listed in the cast.
Trochees
While the humans thus far speak in iambic pentameter, the fairies in this scene speak in trochaic meter. Trochees are the reverse of iambs, in which the stressed (read STRONG) syllable comes first, and the unstressed syllable follows.
IAMBIC: Missouri.
TROCHAIC: Misery.
* In terms of the first foot, at least.
Daiyousei and her fairy companion use trochaic tetrameter, where each line is four feet long. However, their lines are also often catalectic, lacking the final syllable. This references the fairies of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, who speak in such a manner. This also results in each line having literally less substance than Reimu's, meant to portray them as simpler-minded.
The exception to this is Cirno, who speaks in strict trochaic pentameter, with all trochees being complete. This meter is hardly ever used, probably for this reason: all of Cirno's lines end with a weak syllable, sometimes resulting in awkward phrasing. Cirno uses this meter because of her ambition to be powerful like a human. She shuns the speaking patterns of her comrades (which sound more natural) and instead attempts to emulate Reimu's, resulting in the pentameter. As Reimu points out though, Cirno can't escape her status as a fairy, and Cirno's remained use of trochees makes this evident.
Note that a trochaic line sounds most natural when it lacks the final syllable. Cirno's most natural speech would, by this logic, contain nine syllables. Attempting to read her lines as iambs will fittingly make you sound like an idiot.
The Royal We/Our
The plural pronoun is used by one of high office, such as a king or the pope. Macbeth, for instance, uses it when he becomes king after slaying Duncan. Cirno initially uses it when speaking to Reimu, but drops it once Reimu brushes her off.
"Strike now, while the metal's hot!"
An idiom, meaning to take advantage of a present opportunity. The original phrase is to "Strike while the iron is hot." Interestingly enough, the first use of this idiom predates Shakespeare's time.
"Yes, attack's the plan. Strike thus."
The beginning of a very long chain of puns. The fairy takes the idiom's use of the word to mean attack. Daiyousei then corrects her, telling her to strike, or cross out, that idea. Later, the fairy remarks that Daiyousei does not strike her as the cautious type, to which Daiyousei responds that if the Fairy doesn't have it [caution], she will literally strike her. Finally, when Reimu uses the word "afoul," the fairy interjects that she strikes out in that regard, using a baseball pun. Sampson and Gregory have a similar banter in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet, using the word "coal."
"Temper keep, but temper still."
In response to the fairy's act to strike, Daiyousei tells her to keep her violent temper, but then tells her to temper. The second use of the word refers to the tempering of a blade, connecting back to Daiyousei's line about striking when the metal's hot.
"Did you see that shadow there?"
A name drop. "Did You See That Shadow?" is the name of the title theme from Hisoutensoku.
"Mayhaps the undiscover'd country's yet the golder choice?"
The phrase "undiscover'd country" comes from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, representing what comes after death.
"I will beat my wings at her. Such disgrace if she doth bear it."
From Romeo and Juliet, again. "Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it."
"I humbly greet you curs, o loonish elves."
A less blatant name drop. Sounds similar to "Lunate Elf", the theme of EoSD's second stage. This stage.
"Nonsense. That was naught but nonsense!"
Though Daiyousei is well acquainted with puns, Reimu unleashes a storm of them, overwhelming her. She puns the phonetic similarity between mist, amidst, and missed, as well as site and sight, rhyming with light and night.
"Misery upon thy house, o miser!"
Cirno's first line makes fun of Reimu's lack of money, a common joke among the fandom.
"Do abandon hope for thou dost enter into here, our realm of septem's circle."
The famous line from Dante's Inferno, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," written on the gate of Hell. This is the ninth line of the inscription, and Cirno references the ninth circle of hell (nineball), which represents treachery. Though, she makes an error. Cirno uses the prefix -sept from the month of September, the ninth month, despite -sept being the prefix for seven. This discrepancy comes from the Romans, who added the months July and August, shifting the calendar forward by two months.
"Tis the lady of the lake!"
The Lady of the Lake is a common character in the Arthurian Legend, being the ruler of Avalon. Daiyousei uses the phrase to refer to Cirno, yet also seems to look down on her, calling her foolish. This serves to alienate Cirno from her own kind.
"And thine is of the dirt, as thou art too."
An insult. Reimu says she treats Cirno like dirt because that's what she is. Literally, Cirno is borne of the earth (nature).
"Are not hawks the journey's end for hatchlings?"
Cirno reasons with Reimu that weak things can become strong. She compares herself to the hawk, who trains itself to become a powerful hunter.
"Thy logic is the two edg'd blade..."
Reimu uses Rumia's line from Act I Scene 1. Rumia used it to justify attacking Reimu, saying that if Reimu considers her a beast then it is her job to attack. Reimu uses it against Cirno, saying that the chick becoming the hawk is a written fate, and Cirno's fate by comparison is to remain weak.
"The fault, dear fairy, lies within thy stars and thus thyself, a fairy underling."
Referencing a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings," which also lends the name to the popular book The Fault in Our Stars. Reimu uses the quote to argue the opposite, that Cirno being weak is written both by fate as well as her condition. She cannot become strong because fate decreed she be a fairy, and the destiny of fairies is weakness.
"Know'st thou the fate that fell'd the Scottish king?"
The Scottish king is Macbeth, who is slain by Macduff as ambition led Macbeth to his doom. Reimu compares Cirno to Macbeth, as Cirno is attempting to step above her lowly status.
[They fight. CIRNO is slain.]
Yes, she is actually killed. Do note though, that with the mist on the lake, Reimu compares the scene to Purgatory, and Cirno earlier makes the reference to the ninth circle of hell. Cirno is also a fairy, and in Touhou, fairies are immortal. To be or not to be is not a choice for her, a point that will become relevant shortly.
Comparison to the original text
Very few lines are similar to the original text. Some of Cirno's lines are even spoken by Daiyousei instead. But there's something serious that I wanted to say about Cirno's character, and that will be fleshed out in the next scene. Errors. If you find them, tell me. Thank you!
That said, I will likely burst out laughing if Act VII is renamed Act EXTRA.