SH 0rigins: A Shakespearean Template?

[MisterGrey]

Playing through Silent Hill 0rigins, one will encounter a variety of ghastly ghoulies that spring forth from the mind of our protagonist, Travis Grady. A trucker by trade, he appears to us, in the opening stages of the game, to be the quintessential "good ol' boy," a hard living man trying to make his way in the world through honest work and honest living. He doesn't hesitate to rush into a burning home to save a child, and despite not knowing the girl, feels compelled to check on her well being by travelling to the hospital where she was taken. We are given little insight into Travis' intellect, however, until much later in the game: Artraud Theatre.

At two points in Artraud Theatre, the player witnesses what they believe to be flashbacks to Alessa viewing the play. The first of these flashbacks features the actor playing Prospero in "The Tempest," Tony, getting a nosebleed during a scene with Miranda. The second flashback is a soliloquy delivered by the actor playing Caliban.

At first glimpse, it is easy to accept that these are merely glimpses into Alessa's troubled past. However, upon further examination, the possibility arises that these are Travis' flashbacks, not Alessa's, and that they form the basis for his Otherworld.

Firstly, we must remember that the Otherworld in 0rigins belongs to Travis. This is not the Otherworld of SH1, Alessa's nightmare; the Carrion, Revenants, Twobacks, Momma, Sad Daddy, and Straight Jackets all recall Travis' own anxieties and fears. Too, once Travis finds out about Alessa's "fate" at Alchemilla, the remainder of the game, except, apparently, for the theatre, is about Travis recalling his time spent in Silent Hill as a child. Both the sanitarium and the motel were places that held traumatic memories for him. This is not Alessa's show-- she's just running it.

Why then, in the middle of the Travis action, would we travel to a place that only holds significance for Alessa? I don't think we do. I believe that Travis has visited Artraud theatre before, watched the Shakespeare company's plays, and that these plays helped form the basis for parts of his Otherside.

The most obvious influence is Caliban. Initially, it would seem that Caliban comes from Alessa's memory, not Travis'. The question then becomes, why is this sole creature from Alessa's mind stalking Travis, whereas all the others are his own manifestations? The nurse, straight jacket, and revenant all recall the mental hospital where Travis' mother was kept; the Carrion and Doubelback relate to Travis' anxieties on the road; The Butcher is Travis' repressed violent side. Caliban, however, appears to be from Alessa's mind.

Or is it?

In the theatre we are treated to a flashback of an actor playing Caliban. Caliban's flashback is a soliloquy about the beauty of his island home, and about how it is a place of such wonder that it inspires dreams even more wonderful, so wonderful that the fantasy begins to rival the natural beauty that inspired it in the first place; and that the fantasy is so strong that, even upon waking, and finding himself in such a wonderful place, he longs to sleep once more to find himself back in the real of his marvelous dreams. This speech in particular has been of interest to Shakespeare scholars when analyzing The Tempest, because Caliban, whether portrayed as a monstrous thug or a horny deviant, is still, at his simplest, an uncivilized savage; yet it's one of the most eloquent sections in the play, and seems incongruous to have such a philosophical, introspective speech come from the mouth of a wild brute. Special emphasis must be given to: 1) The fact that Caliban was chosen to be the basis for the monster, and that 2) This speech in particular was chosen to be recited before fighting Caliban. Pay special attention to the speech's content: Dreams vs. reality, confusing the two, and preferring the unreality to the real.

Apply this, then, to Travis himself. If Travis is, in fact, a serial killer, or at least a man with great inner violence, he is obviously one at least troubled by this aspect of himself. If it were not something that preyed upon his mind, it would seem unlikely then that the town would manifest The Butcher for him to defeat, and in doing so, conquer this aspect of himself. Just as The Butcher is the manifestation of Travis' "dark side," Caliban is a manifestation of Travis' repression of this dark side, his hidden acknowledgement of his capacity for violence, standing in juxtopasition to his more benevolent nature. Just as Caliban is an anomaly, so too is Travis, capable of both gruseome acts of violence and risking his own life to save a little girl from a burning house.

This theory carries over to at least two other creatures: The Twoback, and Momma.

Momma is quite clearly suspended inside of a gibbet, a medieval contraption utilized in public humiliation and capital punishment. Although the equipment at the sanitarium is hideously outdated and of questionable humaneness at best, we see no evidence that gibbets were used on any of the patients. Travis, then, must've manifested this aspect of the creature himself. The gibbet was used to punish murderers-- Mrs. Grady tried to kill Travis, so why Travis would choose to sum up his anxieties around his mother inside of one makes sense enough. Where did this imagery come from, though? In Macbeth, in order to show him his future, concoct a brew comprised of "grease sweateth from the murderer's gibbet"-- an old english phrase indicating the goo produced by flesh decaying off of corpses left to rot in the gibbets.

