What's with that green dress?

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

“dressed for dinner in a cool green gown the colour of sage leaves, was the queen of Attolia. Embroidered around the neck of the dress was a ring of flowers, white petals on the green ground, with delicate leaves a shade darker than the dress." - QoA

Why does Attolia wear green for the hand-cutting scene when she almost always wears red? In the KoA scene with her, Relius, and Gen, it's mentioned her wardrobe is fairly uniform. Not to mention her official "crown" and symbol of her authority as queen is the matching Hesphestia-style headband with rubies.

Perhaps she wore a random green dress for the hand cutting scene to match Nahuseresh, who is said in QoA to have different sets of emeralds sewn onto his clothing by his valet. At this point, Phresine says he should wear something to match better with rubies/red. (This is before Chloe says “something that goes better with the beard” and gets sent out.) It was Nahuseresh’s idea not to hang Gen, and Attolia might have wanted to compliment him by matching his clothes at dinner. Or as a subtle hint she can still make queenly decisions when she’s not wearing less regal clothing.

 

The man who brings Eddis the news of Gen’s capture says Attolia is going to make Gen pay for leaving things around i.e. those matching ruby earrings. So she must have been very angry for some random messenger to pick up exact intentions like that.

 

She feels angry because Gen had the audacity to think he knows what she likes. Deep down she does like them (she admits it later on) but she can't wear them because she feels she's being mocked. So she wears green so she doesn't have to think about the matching earrings while she cuts off his hand.

But then again, she could be wearing her ruby headband with the green dress anyway, which would chuck this theory down the drain. But Phresine, Attolia’s most senior attendant does specify confidently that red rubies and emerald green don’t match!

 

Of course it’s possible her red clothes were all being washed… What do you think?

Comments

[ivorysilk]

I'm new, so hi--also, I had a bit of the opposite reaction--I wonder if the green, a colour associated with the Medean ambassador, doesn't signify his influence over Attolia. The softness of the colour suggests both a decrease in her power (red is a very powerful colour, and the sage green is not), and a softening of her personally--because her decision is not a decision of her own power. It's a decision of weakness she was manipulated into, and her weakness is twofold:

(1) A quick death of Gen would have been the merciful thing to do--for Gen, but not for her, esp. not if, as is later hinted, she may have subconscious feelings for Gen even at this point. A quick death is what Gen wants, and what Eddis is plugging for as the most merciful thing to do. Gen is a proud man, and a young man--maiming does keep him alive, but cruelly. Also, at this point, there is no guarantee she will return him, and she may well have kept him, maimed and locked in her dungeon forever. It's the decision that does not offend the gods or tradition, and this must be acknowledged--but it may have an element of selfishness attached.

(2) Her decision is weak for her country. It angers Eddis, and incites her to war. It results in great loss for Attolia--war is expensive, both in financial cost and in human cost. In this case, until they get smart, it weakens both Attolia and Eddis--exactly as the Medeans hoped. And she was, as is later acknowledged, very much manipulated into it.

Also, the other thing is that the dress is emphasized to be delicate and soft and girly. There are suggestions it reminds Gen of the girl he fell in love with years ago, and Attolia herself keeps associating this moment where she amputates Gen's hand with a powerful memory of childishness and emotion. In terms of Gen, this incident obviously marks when Gen grew up from boy to man, forcing him to accept limitation and loss--but it also kills his childhood fantasy of Attolia. Childhood and maturity is a theme throughout this book, and there is a very deliberate echo in this scene of a younger, less powerful Irene. At least that is what it suggests to me.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

This works better! I love what you said about the softening of her personality. She always thinks back to her childhood and that broken amphora at the same time too.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

Your descriptions of Attolia's weaknesses are right on and it must have about killed her to spare Gen, knowing it would make her appear weak, with repercussions that would last for years. MWT has said it was difficult to come up with a compelling reason Attolia would maim Gen but not kill him. Intervention of the gods is something Attolia couldn't ignore.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

I like it, especially the bit about childhood and age. I never thought of that as applying to Irene at this point as well as Gen, and I definitely see where you're coming from with the echoes of a younger, less powerful woman. That is a really great idea.

I'm not sure that what we're seeing in this scene is a decrease in Attolia's power, though. Is it? Just in really basic terms, she has ultimate power in this scene: she's physically destroying a man (boy? something?), as well as doing some pretty serious mental damage. And she can do that precisely because she has absolute power. Like a goddess, she can give punishment and healing at this point and reading it for the first time, her logic and motivations are incredibly opaque. I think that this is actually the point at which we see her most impenetrable, powerful, dangerous (and yes, simultaneously vulnerable...I love it).

