LIZ GOTAUCO: OSCAR WILDE, MAID-OF-HONOUR

MORE LIZ GOTAUCO!! She's also done some Oscar Wilde for last year's Pride Month, and the Loveliest of the Queen's Maids-of-Honour (whom she calls a "gorgeous lady of the court") also makes an appearance! She gives the character an eighteenth-century powdered wig, while the rest of the cast wear setting-accurate Victorian clothes, and a diamond necklace! Total Marie Antoinette vibes...

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NARRATOR: ...the palace, where a gorgeous lady of the court was stargazing with her lover.

GORGEOUS LADY OF THE COURT: Just wait till you see what I am wearing to the ball! I told the seamstress to embroider passion-flowers on the hem...! Ugh, that lazy peasant better finish it in time...

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So, the lover, MY FAVOURITE OSCAR WILDE CHARACTER AND THIRD FAVOURITE FAIRYTALE CHARACTER (after the prince and princess in The Snow Queen), who is introduced stargazing with his lady of the court fiancé on the palace balcony as a romantic and passionate young man, saying "How wonderful the stars are, and how wonderful is the power of love!" (an Easter egg I frequently have my romantic and passionate male characters say in my fics/translations!), is MENTIONED by Liz (as "her lover"), but both his face (he would wear a Mozart-style powdered wig and a classy cravat) and his romantic and passionate line ("How wonderful the stars are, and how wonderful is the power of love!") are ENTIRELY ABSENT, making him an arlésienne / ghost character and the contrast with his materialistic girlfriend disappears. I am DISAPPOINTED (even though I adored her Snow Queen retelling!)

LITTLE MERMAID MANDSDRAGT (MAN'S SUIT) GALLERY

Sara Boero's analysis of the vestito maschile in La Sirenetta brought me here... (see the previous post!)

This is my collection of illustrations of the Little Foundling (Little Mermaid as a human) in the mandsdragt / man's suit she wore to climb mountains and ride astride a horse. Many of these have an eighteenth-century setting and feature her in breeches and low ponytail, while some of them have a medieval setting and she sports hose on her legs and a Joan-of-Arc-style bob haircut:

Peter Madsen (original Danish)
18th century style (tricorn hats, queue/ponytail, cravats, waistcoats, longcoats, knee-high breeches)
they seem to be wearing a uniform (same colour scheme and garments)
his queue (18th-century low ponytail) is tied back and he wears a tricorn hat - she's bareheaded and lets her hair flow free (slipknot queue?)
the prince's kingdom here is a sultanate -- but her man's outfit and his own coordinated ensemble look far more Europeanised

JOSELYN PALOMINO
... la llevó a conocer lugares que no hubiera podido ver por su cuenta, la vistió con hermosos vestidos, pero también le hizo un “traje de hombre” para que ella pueda cabalgar como él (hay que recordar la época en la que fue escrita la historia, esto estaba mal visto y más para la realeza), ...
(Joselyn Palomino is surely commenting on the Enrique Bernárdez translation, because Enrique Bernárdez, Spanish authority on Andersen, has "un traje de hombre": Mandó que le tejieran un traje de hombre para que pudiera acompañarlo a caballo). 

Also interesting it is to regard this mandsdragt in regard to the taboo on crossdressing in Deuteronomy 22:5, the very same source that led to the execution of Joan of Arc. The human royalty in Den lille havfrue is as little religious as the human royalty in the Fourth Story of Snedronningen, another evangelical tale by Andersen.
PS. This taboo on crossdressing in Deuteronomy 22:5 is still kept by Jehovah's Witnesses and similar organizations in our days.

Also interesting is to see this mandsdragt in the light of the little foundling/mermaid being an avatar of the author and the prince an avatar of his patron's son, social superior, and unrequited love Edward Collin. Ah, unrequited gay love and recursive crossdressing!
Sara Boero also says that the things the little foundling and the prince do together (ride astride horses, on excursions in nature, climbing mountains) were things more likely to be done by TWO YOUNG MEN (whether a couple, friends, or brothers) together in the nineteenth century, and that Andersen and Edward Collin surely did those things together....

Interview on the mandsdragt ("breeches" here) with a fairytale author, Cassandra - touches queer themes and the author's queerness:

I'd love to hear if any part of the fairy tale resonates with you. What moment in the many versions of the tale of 'The Little Mermaid ' touches your heart?

SANDRA DERMARK: The fact that the prince had breeches sewn for her so she could ride on horseback like him and follow him mountaineering is my favourite part/moment. Male critics like Jacob Bøggild say he is doing it to protect himself as a betrothed straight male from sexual temptation (seeing her as a boy means friendzoning), while female feminists like Maria Tatar and yours truly focus on the freedom that this gender transgression gives the little maid in page's breeches when horseback riding and mountaineering. What is your humble opinion on this aspect of the tale?

