Yes~ I think you're absolutely right that this is one of those examples of the King and Queen's shared dry sense of humor full of empty threats that works for them while sounding absolutely terrifying and appalling to everyone else outside of their relationship.
I'm sure Gen is laughing because he knows that she's joking but the court thinks she isn't. She exercises her dry, terrifying sense of humor a number of times similarly to this across the books (there's the other part of KOA where she threatens to have him flayed.
Her dominating, masochistic sense of humor, while abrasive to those who feel more sympathy for Eugenides, I appreciate its presence in the story. It makes sense to me. It's human nature to joke about things that we are uncomfortable with in hopes of lightening their weight. It shows that even though Irene's been historically capable of wrecking people literally in the exact way she jokes about it later on, she's not really comfortable with that part of her, and so regularly references it sarcastically. When all is said and done, she does so self-mockingly. For someone who appears on the surface to have so much pride, deep down we know she has painfully low sense of self worth. She brings up that part of herself in her sense of humor in hope of lightening it enough to heal from it. And I think Eugenides is helping her heal from it by receiving her "threats" as jokes and turning them into humor himself. There's a part in KOA where he says to Irene, ("loftily"):
"I shall throw something at you. You are embarrassing me in front of my attendants."
(As if any of us could EVER imagine Gen throwing something at Irene.)
I positively cherish how MWT describes her response to Gen. It's one of my favorite exchanges in the whole series. I LOVE the part right before it where MWT gently describes Irene starting to soften into what might be her first experience with truly unconstrained laughter (right after Gen describes just how jealous he was of Dite for having loved the queen too:.... "WILDLY."
*The queen's lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed, but even her control was not equal to the task, and she had to lift her hand to cover her smile and then duck her head. Her shoulders shook lightly as she laughed... The queen lifted her head, but kept her hand in place a moment more.*
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
The Wine Cup Scene...
Date: 5/6/17 03:05 pm (UTC)I'm sure Gen is laughing because he knows that she's joking but the court thinks she isn't. She exercises her dry, terrifying sense of humor a number of times similarly to this across the books (there's the other part of KOA where she threatens to have him flayed.
Her dominating, masochistic sense of humor, while abrasive to those who feel more sympathy for Eugenides, I appreciate its presence in the story. It makes sense to me. It's human nature to joke about things that we are uncomfortable with in hopes of lightening their weight. It shows that even though Irene's been historically capable of wrecking people literally in the exact way she jokes about it later on, she's not really comfortable with that part of her, and so regularly references it sarcastically. When all is said and done, she does so self-mockingly. For someone who appears on the surface to have so much pride, deep down we know she has painfully low sense of self worth. She brings up that part of herself in her sense of humor in hope of lightening it enough to heal from it. And I think Eugenides is helping her heal from it by receiving her "threats" as jokes and turning them into humor himself. There's a part in KOA where he says to Irene, ("loftily"):
"I shall throw something at you. You are embarrassing me in front of my attendants."
(As if any of us could EVER imagine Gen throwing something at Irene.)
I positively cherish how MWT describes her response to Gen. It's one of my favorite exchanges in the whole series. I LOVE the part right before it where MWT gently describes Irene starting to soften into what might be her first experience with truly unconstrained laughter (right after Gen describes just how jealous he was of Dite for having loved the queen too:.... "WILDLY."
*The queen's lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed, but even her control was not equal to the task, and she had to lift her hand to cover her smile and then duck her head. Her shoulders shook lightly as she laughed... The queen lifted her head, but kept her hand in place a moment more.*