Less esoteric is the imagery of the Doubleback. In the play Othello, treacherous Iago, trying to ruin Othello's life, convinces him that his wife is cheating on him-- using the phrase "beast with two backs" as a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

I am not as familiar with Shakespeare as I should or would like to be; however, at least one of these creatures is pulled directly from Shakespeare, another probably so, and a third with at least the hint of a tangential influence. It is my belief, then, that the theatre stage holds for the game a special significance not for Alessa, but for Travis. The theatre is the entire foundation for Travis' Otherworld: The Shakespeare company's plays feeding his dormant anxieties. It makes sense, then, that this is where Travis finds the "Library," and reads books which reference his own mental state. Although his mind was shattered at the asylum and in the motel, it was at the theatre that his psyche was rebuilt into the fragile and possibly twisted state we find it in at the game's outset.

[AuraTwilight]

Wow.

Wonderful work as always, dude.

[SilentMadness]

You keep forgetting that the reason travis found the ticket that is needed because alessa needs him to pick up the fluaros pieces that is found all over the town. Besides, it seems obvious that the flashbacks are alessa since she experienced it that one fateful day when she snuck in, and Travis was just witnessing it through flashback. why would it flashback when he's there, who knows?
As for the monsters, isn't it possible that both can have mainfestations have the things they fear, for travis it would be the carrions, momma, and sad daddy while the rest are alessa's
Sorry if I sound like an ass but I'm telling you how I feel

[Harrys_Girl]

holy crap.

That is a very rock soild therory.That would sway me to believe that this how situation is just a veiw from the main character, if I hadn't already come to that realzation back in SH2. But it does shead some light on the flashbacks.

I only have one problem.

In the game, it appears that they are just starting their showing of The Tempest. They are just now making the costums. If it had been in play for along time, then shouldn't they already have all or most of the costums? But through a couple of letters were know that they are just now making them, so this would lead to the thought that the are just now putting it into production.

If this is true, it would mean that it had not been playing when Travis was young. It had only started production when Alessa was a child, and there is a decade or two between Alessa and Travis. So how then, can these manifastions be created from The Tempest, if it was not avalible for travis to see as a child? Could he have found other ways, perhaps read the book and in some comsic way happen back into the town when it is being played? Absolutely.

[jdnation]

Good stuff. I'm definately on board here. The confusion people may have can be cleared up this way... The theatre and memories of Caliban etc. are indeed related to Alessa. But the theatre's significance overall is largely to do with that of Travis. Silent Hill 0rigins is essentially dealing with two characters who are sharing their journey, Alessa and Travis and thus the creatures and otherworld are overlapping their experiences to create significance that pertains to both Alessa and Travis. In this case, Caliban is a creature that has both to do with Alessa's memory and Travis' inner demons. In much the same way that in Silent Hill 2 James and Angela both perceive a different form from the same creature.

[MisterGrey]

In re: The Tempest just now being played

Based on the fact that the director has seen The Butcher, and the Butcher is a manifestation of Travis', logically it seems that Travis has been in the vicinity of the playhouse recently. Additionally, the director indicates that he has been seeing The Butcher for some time.

Interestingly enough, all we know of the person who saw the play is that they were a "girl" playing "hooky." It seems then that it could very well have been Lisa, and not Alessa, who saw the play. I highly doubt it, but, it is a possibility left open.

In re: Alessa sending Travis to the theatre.

It would seem that Alessa had some modicum of control over where the Flauros pieces ended up; it seems highly coincidental that two of the pieces end up at two of the most significant places to Travis in Silent Hill... Out of all the possible buildings they could have ended up hidden at, in the entire town, they just so happen to appear in The Sanitarium and the Motel. These pieces ended up there by design, not accident; they were chosen for Travis. It seems to follow suit, then, that the theatre was chosen as well.

[Harrys_Girl]

The Director did say he saw something, that he called the Butcher, and at the sametime he holds it up to the Punisher, Pyramid Head. But at the same time we cannot say that James was there two and that the director saw PH because of James being there.