CASSANDRA: Thanks for this interesting question. I actually see this moment in the story as signalling both of these things: the little mermaid's expanded personal freedom and the Prince's refusal to treat her as a romantic interest (similar to the earlier moment where he allows her to sleep on a silk pillow outside his doorstep, like if she were his pet). It's interesting to me because it also relates to the story's theme of transformation, hinting at a gender fluidity which has been noted as part of the story's subtext - a fluidity which was appealing to the author but would not have been accepted by the readers of the time if put in more explicit terms. Without writing an essay on the subject, that is my take.

SANDRA: thanks for you seeing both sides of the story across the binary and even the gender fluidity/queering. Also if we take the Little Mermaid to be an avatar for bisexual Andersen himself and the Human Prince as a counterpart to his patron's son and unrequited love Edward Collin, who married a society girl for power and friendzoned Andersen, this detail of the breeches in the Little Mermaid original tale can be understood even through a queer lens!

In both Peter Madsen and Christian Birmingham, unlike in the Victorian Cecile Walton, the bridesmaid/little foundling/ex-mermaid wears skirts when about to kill the prince on the honeymoon yacht.

Note the secular sensualism here (my own translation straight from the Danish):
"... the lovely bride who was sleeping with her head on the chest of the prince, ... ... the prince, who in his dreams mentioned his bride by name, only she was in his thoughts, ..."
Note also how Peter Madsen has drawn them sleeping back to back, contradicting Andersen, unlike Christian Birmingham and Cecile Walton!

Christian Birmingham (Naomi Lewis translation)
18th century style (queues/low ponytails, brocaded longcoats), the land kingdoms are European (Mediterranean)
both of them bareheaded, sharing the same queue hairstyle
her longcoat has something gown-like about it, but seeing her side by side with him it's obvious that it's the same cut of male courtier dress - accompanying Naomi Lewis translation reads "a boy's suit" - "He had a boy's suit made for her so that she could go riding with him on horseback."
the prince wears a rapier, while the little foundling is unarmed - also, his overcoat is gold brocade while hers is either silver or no brocade at all.

In Peter Madsen, Lars Gabel, and Christian Birmingham (the latest: here), unlike in the Victorian Cecile Walton, the bridesmaid/ex-mermaid wears skirts when about to kill the prince on the honeymoon yacht. And the sex position of the prince and princess in bed is much more like that in the original Andersen (see above!)

Cecile Walton, who sets the story in the Middle Ages, gives her former mermaid a Joan of Arc air (short pageboy haircut, doublet, foot-high leg hose/tights). This illustration, from the 1910s.

Though quite long-haired, she wears a matching doublet and tights/longstockings/leg hose with her prince and rides astride her horse, like he does, in this Victorian illustration by A. Duncan Carse, who, like Cecile Walton, sets the tale in the Middle Ages with falconry and all.
This illustration is the earliest I can find of the little foundling (ex-mermaid) in man's costume or man's outfit or boy's suit.

Lars Gabel (original Danish, 2019) sets both of the story's land kingdoms in Southeast Asia. While the merfolk look entirely Celtic (except the witch who looks like a Deep One from Innsmouth).
While the prince's attire is more traditional in a topknot and tunic, she wears a more 18th-century-European-looking ensemble with a queue (low ponytail) hairstyle and no tunic on top. To his reds and purples and the hairpin on his topknot, she wears pink and light orange, and is bareheaded. Still she wears breeches and a male-coded hairstyle, which coupled with her androgynous physique gives the idea of "en mandsdragt." 

"Mandó que le confeccionasen un traje masculino para de ese modo poder acompañarlo a caballo". Benjamin Lacombe for Clásicos Ilustrados Edelvives, early nineteenth-century Nordic European setting, Spanish translation by Alejandro Tobar (straight from the original Danish) has "un traje masculino". With short fiery hair and a long nose, this little foundling, even as a mermaid, resembles the author Andersen himself; this resemblance is intentional.
The ensemble here is casual, consisting of a white shirt, cobalt blue doublet or waistcoat, and violet foot-high trousers. Since the little foundling is taking her first footsteps on land and these steps feel as tricky as walking on glass, she walks barefoot. The short hair, in vogue among young males of the early nineteenth century, makes her look even more androgynous.
Lacombe's illustrations put the little foundling in "traje masculino" front and centre, since this is a queer version that focuses on the reading of the little foundling/ex-mermaid as an avatar of the author and of the human Prince as an avatar of his unrequited love and patron's son Edvard Collin, who married for power to Henriette Thyberg.
Significantly, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the most spirited maidens wore boyish short hair as well, inspired by the French Revolution's executions; this was called "coiffure à la guillotine!"

