Ooh, we’re nearly at the end of the first book. I’m quite proud of myself for
sticking with this and now that the first book is nearly out of the way I’m
looking forward to making my way through the others. I’m also looking to the
future and thinking about the series of books that I think I’m going to tackle
later on, once I complete the Series of Unfortunate Events books.
What Happens?
The children wait backstage until Olaf has them hustled into their costumes.
Justice Strauss is revealed to have the genuine wedding ceremony to read during
the play, in order to make it ‘realistic’. Violet and Klaus try to convince her
to change things around a little but she declines. When they are almost ready to
go onstage Mr Poe shows up to wish the children good luck but Olaf shows up
before they can tell him what’s going on.
Thoughts as I read:
Chapter Twelve’s picture shows a leg peaking out from behind a curtain.
Before you get excited, it’s not a particularly nice leg. It evidently belongs
to Count Olaf because at the end of the leg is a bare ankle with an eye tattooed
on it (fifty-two). While the leg is the thing you are supposed to be looking at,
I think that the shading on the curtain is fantastic.
Violet and Klaus are waiting backstage, still in their night things, watching
the preparations for the show to begin. On the one hand they’re feeling slightly
doomed, on the other hand they’re quite interested in what is going on around
them. If Count Olaf was a different sort of person, i.e. a nice one, they might
have had a positive experience with him, perhaps getting involved in his theatre
work.
There’s a lot of activity going on around them, people are carrying things,
moving things, Olaf is practicing his lines. Despite being interested, the
children wish they were somewhere else. It’s at this point that we discover that
the play has not only started but we’re already at the end of Act 2. Count Olaf
announces his displeasure at the fact that the children are not yet in their
costumes.
The two white-faced women force them out of their night clothes and into
their costumes. We’ll just move right on past the fact that the children have
been unwillingly stripped and go straight onto the fact that their costumes
aren’t very nice. Violet’s obviously in an imitation wedding dress, while Klaus
is made to wear an itchy sailor suit.
Justice Strauss shows up at this point and she’s enjoying the experience.
Klaus notices that she has a small book which is revealed to contain the actual
wedding ceremony, the pretext for this being to make the play realistic but
obviously the reader and the children know that the real reason for this is
because Violet and Olaf are actually supposed to be legally married by the end
of it so that Olaf can claim her fortune.
Violet seizes the opportunity to get them out of the situation and suggests
that Justice Strauss muddle up the ceremony slightly, Klaus agrees with this,
after all, it’s not a real wedding so it doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately
Justice Strauss is determined to follow Olaf’s instructions to the letter and at
that moment is called away to get her make-up put on, which greatly excites
her.
Violet’s dress then gets a flowered headdress, completing her transformation
into a not-so blushing bride. She and Klaus try to come up with another way to
get out of the play but before they can come up with anything Act Three is
announced and the children are rushed out of the dressing room.
Before they step out onto the stage, Olaf’s bald henchman reminds them that
if they try anything Olaf will make use of the walkie-talkie to drop Sunny off
of the tower. The children are resigned to the fact that there is nothing at all
that they can do to escape now.
It’s at this moment that Mr Poe shows up, rather unexpectedly, just as the
bald man is telling them ‘You’d better do exactly as planned’. Mr Poe states
that he’s sure the Baudelaires will and that he’s brought his wife, Polly, to
watch the show. I can’t help but think that Polly Poe is a bit of an unfortunate
name (this book series is full of unfortunate events), her maiden name must have
been pretty bad for Poe to seem like an acceptable alternative.
Klaus is understandably surprised to see him there. Poe meanwhile is more
pleased that the children seem to have adjusted to life with their ‘new father’.
Klaus tries to use this opportunity to reveal that everything is about to go
terribly wrong but Olaf chooses this moment to appear behind them, brandishing
his walkie-talkie. For once Mr Poe isn’t completely useless, but that’s only
because he isn’t given the chance to be, Klaus wisely decides to thank Mr Poe
for all his help and then watch him leave, after telling them to ‘Break a
leg.’
There’s a brilliant bit where Klaus whispers to Violet that he wishes they
could actually break a leg and Olaf tells them that this is a distinct
possibility. He’s so evil and there’s never anyone around to hear it!
Both children are taken to their positions on the stage, separated from each
other so that Klaus can only watch as Violet stands next to Olaf and the play
resumes. We are told that the play is really boring and not particularly good,
chosen solely for its usefulness in the fact that it features a wedding and so
allows him to marry Violet relatively easily.
This whole section is told from Klaus’s point of view as he looks around the
stage, at the audience and at Justice Strauss who appears to be quite nervous
about her first appearance on stage. At last they actually get to the marriage
vows portion of the play. First Olaf says ‘I do’ and then it’s Violet’s turn.
There’s a tragic sort of moment when Klaus witnesses Violet shudder as Olaf
speaks. How awful to know that in a matter of minutes your fate and that of your
family will be sealed and there is no way out. I’m sure I could say something
here about the horror of child brides being married unwillingly to older men
around the world as well.
Violet has no choice but to say ‘I do’ as well. Klaus watches as Violet is
handed the document to sign to make it official. This is it, the moment that
their doom is sealed. Klaus is threatened by the bald man, as though there’s
anything he might do at the moment, especially with the risk of his action
harming Sunny.
Instead Klaus is just made to watch as Violet takes the pen and prepares to
sign, her left hand trembles as she holds the pen and writes her name…
Do you see where this is going?
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