The Names: The Significance and Humor Behind Them

[DarkPhoenix]

Ophelia Desdemona Foley: Ophelia and Desdemona are characters in works by Shakespeare. In addition, her last name and first inital can be seen as a pun: she's the firstborn in her immediate family, making her the "first Foley, O," or "first Folio."

Charise Marlow: "Marlow" is a reference to Christopher Marlowe, who was a popular dramatist around the same time that Shakespeare was.

Tacita: Feminine form of "Tacitus." Tacitus was a historian of the Roman Empire whose work is distinguished by a boldness and sharpness of wit whose sentences are rarely flowing or beautiful, but their point is always clear. The same style has been both derided as "harsh, unpleasant, and thorny" and praised as "grave, concise, and pithily eloquent". (From Wikipedia)

Gabrielle Gibson: Gabrielle is the feminine form of "Gabriel," the name given to the angel believed to serve as a messenger from God. "Gibson" is a reference to the Gibson guitar company.

Samuel Verona and his siblings: Lots of puns here. First of all, the last name Verona and Grant's last name (which he changed legally to Veneto)... Veneto and Verona are both located in Italy. Also, when putting the names of S and his two eldest siblings together, you get quite the pun: Felicity (Lissie) + S + Grant = Ulysses S. Grant.

Emily Alberta Desjardin: "Emily" is a reference to Emily Dickinson, while "Alberta" is a reference to Albert Einstein. Also, "Desjardin" means "of the garden."

Aiden James "AJ" Desjardin: His first name is a reference to the band Aiden.

Elphaba: Ophelia's cat. Named for Elphaba from "Wicked." It is noteworthy that the cat is sort of an oddity, much like the character she was named for; the cat is a Siamese with green eyes, and the character Elphaba has green skin. Hmm...



MORE TO COME

[Lychalis.]

I still think one of the reasons you chose S's last name is a reference to Romeo and Juliet
helllooo, set in Verona?
There never was such a tale of woe, as of Juliet, and her Romeo...
although in the end R & J ended up killing themselves so yeah, but in this case it's more S is Romeo (duh) and Dunstan is the capulets (I think? correct me if I'm wrong) and Juliet is Charise, but in this case, Juliet does not even know that Romeo loves her until quite recently...
also, in this tale of drama and woe, I believe we have reached the point of where Romeo was banished, aka, Dunstan has forbidden Charise to be anywhere near him on pain of (Romeos) death... oh yes, and Dunstan raped her to clinch it. Nice guy

[DarkPhoenix]

Now you're reading a bit too much into this, I think. You could legitimately draw a lot of parallels between the story and the Utena anime because I put them in there (Dunstan= Akio, Angela= Anthy, etc.), but there's no intentional connections to Romeo and Juliet.

[Lychalis.]

but you can still recognise it, especially with the way S is like with Charise, I quote from R/J 'see how she leans her hand upon her cheek? Oh, were I a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!' S is like that alot with Charise
besides, I never watched Utena, I'm not much with Anme, although it's cool either way

[DarkPhoenix]

Yes, but there's no intentional references to Romeo and Juliet. Given that I absolutely hate the play, I would be more likely to put in references to Macbeth or Hamlet or even Titus Andronicus. Also, just because R & J did it does not make it exclusive to them. For instance, in the book "Wicked," the character Boq is like that about Galinda. In "David Copperfield," David's that way about Dora. You get the point.

[Lychalis.]

true, but seeing as romeo and juliet is the only one I heard about out the three, I recognised it from that one, but yeah, I get the point
ah Macbeth... so nice and gruesome
'Out darn spot! Out I say!' Lmao

[DarkPhoenix]

In fact, there's one part where I quoted directly from "Wicked"... See if this sounds familiar:


"Does it mean that much to you?" She smiled wanly. "Boq, does she really mean that much to you?"

"She is my world," he answered.

"Your world is too small if she is it."

"You can't criticize the size of a world. I can't help it and I can't stop it and I can't deny it."

"I should say you look silly," she said, draining the last drops of lukewarm tea from her cup. "I should say you'll look back on this summer and cringe. She may be lovely, Boq-- no, she is lovely, I agree-- but you're worth a dozen of her." At his shocked expression, she threw up her hands. "Not to me! I don't mean to me! Please, that stricken look! Spare me!"

[Lychalis.]

is that wicked - the untold story of oz
or is it another wicked??

[DarkPhoenix]

"Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West." I strongly prefer the book to the musical, by the way

[Lychalis.]

oh that (so it is the untold story, yadda yadda, that's what it said on an advert on the train I take , huh might be going to see that, or cabaret... not sure, the girls in my class wanted it to be cabaret because apparently it has *gasp* full frontal nudity, lmao

[DarkPhoenix]

The musical is okay, but they changed a whole ton of stuff that was in the book. For instance, in the book, Fiyero is NOT a party-loving slacker. Plus, they made the ending of the musical happier (Grrr!) because God forbid we end a musical with sadness! Oh, and in the book, Nessa wasn't in a wheelchair; she didn't have arms (although I can see how that would be difficult to work with in a musical).

[Lychalis.]

'Plus, they made the ending of the musical happier (Grrr!) because God forbid we end a musical with sadness!'
you're right there, kind of, musicals with sad endings are usually called opera's...

[DarkPhoenix]

And here's one that I bet no one was expecting:

Graham: Named after the protagonist of "The Sleeper Awakes" by H.G. Wells (who, as you know, wrote "The Time Machine")