#tfw ur analyzing something else entirely and end up writing this

[huxleypearl]

gotham loves to use music as a narrative device. for example, “eventually” by brenda lee plays when isabella dresses up as kristen. lee describes how her memory will eventually haunt the dreams of the person (presumably a former lover) she is addressing, which is quite apt for the situation.

when oswald and katherine meet, a piece from the opera dido and aeneas plays in the background. the opera is based off of book iv of virgil’s the aeneid. i’m not terribly familiar with virgil, so i did some digging and found a synopsis of the opera. while i recommend reading the entire synopsis (it’s not very long), i’ve quoted the most interesting parts below.

“Dido fears that falling in love will make her a weak ruler, but Belinda points out that even great heroes find love. When Aeneas enters Dido's court, Dido still has reservations and greets him coldly. Finally, her heart warms up to the idea and answers his marriage proposal with a yes.“

“Deep within a cave, an evil sorcerer crafts a plan to bring destruction and calamity to Carthage and its queen, Dido. He calls in his apprentices and divulges his evil plot with instructions for each of them to carry out and execute. His most trusted elf will disguise himself as the god Mercury in order to tempt Aeneas into leaving Dido.“

“Back at the palace, Dido and Belinda are unable to find Aeneas. Dido is overcome with dread.“

“Dido's grief is too great, and she knows she will never recover. She gives into fate's cruelty and resigns herself to die from her broken heart.“

respectively, oswald and ed are analogous to dido and aeneas. the evil sorcerer is a little more difficult to pin; it could be katherine, strange, or the man in the bathrobe the shaman. mercury is isabella, as she is the one who tempted ed to leave (she even “disguised” herself as kristen at one point).

now, we all fondly remember how it took oswald some time to warm up to ed, so that’s pretty straightforward. the marriage proposal point gets sticky, because this is where the synopses for both the opera and the epic conflict. the above clearly states that there was a marriage proposal. however, other versions argue that it’s more of a “the witches/gods made it rain so they could trap dido and aeneas in a cave, and virgil kind of alluded to them hooking up, but both are confused as to whether or not they’re actually married.” 

but! while there was no marriage proposal, ed did almost immediately propose that the two kind of work together after he rescued oswald. oswald eventually accepted. (and i’m reaching for the sky with this stretch, but oswald was trapped in ed’s apartment for a while; before that, he hid in that trailer due to the snow)...

oswald being overcome with dread because he’s not sure of ed’s location is something of a recurring theme (but things seem to be looking up, what with him pounding back vodka and declaring, “i will not run from ed nygma.”)

being stubborn, oswald is not one to actually die from a broken heart. however, after he was shot and pushed into the water, [obi-wan voice] from a certain point of view... he kind of did. something something metaphor.

(i wasn’t originally going to include the below because both points are only vaguely related, but i can’t resist imagery. remember how ed followed oswald through the forest because he noticed someone had stolen food from his picnic?)

“Dido and Aeneas, along with their large hunting party, stop within the forest grove to rest after spending most of the day hunting.”

“Belinda orders the servants to prepare a picnic for the royal couple using the game that was hunted earlier.”

i thought it was amusing... but i’m easily amused, lmao.

to wrap up the opera summary, here’s something ominous to keep in mind for later...

“Aeneas confirms but tells her he will defy the gods and stay with her. Dido rejects him, unable forgive his transgression against her. He was willing to leave her, and despite his resolution to stay with her now, she cannot get over it and orders him to leave.“

so, that was the opera summary. because i’m one of those annoying people who Need Answers Immediately, i poked around for a synopsis of the source material. as mentioned earlier, several of them don’t quite agree, especially regarding the marriage. 

i picked schmoop’s interpretation because 1) it’s funny and written in layman’s terms and 2) i’m of the opinion that summaries with a sense of humor tend to have a better understanding of the material (but i digress). again, i’ve included the most relevant points below.

“Things go according to plan, the magic happens, and Dido begins to see herself and Aeneas as married. (Notice a certain lack of symmetry?)”

“Mercury heads down and finds Aeneas supervising the construction of Carthage's walls, all the while sporting some fancy-pants Carthaginian duds.“

“Dido then gets troubled by a bunch of weird happenings. For example, water blackens on her altars, and wine turns to blood. Voices seem to arise from the shrine of her dead husband.“

“She prays that his mission will fail, and this her people and his will become enemies. (We know from subsequent Roman history – i.e., the Punic Wars – that her wish will come true.)“

i think these are pretty self-explanatory, lmao.

anyway, that’s pretty much it. i have a few thoughts concerning where this could lead (which primarily involves a HUGE reversal of fortune for ed), but they’re like... wisps of ideas, lol.

and, of course, take this with a grain of salt. the writers could have picked this song because it sounds like fancy rich people music, lmfao.