Friday, December 9, 2011

Archetypes - The Second Scarlet Woman


When Michael first sees Apollonia, she is dressed in a purple/ red dresses similar to the color scarlet.  She has this power and control over Michael even after their first encounter he was speechless and wanted to marry her.  Coppola almost made this symbol of the scarlet woman too easy for the audience to detect.
Michael was in awe at his first encounter with Apollonia.  He was unable to speak, or do anything.  One of his body guards said to him “in Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns”, but Michael didn’t care.  He was hypnotized by Apollonia and he had to have her; he had to marry her.  
Apollonia is characterized as a goddess.  Her name is similar to Apollo, who was a greek god.  She also “struck [Michael] like a thunderbolt” (Coppola).  Only a god or goddess could have that much power to hit somebody with lightning.  This is similar to how Apollonia mesmerized Michael and how she had control over him.
The control Apollonia had on Michael at their first encounter, was similar to how the scarlet woman rides the devil.  The scarlet woman is knows to have power and manipulate the devil, who in this case would be Michael. Fabrizio, one of Michaels guards, even said Apollonia “would tempt the devil himself”.  This statement is applying that Apollonia is a temptress and plays the role of the scarlet women and the black goddess in Michales journey.  
The black goddess is know for distracting the hero during his journey and for leading him astray. I think that Apollonia has distracted Michael but not majorly.  Michael was hiding in Sicily when he happened to find Apollonia who he married and she joined him in hiding.  Apollonia didn’t cause any troubles to Michael in regards to the mafia and Corleone family.  I think that the death of Apollonia is going to distract Michael.  He has lost his wife and now I think he is going to focus more on revenge then the actual task of settling his family’s business. 
I think Michael will return back to America and want to kill all the other members of the Tatalia family.  The death of his wife, of his black goddess, has lead him astray to the wrong path.  He now wants revenge while his original aim was to end all the problems the Corelones were facing.  
Vito said that “this war stops now”, but I think Michael will continue the war until he can get over the death of his wife.  I think the death of Apollonia will bring about Michaels ‘downfall’ in the movie, or when he wants revenge over anything else.  
When Michael returns to America, I think he will reunite with Kay.  It is interesting that Kay is blond and Apollonia was a brunette.  The archetype of the white goddess states that she is a “good, beautiful, usually blond” woman.  The white goddess, who may be Kay in this movie, is intellectual and religois, accoding to the archytepe. If Kay is the White Goddess, then she may help Michael overcome his difficulties and continue his journey to become the Godfather. 

No comments:

Post a Comment