There are no erotic pictures of the royal newlyweds on their honeymoon yacht in the storybook (the text of "the princess with her head on the prince's chest" and all that jazz is left for the reader to imagine!), but this one of them boarding the vessel has, significantly, the little foundling holding the princess bride's wedding gown train (the face of the princess bride is never shown, making her a half-unseen character / arlésienne! She's just a silhouette because she's an intruder) while wearing "un traje masculino".
Time has passed and this little foundling is attending her master's royal wedding and honeymoon, hence why she has gotten used to walking on land and is wearing gold-buckled low shoes. The glitz of the occasion is also highlighted by her tailcoat and knee-high breeches. And furthermore, the whole ensemble is white or cream! She may still be a girl in boy's clothing, but she has been dressed sharply for a special occasion. 

Though the wedding picture showed her in shades of cream, here once more the little foundling wears her usual ensemble of cobalt doublet, white shirt, and violet breeches/trousers. Did she change on board, and why?
Or was it simply the lighting?

KISS THE GIRL
Otra Sirenita con pantalones, esta vez en una versión postmodernizada (de la serie Meant to Be) de romance entre jóvenes cantantes hispanxs/latinxs. Ariel del Mar y Éric Reyes.
Ariel del Mar formaba parte de un septeto pop-rock de fama internacional, Siren Se7en, con sus seis hermanas mayores, hasta que el padre (viudo o divorciado?) de las siete decide que cada una emprenda una carrera en solitario para sacarles más dinero. Ella quiere ser libre y no que controlen su vida...
Éric Reyes es un guitarrista bohemio, anónimo, hijo único, que toca su guitarra por placer y lleva una vida despreocupada. Lleva el tren de vida que a Ariel le gustaría vivir, aunque se siente muy solo...
Sus vidas se cruzan y ella le salva la vida a él, aunque comprenden que su amor es imposible. Y algunos sacrificios habrá que hacer para que los dos se acerquen (tranqui, esta versión tiene final feliz).

"By day he had men's clothes made for her to follow him on horseback." Translation and illustration by mangaka Sabrina Kaufmann from Luxembourg, from the Little Mermaid in her anthology Illustrated Fairytales.
Here the little foundling wears the same hussar-esque doublet as the Prince, whose blond hair colour she shares, as if both were in uniform, and he wears a cloak and épaulettes to signal his higher rank. Nothing is seen of them from the waist downwards but we can assume both are wearing breeches or trousers and riding boots. While the Prince is short-haired, the little foundling wears a ponytail, though a high ponytail, far girlier than the low ponytails or queues than we have seen in previous illustrations of the scene

Abitfrank, 2020: "men's clothes", explicación del por qué y que viven aventuras juntos

Dommnics or Dominic Bustamante, MerMay 2024. In his version her name is Iniya. The ensemble is peach and pink and has a décolletage. Still she is wearing trousers, boots, and a braided low ponytail. Her complexion is cinnamon or olive (vaguely South Asian). The land kingdoms in this version are free-love, gender-is-no-object, and ethnically diverse.

DOMINIC BUSTAMANTE, 2024
Continuing with my Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid designs, this is my take on the princess who the little mermaid ultimately loses her true love to. I've named her Abigail, and I just wanted her to look sweet and doll-like.
She wears pretty feminine Victorian gowns and hairstyles from Andersen's day and is Titian-haired and blue-eyed. Her Prince is a surprise we will soon be seeing

Dominic Bustamante, Dommnics
The prince-ss the Little Mermaid saved from drowning! A bifauxnen/otokoyaku East Asian young woman whose attire is a fusion of eastern and western influences. Her name is Mirae... yes the prince is female here, and they're lesbians (this is a queer millennial author)

WHALE STAR, Na Yoonhee. The retelling is realistic historical fiction set in 1920s South Korea, under Japanese rule. All the merfolk are human. Su-a (the Little mermaid/foundling) is an orphan maidservant who lost her voice after revolutionaries forced her to drink lye, which damaged her larynx badly. Uihyeon (Prince Charming) is a young revolutionary from a privileged family and with a chequered past, betrothed against his will to Haruko, a sweet girl of his rank and university friend of his, though he loves Su-a, whom he taught to read and write... 

Su-a crossdresses because there is a bounty on her head. A woman she steals rice and money from says to her: "Seeing as how you're dressed like a man, you must have some kind of complicated reason."
She is wearing a gavroche cap (under which she conceals her braided hair in a topknot/chignon), a scarf, white shirt, and long black trousers with suspenders, and an overcoat on top.

