If We Were Villains

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

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Summary

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I, Prologue-Act I, Scene 6

Act I, Scenes 7-12

Act II, Prologue-Act II, Scene 8

Act III, Prologue-Act III, Scene 8

Act III Scenes 9-18

Act IV, Prologue-Act IV, Scene 6

Act IV Scenes 7-10

Act V Prologue-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Shakespeare’s Plays and the Elizabethan Theatre

Shakespeare’s plays and their themes are ubiquitous motifs in the plays. The novel features and quotes plays, including Julius Caesar, Pericles, King John, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Richard III. The plays act as narrative and plot devices and add depth to the novel’s themes and characters. Often, characters use their roles to convey their feelings for each other; Oliver, for instance, lets his jealousy of James and Wren show through his lines as Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet. The text also features several staples of Shakespeare’s plays, such as letters, secrets, and tragic flaws. Characters receive letters that change their lives, such as the letter that assigns Richard a marginal role in Macbeth and James’s last letter to Oliver. Characters are defined by a fatal flaw that leads to their downfall: Richard’s anger, Oliver’s naivete, Meredith’s vanity, and James’s obsession.

Elements of Elizabethan theatre, the period during which many of Shakespeare’s famous plays were written and performed, are braided into the fabric of the novel. Elizabethan plays did not shy away from violence, intrigue, revenge, and bloodshed. They also featured big, dramatic emotions such as passion, lust, jealousy, and obsession. At the peak of the Elizabethan theatre, the stage tended to be open. This is mirrored in the Halloween scene in the novel, where the beach serves as the stage.

The Lake and the Beach

Dellecher is built around a lake, the picturesque location functioning as a stage for its students. In the beginning of the text, the beach and the docks are a symbol of pleasure and carefree joy. The group often lounge by the dock, or strip and jump into the water. However, as the play proceeds, the lake, the beach, and other natural elements in the novel begin turning sinister and ambiguous. This parallels the use of natural elements as portends in Julius Caesar, when the skies rage and storm as if predicting the death of Caesar. Oliver notes that in the run-up to Halloween, “the skies were bruised and stormy” (68). Gwendolyn describes the weather as “Scottish” (68), a reference to Macbeth, which is set in Scotland. After Richard tries to drown James in the lake, the lake itself changes from a benevolent entity to a dark force. Oliver notes that it’s difficult to ignore the lake after that incident, describing it as “lurking”.

Further, Richard’s death occurs in the water. James strikes him by the docks, and Richard’s body is discovered in the lake. After Richard drowns, the lake becomes a menacing force. When Oliver looks into its dark mirror, he sees he is beginning to resemble Richard. The conflation of the lake with malevolence signals the change of mood in the novel. In truth, the natural elements are neutral; they appear menacing only because the characters are troubled. The water and sky remain indifferent to their misery, which bothers Oliver. Even as the students suffer, the water continues to sparkle and the sky remains as blue as ever. Oliver notes: “what liars they are, the sky and the water. Still and calm and clear, like everything was fine. It wasn't fine, and really, it never would be again” (99).

Blood

Blood occurs both as motif and symbol in the play. As a motif, it represents the visceral nature of violence. As Camilo tells the fourth-years, blood and gore, omnipresent in Shakespeare’s plays, are not mere stage tricks. They are signs that fights in real life are “ugly” and emotional (56). The frequent bloodshed in the novel thus reflects the heightening of emotions. The copious amounts of realistic fake blood used during the Halloween performance represents the increased blurring of stage and real emotion as tensions rise with the group. Soon enough, the real bloodshed begins, with Richard drawing blood from James, Meredith, and Oliver as his anger grows. Later, it is Richard who bleeds, “blood bubbling vivid red on his lips” as he dies in the lake (180). After Richard’s death, the blood continues to appear: in Oliver’s dreams, on scraps of fabric, and on the old, rusted boat hook. James hurts Oliver until he bleeds and cuts his hands on a mirror.

As a symbol, blood represents rage and guilt. The persistence of blood in the second half of the novel shows that, forensically and metaphorically, blood cannot be hidden. Though Richard is dead, the guilt of his death haunts the fourth-years. Their hands are forever stained with Richard’s blood. The novel borrows the symbolism of blood as guilt from Shakespeare’s plays. In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony describes the hands of Caesar’s killers as bloody, in the sense that they are forever stained by guilt and betrayal. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife and co-conspirator, cannot get rid of the imaginary blood spots on her hands after the murder of King Duncan. Similarly, Richard’s blood haunts the friends even after his death.