[MisterGrey]

Does he say punisher, or executioner? If it's the latter, then the imagery of "The Executioner" was not exclusive to James-- remember, James' template for PH was the town's executioners, depicted in the SH Historical Society. It's not much of a stretch at all to say that someone who directs culturally relevant plays probably also had visited his (rather small) town's historical society, and was familiar with the appearance of the historical Executioners. This is to what he is referring when comparing the Butcher; James, of course, could not have been in town at the time; I have to check the timeline, but he was either a child or not even born yet.

EDIT: Per Mockingbird's timeline, James would've been 11 at the time SH:0 occurrs.

[JuriDawn]

Now that I've played Origins, I can finally browse this forum! Yay!

My first thought regarding the theater flashbacks, despite the fact that previous flashbacks were clearly Travis's, was that they were Alessa's memories. This is because the actor playing Prospero, who was intensely disliked by the girl watching the rehearsal, suffered mysterious physical afflictions. This was further supported by the book that Travis finds in the old library that references astral projection as a means of assassination. Information uncovered in SH1 and SH3 indicates that Alessa could (and did) kill people "just by wishing for it."

The main problem I encountered with that reasoning is that I seriously doubt that a seven year old girl would skip school, leave the house without her (strict, insane) mother's knowledge, and be permitted to hang around a closed theater by adults who were completely unconcerned about her being alone and wandering the streets. Elementary school kids don't play hooky, but teenagers do, and adults would have little reason to be concerned for the safety of an unaccompanied teenager. Given Lisa's love of the theater, she could be the girl who snuck in and watched the rehearsal.

On the other hand, Alessa is shown kicking the Caliban monster after you defeat it. Every other time she shows up, she's always so subdued, so this action is certainly significant. I reread the director's diary entry and decided to stick with my first impression, that the "strange girl" was Alessa.

Playing hooky no doubt! Took pity, let her sit and watch the run through.

It's hard to imagine the intrusion of a teenaged girl inspiring pity. A lone elementary school kid, on the other hand, one could feel sorry for. Particularly if the director noticed anything about Alessa that her teacher recognized as possible signs of abuse.

Very useful feedback -- terrified by Caliban. . .

Who's more likely to be "terrified" by a man in a costume on stage, a teenager or a small child? I don't care how good the costume department is, I can't picture Lisa gasping and covering her eyes at the sight of an actor.

If we can safely assume that Alessa is the one who witnessed the rehearsal that ended in an actor's nosebleed, then by extension the flashbacks at the theater must be Alessa's, as that is the rehearsal that we hear in the first flashback. If they were Travis's, then one of two things would have to be true:
1 - Travis was at the same rehearsal at the same time as Alessa.
2 - The actor who plays Prospero ends more than one rehearsal with bizarre nosebleeds. One is witnessed by Alessa and one is witnessed by Travis.

Both scenarios are highly unlikely.

Also, the theater flashbacks are the only ones I can recall that don't actually show some presence of Travis as a child. In other flashbacks, you either see the child Travis or hear his voice. Of course, it could be argued that Travis witnessed these events recently, as an adult, but that in itself would be a huge break from the pattern of his flashbacks; they were all around a very specific period in his formative years.

Regarding the placement of the Flauros pieces:

it seems highly coincidental that two of the pieces end up at two of the most significant places to Travis in Silent Hill... Out of all the possible buildings they could have ended up hidden at, in the entire town, they just so happen to appear in The Sanitarium and the Motel. These pieces ended up there by design, not accident; they were chosen for Travis.

Don't forget the hospital. Two of the four pieces ended up in places significant to Travis. If one can end up in a place significant to Alessa, why can't another? Is it really so hard to believe that Travis only has significant ties to two places in Silent Hill?

I have more to add, but I'll add it later.

[MisterGrey]

Travis ends up at the hospital independent of the Flauros quest, however- he goes there to check on Alessa. He is technically only guided to three other places: Artraud Theatre, Cedar Grove, and Riverside Motel.

Now, this isn't to say that I'm saying "you're wrong, I'm right," I'm simply arguing my own theory-- which is exactly what I view it as, and nothing more.

EDIT:

Now that I've played Origins, I can finally browse this forum! Yay!

My first thought regarding the theater flashbacks, despite the fact that previous flashbacks were clearly Travis's, was that they were Alessa's memories. This is because the actor playing Prospero, who was intensely disliked by the girl watching the rehearsal, suffered mysterious physical afflictions. This was further supported by the book that Travis finds in the old library that references astral projection as a means of assassination. Information uncovered in SH1 and SH3 indicates that Alessa could (and did) kill people "just by wishing for it."