ROSALINE, GODOT, AND ALL THE OTHERS

So I am listening to Grimm Reading Podcast's Christmas Special 2021, just because it features "the decidedly Dickensian tale The Story of a Cat by Mary De Morgan." (as said by the podcasters themselves). I am always eager to listen to some old unsung Victorian literary fairytale, especially if it has been forgotten because of its author's gender and/or sexuality (in this case, it is only the former). As I listened, I found it hard to connect with the tale's leading gentleman because of his gender, old age, and insufferably misanthropic personality... "The Story of a Cat" failed to pique my interest until a secondary character, a male so-called "acquaintance," mentions an upcoming Cat Show and another character who is sure to make an appearance:

"...for the new Princess is quite crazy about cats, and she is coming to it (the Show), and it is said she doesn't mind what she gets for a cat if she sees one she likes."

So I waited with bated breath all story long for the Show... ever since the acquaintance said "the new Princess" and every "she" in that sentence he uttered thereafter. Here was a young female character I could relate to, as young and female and crazy about cats as I was! But there was no Cat Show and no Princess in the story except for that mention made by the acquaintance; everything was confined to the leading gentleman's townhouse, to my utter disappointment.

I was not the only one. Apparently the podcasters were disappointed too. I quote them: "We were promised the Princess at a Cat Show... and I was like WHOA! I wish we'd gone there, but ..." It was as if the podcasters had been reading my mind.

Nevertheless, "the new Princess" in "The Story of a Cat" by Mary de Morgan did something else aside from only being mentioned and never appearing in person/in the flesh; that disappointment did send me down a pretty interesting rabbit hole about fictional characters who share that distinction. The proper term, in narratology, is UNSEEN CHARACTER. And our one-sentence royal du jour is not the only one.

Anyone familiar with Romeo and Juliet knows that, before Mercutio spurred Romeo on to sneak into the Capulets' masquerade ball, the Montague scion was pining for a certain unrequited Rosaline, of whom we neither get to see hide nor hair, in spite of Romeo's praises of her. Rosaline is maybe one of the first unseen characters that come to mind and one of the most famous in the Western canon, maybe because she was the Bard's creation.

In Waiting for Godot, a series of characters while away the hours waiting for, well, whom else? Yet Godot never shows up; he is only mentioned by the rest of the cast, making him another classic unseen character. 

How old are unseen characters as a plot device? According to Wikipedia, already the Ancient Greeks wrote unseen characters. In Oedipus Rex, King Laius and the Corinthian royals Polybos and Periboea are prime examples. So is Jason's new wife (Creusa or Glauke, depending on whom you ask) in Medea. All of these characters are only mentioned, never make an appearance, yet they are crucially relevant to the plot of the Greek tragedies in which they are named.

A more recent example of unseen character in 20th-century mass media would be Mrs. Columbo. Lieutenant Columbo mentions his wife constantly, yet we never get to see her in the flesh throughout the TV series.

In French, unseen characters are referred to by the eponym ARLÉSIENNE, referring to the title character and love interest in a popular French play, who, just like Godot, happens to be an unseen character. The term has even trascended narratology into common everyday life: "jouer l'arlésienne," literally "to play the Arlésienne/the unseen character," means to be on everyone's lips/the subject of everyone's conversations without showing up in society. "Une arlésienne" is also an idiom for an event that is very expected to come, but that never occurs.

There are unseen characters and unseen characters, depending on their degrees of plot relevance: from tertiary or quaternary characters (Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet, or the new Princess in "The Story of a Cat") to titular roles (Godot or the Arlésienne) via hinge characters, ie vital secondary roles that cannot be disposed of (Jason's new wife, Laius, Polybos and Periboea): one can see them, just like the seen characters in their respective stories, as planets orbiting nearer or further away from the suns that are the stories' leading men and/or ladies. Also Mary Anne, the White Rabbit's human maid, is an arlésienne (though she appears in headcanons like Heartless, about the youth of the Queen of Hearts, or Unbirthday, in the Twisted Tale series!). Another ghost character would be the Dursleys' friend Yvonne, who is unable to babysit Harry because she is on summer holiday on Majorca.

According to Wikipedia, "Unseen characters are causal figures included in dramatic works to motivate the onstage characters to a certain course of action and advance the plot, but their presence is unnecessary. Indeed, their absence makes them appear more powerful because they are only known by inference. The use of an unseen character takes advantage of one of the simplest but most powerful theatrical devices: the manner in which verbal references can make an offstage character extraordinarily real [...] to an audience, exploiting the audience's tendency to create visual images of imaginary characters in their mind."