October 2022 Prep Docs (Adherennium)

Day 25. Plot: Literary Devices

What if Maurice slept with Philomena, but woke up with Philip?

Having seen onstage that Philomena can change to Philip, this would perhaps not come as a great surprise to Maurice. Indeed, he might be reluctant to sleep with Philomena for precisely that reason. Philomena turning on all her charm as anima would be pretty impossible to resist. The point of such a scene would be to further challenge Maurice's notions of what is normal.


What if Maurice's love interest prior to the appearance of Philomena starts to take an interest in him, then sees him with Philomena?

No particular love interest has been specified for Maurice, though it would not be unreasonable for him to have a particular liking a woman. Logically this could be a neighbour, or more likely, one of the women who work at the theatre. Maybe a dancer that he sees as being beyond him, being too beautiful to be interested in him.


What if in Ancient Greece, Philomena showed Maurice the entrance to Plato's cave? Maurice is encouraged to stick his head inside, and does so, though Philomena holds his hand to retrieve him when he becomes engrossed.

This is about the problem of forgetting, and slipping back to sleep. Constant vigilance is needed to avoid getting drawn back into the 'real' world.

What if the Cairo Cat to demonstrate collapsing potentials, collapsed one where Maurice was a mouse?

This might force Maurice to expand and re-collapse the potential to escape being eaten. A valuble and practical lesson.

What if the Devil arranged for Maurice to play out the mythos of Osiris being cut up and distributed. Philomena takes the role of Isis, and collects and reassembles him.

This is a common theme in Shamanism. The potential shaman dies, and received a new body. Maurice is being initiated into Mysteries, and so his experience of this is perfectly reasonable.

What if the Devil and Hermes Trismegistus are both revealed to be Maurice himself?

False Antagonist - the whole point of all the deceptions and trials is to free Maurice from his ordinary expectations of reality.

What if Feast and Famine, (also known as Need and Greed), work a grift on Maurice to relieve him of something that he needs? This to illustrate that even someone skilled in deception, as a stage magician must be, is susceptible to being conned themselves. Or maybe to illustrate that things are not always what they seem?