Your Hamartia is Showing

Alyssa Jane Zelman

P100166851

February 9th, 2014

MDIA 1020

For years now i've been writing The Witch and the Unicorn.

A young witch runs away from her abusive parents to live alone in a meadow. A unicorn frequents the area. She becomes enamored with the beast. The unicorn is oblivious. A mysterious black-eyed man befriends the witch and offers to help her impress the unicorn. Eventually, the witch realizes that she had been holding the unicorn up on a pedestal and ceases her pursuit. The tale could at first be mistaken for a love story, but it is closer to a coming of age story. The witch gains self respect and stands up for herself. I haven't finished it yet.

The witch's fatal flaw, or Hamartia, is the fact that she puts too much of her self worth into what other people think of her. Back in her village her parents neglected her. In a fit of postpartdum depression, the witch's mother strangled her, permanently damaging her voice. Another time her mother and father used magic to transform her into a cat and tried to sell her at the village market. As a cart she befriended a rooster who helped her transform back into a girl. Upon bringing the rooster home, it didn't take long for her parents to kill and eat him. The villagers scorn her and her family for being magic users. Despite all this, the witch does not hold resentment towards her family or the village for doing so. Her initial reason for running away was because she believed it would help her parents to not be burdened with her, not because she would be escaping an unhealthy situation. To call her low self esteem a character flaw is a bit mean but it's true. Her innocence and naivety only serve to further her down a bad path. I should hope readers pity and empathize with her.

The major turning point, or Peripetieia, in the story is after the witch almost accidentally kills herself. She is bathing in a pond, in a daze after a strange conversation with the black-eyed man. The unicorn arrives early, and, embarrassed, the witch sinks down in the water so that only her eyes are exposed. Her eyes have been strange ever since she was turned into a cat, so when the unicorn notices them, he mistakes her for an alligator or some such beast. He kicks mud at her and runs off, spooked. The witch has a panic attack and forces herself down to the bottom of the pond so she can scream without disturbing the area and nearly drowns. It is after she regains consciousness that she decides pursuing the unicorn is no longer worth it. This is a big step for her. She finally puts her own wellbeing above somebody else's approval. 

The Anagnorsis, or the big reveal, is of the black-eyed man's true motivation, which is hinted at in his and the witch's strange conversation. He's been nice to her throughout the story, but the reader is supposed to always feel vaguely creeped out by him, so the fact that he turns out to be devious won't be too much of a surprise. He's sort of like an evil plastic surgeon, but with magic. He's always been a bit pushy when it comes to helping the witch change parts of her body. First he compliments her and makes her feel adored, then says something like "oh what a shame you want to get rid of your voice, i'd be happy to have it", planting the idea in her head that she can change. It's revealed that her changes weren't free (foreshadowed by the witch using her magic at a cost earlier in the story), and that the black-eyed man intended her to pay with her heart. The witch finally stands up for herself and calls him out on manipulating her, which jumpstarts the rest of the story wherein she must figure out how to reclaim the parts of her body that the black-eyed man has taken, and return to the village with her new attitude.

The major turning point, or Peripetieia, in the story is after the witch almost accidentally kills herself. She is bathing in a pond, in a daze after a strange conversation with the black-eyed man. The unicorn arrives early, and, embarrassed, the witch sinks down in the water so that only her eyes are exposed. Her eyes have been strange ever since she was turned into a cat, so when the unicorn notices them, he mistakes her for an alligator or some such beast. He kicks mud at her and runs off, spooked. The witch has a panic attack and forces herself down to the bottom of the pond so she can scream without disturbing the area and nearly drowns. It is after she regains consciousness that she decides pursuing the unicorn is no longer worth it. This is a big step for her. She finally puts her own wellbeing above somebody else's approval.