Possible character names

for my female antagonist

By Jessica Doran

MARY

• ‘’The poet Byron deemed Mary a 'magic' name, and the song proclaims it 'a grand old name.' Mary has always been a good-girl name, as reflected by such mid-century icons of propriety and wholesomeness, Mary Poppins and Mary Tyler Moore. The lovely Lady Mary Crawley of Downton Abbey has restored some freshness to the name.’’

MARY

• The name Mary is a highly religious connoted name that can both be symbolic of the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalen. This religious inter textual link would complement my concept of ‘The Forest of Sin’, as it combines religion once more. It adds more of a ‘sin’ to my female antagonist by naming her Mary because it suggests her purity and virginity when really the focus is upon the sins that surround her and how her paranoid self is pushing her to commit a final crime/perhaps act of murder. The name Mary therefore demonstrates the female antagonists wish to stay true, but her actions go completely against this due to her struggle with her illness.

• Mary the mother of Jesus was described by God as “highly favoured” (Luke 1:28). The phrase “highly favoured” comes from a single Greek word, which essentially means “much grace.” Mary received God’s grace. This would add irony to my female antagonists past because she truly receives no grace and is essentially trapped in her ‘Forest of Sin’. In addition to this, nowhere in Scripture does Jesus, or anyone else, direct any praise, glory, or adoration towards Mary. Elizabeth, Mary’s relative, praised Mary in Luke 1:42-44, but her praise is based on the blessing of giving birth to the Messiah. It was not based on any inherent glory in Mary. This demonstrates the lack of power Mary as a character holds and will reflect this onto my female character through the connotations of the name. For example; her mental illness puts her in a position of weakness at times because she is not in control. My character is also never praised, nor noticed on the outside world and this is how she comes to the conclusion that everyone she is close to is against her. She has a history of isolation because people feel they don’t need to praise her but really she feels alone and her illness is part of this.

‘’ Mary recognized that she needed the Saviour. The Bible never says that Mary was anyone but an ordinary human whom God chose to use in an extraordinary way. Yes, Mary was a righteous woman and favoured (graced) by God (Luke 1:27-28). At the same time, Mary was a sinful human being who needed Jesus Christ as her Saviour, just like everyone else (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 6:23; 1 John 1:8).’’

LUNA

• The moon is a feminine symbol, universally representing the rhythm of time as it embodies the cycle. The phases of the moon symbolize immortality and eternity, enlightenment or the dark side of Nature herself. This connotation demonstrates the light and dark sides to my female antagonist, and her ability to switch from the two so easily. The dark side of Nature perfectly represents the ‘Forest of Sin’ and consequently the differentiation between good and evil. For example it is the middle ground between the light of the sun and the darkness of night, and thus often represents the realm between the conscious and the unconscious. In addition to this, the moon can reflect inner knowledge, or the phases of man's condition on earth, since it controls the tides, the rains, the waters, and the seasons. In the case of my female antagonist, this connotation will reflect her control over the video and the idea that the audience is viewing the different stages of her recent life/ how she has seen her life. This also creates a sense of irony as the truth is in fact that her character completely loses control of her life. The idea of this presents a sort of empathy in the sense that her name maintains the image of control and her illness makes her lose most of the word. In astrology, the moon is a symbol of the soul, and in the horoscope it determines the subject's capacity for reflection and adaptation. By naming the character Luna, it thus suggests a sense that we are reflecting on her soul/ looking into it. This links to the concept of ‘The Forest of Sin’ by creating the connotations of ‘judgement day’, the audience is judging her, just as the bible would be.

AMARA

• ‘’Strong, attractive, stylish, and multicultural this name is also the Esperanto form of Mary--in the misbegotten language that was once the hope for a completely international form of communication. The African meaning we list is the best-known and the one many parents reference when choosing the name. But Amara is also a Sanskrit name meaning immortal and a Mongolian name meaning peaceful, and is the Italian word for bitter (same root as Maryam and Miriam) occasionally used as a first name in the Latin countries. A true multicultural choice enjoying some popularity in both the U.S and the U.K.’’

• The fact the name Amara has so many contrasting meanings in different languages I something that particularly appeals to my character’s persona. Her schizophrenia makes her personality sometimes confusing and can go from one extreme to the other. Furthermore, the idea that in Mongolian the name means peaceful and yet in Italian is means bitter, can connote these two extremes of her character. In addition, it gives the connotations that her character can translate as many personas. Her emotions completely vary throughout the music video and so the idea that the name Amara has so many different translations could demonstrate these differentiating emotions, bitterness, peaceful, strength.

REASON WHY THE MEN HAVE NO NAMES:

• I have deliberately chosen to name each of the male characters ‘Anonymous Man no. 1, 2 and 3’ in order to give them the suggestion of the unknown. As the video is giving a portrayal of how the female antagonist views them, by making them anonymous it gives the suggestion that perhaps they aren’t actually real and are just in her head. I want there to be a suggestion of what the female character’s mind is telling us is completely in her head and is occurring as a product of her schizophrenic illness. I feel that by giving the men specific names I create too much of a specified personality for them it doesn’t allow room to suggest to the audience that their characters are not in fact what we are being told.

• I could potentially have given them male names connoting the type of Sin I am trying to demonstrate through each of their flashbacks. However, I feel this labels them directly as the causes of the female antagonists growing madness and this would be wrong, since the real cause is her schizophrenia.