I think that the books are unique in that they draw a parallel between Travis and Alessa. Several of them appear to reference Alessa; however, after getting The Butcher ending, they also seem to indicate that they are in reference to Travis.

The main problem I encountered with that reasoning is that I seriously doubt that a seven year old girl would skip school, leave the house without her (strict, insane) mother's knowledge, and be permitted to hang around a closed theater by adults who were completely unconcerned about her being alone and wandering the streets. Elementary school kids don't play hooky, but teenagers do, and adults would have little reason to be concerned for the safety of an unaccompanied teenager. Given Lisa's love of the theater, she could be the girl who snuck in and watched the rehearsal.

On the other hand, Alessa is shown kicking the Caliban monster after you defeat it. Every other time she shows up, she's always so subdued, so this action is certainly significant. I reread the director's diary entry and decided to stick with my first impression, that the "strange girl" was Alessa.

Playing hooky no doubt! Took pity, let her sit and watch the run through.

It's hard to imagine the intrusion of a teenaged girl inspiring pity. A lone elementary school kid, on the other hand, one could feel sorry for. Particularly if the director noticed anything about Alessa that her teacher recognized as possible signs of abuse.

This is where my own questioning comes in: Would Alessa really run off to watch the theatre knowing her mom's a crackpot? Even at that age children can be aware that bad behavior=mommy does bad things to me. Children can be pretty good at weighing risk against reward; it's the entire foundation of discipline. At first glimpse, the director's note does seem to indicate Alessa, but I have to wonder if this is a red herring; the theatre seems to be full of them.

Very useful feedback -- terrified by Caliban. . .

Who's more likely to be "terrified" by a man in a costume on stage, a teenager or a small child? I don't care how good the costume department is, I can't picture Lisa gasping and covering her eyes at the sight of an actor.

Again, I would tend to think the same thing. Then again, maybe Lisa hasn't seen many horror movies and she scares easily. We never really do get to see what the Caliban costume actually looks like. If the Ariels are any indication of what the real doll looked like, however... Well, I'm a 22 year old man and thought they were damn creepy.

If we can safely assume that Alessa is the one who witnessed the rehearsal that ended in an actor's nosebleed, then by extension the flashbacks at the theater must be Alessa's, as that is the rehearsal that we hear in the first flashback. If they were Travis's, then one of two things would have to be true:
1 - Travis was at the same rehearsal at the same time as Alessa.
2 - The actor who plays Prospero ends more than one rehearsal with bizarre nosebleeds. One is witnessed by Alessa and one is witnessed by Travis.

Both scenarios are highly unlikely.

1 isn't actually that unlikely. It's a small town, one that Travis apparently frequents, and possibly even lives in. Travis has, apparently, some connection with the director; why else would the director be able to see The Butcher, apparently on a repeated basis?

Also, the theater flashbacks are the only ones I can recall that don't actually show some presence of Travis as a child. In other flashbacks, you either see the child Travis or hear his voice. Of course, it could be argued that Travis witnessed these events recently, as an adult, but that in itself would be a huge break from the pattern of his flashbacks; they were all around a very specific period in his formative years.

Another area that is problematic. No matter how you slice it, the theatre flashbacks are a unique break from the format of the rest of the flashbacks. The question becomes, then, why? If Travis saw these events, I do believe they were fairly recent, and not as a child.

[amphreded]

First of all, this is a great discussion, MisterGrey. Hats off to you.

I agree that the Artaud Theater centralizes on Travis more than Alessa. The derivative of the theater's name comes from Antonin Artaud, a French playwright, actor, and director who shares certain aspects with Travis. Artaud suffered from mental illnesses and stayed in a sanatorium, assimilating to Travis' (and Helen's) suggested lunacy.
Here's Artaud online biography if you are interested.

Although Artaud was usually condemnatory of Christianity, he defined the goal of the theater in spiritual terms. Its "sacred" goal, he claimed, is to communicate delirium whereby the spectators will experience trances and inspiration. Dramatic art induces as strong a delirium as a plague does. A true play, according to Artaud's concept, will disturb in the spectator his tranquillity of mind and his senses, and it will liberate his subconscious. Aristotle had emphasized especially the ethical power of the theater. Artaud intends to release its mediumistic force. If the theater is able to exalt man, it will drive him back to the mysterious primitive forces of his being.