Yes, the decision to spare and main Gen is a politically stupid one, but I think in many ways it's also an assertion of ultimate power. Unusual that someone as astute as Attolia would be self-indulgent enough to do something she likes despite its problematic political implications, but that may be another hint at fragility...actually, maybe she's also misread Eddis and her military. She may not have expected the war to be as bad as it was. We know Attolia doesn't really understand Eddis - she may have underestimated both queen and country, the way Sounis keeps doing.

Of course, this reading means that her decision not to dress like Hephestia is even harder to explain. Damn.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

So does that mean you're completely dismissing my theory, or does it mean I haven't expressed myself very well below? What I'm trying to get at is, Attolia decides not to dress like Hephestia because at that moment she is a)furious with Hephestia on some level for allowing her to capture Gen, and b)at risk of offending the gods with her actions -- thus not a good time to dress like one of them.

It is interesting that she owns the green dress in the first place, of course.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

No, not at all! I mean, I'm not dismissing your theory! Far from it! I was responding only to ivory_silk; your theory seems just about water-tight.

I totally agree, and I'd never even thought of Attolia refusing to dress like Hephestia because she was angry with the goddess until you said it. That's a really good point, and I can't add anything to it. I don't know where it fits in what I'm trying to articulate about Attolia, that's all. I'm just musing on about three different levels at this point because my brain has gone into overdrive.

No, I think you're dead right. Well spotted.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I never thought of it before, either. That's why I was hoping someone would say, "oh yes, Philia, how brilliant of you!" (Funny how rarely that happens...) In fact it has always bugged me why Attolia chose to put that dress on, and I've always wondered how many other dresses does she have, given that she likes to appear in public in the red as much as possible. I see lots of authorial reasons for the green dress, but I've never thought of a good character one before.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, Philia, how brilliant of you!! (an extra exclamation mark for cybercookies)

No, it actually is a really good point and you're right about needing a good character reason for that dress...I'd maybe thought she was dressed down for a private dinner - planning to have some soup and do some private thinking - but it's sort of silly reason. Yours is much better.

On the other hand, maybe Emerald is right and they're doing the wash. Who knows?

(Just out of curiousity, why'd you choose Philia? I keep wondering if you're a mad Sondheim fan or a Classics student...although for all I know, you could be both)

[(Anonymous)]

Ha! Traboule, I AM both!!! Or was (in the case of Classics student -- my student days being long ago now). I love Sondheim, and I didn't even think of the Philia connection with Forum until just the other day. I played in the orchestra for that show, and Philia was far from my favorite character! And I was a Classics major until I became a Linguistics major, lo these many years ago.

However, the reason I am Philia is that I have this very tiresome theory that Philia is the mystery goddess at the end of QoA. Everyone else disagrees, has heard this a million times, and is now yawning, so I'll spare you my long explanation.

Thank you for the "brilliant" remark!!!! (Even though I begged for it). We all need some cybercookies now and then. You're brilliant, too!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, shoot, LJ has changed some stuff and I keep forgetting that I'm not logged in. That was OBVIOUSLY me,
Philia

[traboule.livejournal.com]

I actually found your explanation through some basic LJ stalking - um, research - about three and a half minutes after I made that post. But it's nice to know I was right about the Sondheim and Classics as well. What a nice and multi-use name you do have.

I'm perfectly willing to believe Philia is the mystery goddess - I couldn't for the life of me figure out who that was, but yours seems a very good argument. Brilliant twice. :)

Thanks for the brilliance! I could use some of that today.

[ivorysilk]

Actually, that's a very good point. I hadn't thought of that--possibly, she feels manipulated not just by the Mede (who she can outwit) but by the goddess-the first question she asks Gen afterwards is if the gods are offended, echoing Moira, and empahsizing why, in part, she did what she did. Good catch.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I definitely don't think it's an underestimation of Eddis on Attolia's part--there's the scene when the Mede come to rescue her, and she has that little flashback to trying to explain the Eddisian fighting forces to Nahuseresh. I think she's aware of how powerful Eddis is, but confident that she'll be able to match her in power. Remember, the war starts out as a two-way one, until Gen sinks the Sounisian navy. I would almost, then, view it as a kind of dare--I've done this thing that's within my rights, how are you going to respond? And Eddis takes the bait and declares war.

Speaking of, what were the reasons behind the war? Fear of the Mede? Personal tensions/prejudices between two queens who rarely met?

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Ahem, Jade, maybe we need a separate post about the war? I imagine lots of folks would have something to say about that.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I'll do it in a few days, then. :-)