Aim: How can Ofelia and Tita transcend their

situations?Transcend: be or go beyond the range or limits of; to surpass.

“There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality

by imagination, as I try to do.”- Anais Nin

Ofelia’s Magical World Reflective of Harsher

Reality

• 3 Tasks Coincide with Real-Life Struggles• So far we have seen the Overgrown Toad

and the Pale Man.• Each reflects Captain Vidal – the source of

Ofelia’s harsh reality.

Overgrown Toad

• Engorged with food as he dwells in a dying tree

• Captain Vidal – has grand meals while he rations out food to villagers

• Both hoard resources and live off the death and suffering of others.

Pale Man

• Saturan devouring his son by Goya

• Based on the Greek myth of Cronus who feared that he would be overthrown by his children, so he ate them.

• He guards a banquet that is meant to tempt in order to ensnare innocent children into his trap.

• The depictions on the wall all include some kind of torture of children.

• Symbol of the Captain and other harsh adults.

• Another important point is that the Pale Man refuses the feast only to devour faeries and innocents.

Jung’s Collective Unconscious

• Carl Jung’s definitons:“…there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This

collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents.”

Antagonists & Archetypes

What examples of fathers, stepfathers and mothers have we read about this year? How

can they relate?

Captain Vidal as Evil Step-father

Mama Elena as Evil Mother

Cronus, Zeus… and Tita?In Greek mythology, Cronus, a Titan, was one of the dozen monstrous

children born to Uranus (father-heaven) and Gaia (moher-earth). Both Uranus and Gaia originated from the chaotic origin of things and their children inherited the fury of this genesis. The Titans were enormous in size and strength. Because his children were monsters, Uranus feared them and hid them in the body of his wife, Gaia, as soon as they were born. In a rebellious act, Gaia released her children and asked them to take revenge on their father. But only Cronus, the youngest and boldest of all, responded to his mother’s cry for help by castrating his father with a sickle and marrying his sister Rhea. As an oracle prophesied that a son of this union would overthrow him and Cronus became afraid of losing power and control, therefore he swallowed his children as soon as they were born, regardless of their gender. These children were the Olympians: Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera and Hades. However, with the help of Gaia, Rhea hid her youngest son, Zeus, and tricked Cronus by giving him instead a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Zeus grew up, and forced his father to regurgitate all his siblings. Then, Zeus led a war in which Cronus was defeated.

We understand how the Cronus myth is depicted in Pan’s Labyrinth, but how does it also connect to Tita?

Tita’s Act of Rebellion• “Tita felt a violent agitation take possesion of

her being…” - p. 99• How does Mama Elena react to the news of

Roberto’s death?• How does Tita react to the news of Roberto’s

death?• In addition to Roberto’s death, to what else is

Tita reacting?• Why does Tita leave the ranch the way she

does?• How can we compare the departure of Tita

with the departure of Gertrudis?