Artaud's Theater of Cruelty has a philosophy striving to affect its audience intensely with the use of disturbing lighting, sound, and performance. It draws a relation to Silent Hill in term of psychological, metaphysical realism--deconstruction of consciousness. Both Artaud's and Silent Hill's concept revolves around reactivating infantile states of the brain--suppressing man's consciousness, enhancing man's primitive perplexity.
As for the flashbacks, I cannot logically decide whose is it. As you pointed out, Carrie, it does not sound plausible for an elementary girl to play a hooky nor Dahlia would allow such thing. Lisa could be the hooky, and her sitting in the audience chamber could signify that she was the girl. Plus the reason why she feared Caliban--even though she was old enough--could be because of drug abuse or provoked complexity. Artaud's plays made some of the audience physically sick, an example of how the mind could affect your body. The key word is some. A play does not affect all audience equally. Lisa could be one of those audience whose threshold of conscious tolerance is low due to genetics or hallucinogens. Perhaps this is why Lisa was lure into Silent Hill mess in first place.
Nevertheless, I do believe that those flashbacks are not Lisa's. I neither believe the flashbacks are solely Travis' nor Alessa's. From psychoanalytic frameworks, the flashbacks seem collective. Not precisely the idea of collective unconscious, but communally collective. The concept of multiple selves assumes that an individual could experience another's existence subconsciously. Split personalties. Anima, animus. In this case, I believe both Travis and Alessa have been to the theater. Their memories fuse together because of their shared personalities. Flashbacks sourcing from multiple individuals is psychoanalytically viable, especially in the realm of Silent Hill.
Of course what I just wrote was no concrete answer to the question "whose flashbacks is it?" but given the situation, metaphysical speculation is more fun than determining the real. The flashbacks are consolidated memory from both Travis and Alessa, who are counterpart for one another). Quite abstract, I know.
Also, in the Tempest, Caliban is a son of the witch Sycorax and a devil. If Sycorax represents Alessa, Caliban could signify Alessa's hardships during pregnancy and mutated child (i.e. God)--this fits with Alessa being terrified by Caliban.

More to add later.

[The Adversary]

Chapter 2: Repression & Coercion.

It is a fact well known to intelligence services and military agents: the more controlled a mind, the more a mind censors itself, the easier it is for outside influences to take hold and piggyback such mental programming.

This is why these agencies choose for their pawns those individuals most compromised by their own mental issues.

The outside influence is Alessa, "piggybacking" onto Travis' mind, thus creating the monsters.

Secondly:

Astral Projection: The Perfect Assassin?

...amongst the tribes who have developed the ability to control and focus their projections, there exists one that is feared throughout the whole community.

Their shaman claims to have the ability to kill with thought alone, projecting his desire to kill into the body of the victim...

The victim, again, is Travis, while the shaman is Alessa, "projecting [her] desire to kill into the body of" Travis.

[SapphireSerpent]

Your knowledge of Shakespeare is impressive. Your correlation between game sequences and the monster manifestations is quite interesting.

[MisterGrey]

Hmmm, well then... Alessa had seen The Tempest being rehearsed. If she is piggybacking onto Travis' mind, and thus influencing the way he sees the monsters, my theory is very well modifiable that the imagery is taken from Alessa's having seen these plays; that is to say, the idea for the monsters is Travis', but the way he sees some of them comes from Alessa's influence. The twoback is literally manifested into a "beast with two backs--" the kind of literal interpretation a child would have (anyone here grow up on Rugrats, where every adult expression was taken at face value by the kids)? The theatre is, obviously, important for some reason, and I think it's more than simply Alessa having freaked during a rehearsal and given a dude a nosebleed.

(Interesting side note: She gave the actor playing Prospero a nosebleed, not the one playing Caliban).

[The Adversary]

That is also assuming that it was Alessa that "snuck into the theater" and not Lisa.

[MisterGrey]

That is also assuming that it was Alessa that "snuck into the theater" and not Lisa.

True; but Caliban must either be coming from Alessa or Travis... I see no indication that Travis is channeling any of Lisa's fears.

[Krysta]

That is also assuming that it was Alessa that "snuck into the theater" and not Lisa.

True; but Caliban must either be coming from Alessa or Travis... I see no indication that Travis is channeling any of Lisa's fears.

Alessa. That boss, was actually 'her boss' she wanted to get revenge on him

[SapphireSerpent]

But, what if...They had replaced Shakespeare's variation with Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of The Red Death?! I wonder who Prince Prospero would be? Casting begins now.

[The Adversary]

>I see no indication that Travis is channeling any of Lisa's fears.
That's according to your theory that Travis is responsible for channeling anything.

[SapphireSerpent]

No two people witness the exact same surroundings in Silent Hill. But the real question now is, WWAED? (what would Albert Einstein do?)