I’m walking in the dark, on my own, through the path…suddenly, this mortal woman appears, is this a kind of Hegelian idea about existence? I presume so, this woman sees me, talks to me, I’m here, I exist because she can see me, I can see her.

The mortal woman is the only appearance of another person in the story: "I am a simple woman. A musician of the court.", wrapped in red cloth. We do not seem sure if she is mortal or not although she insists she is: “I am not a sorceress or mage”. Why do we doubt her? When we meet her the story of the enchanting forest seems very distant and we instantly become interested in her lute and, if we want to get to the end of the story, we end up stealing it from her. The only other human object in the story is the Luminous Dome which although seems to be the main focus of the story, quickly slips away from our minds and in fact, we never discover what it is or why it is there. The woman seems to be a reminder of the mundane world, for although we see her as strange and wondrous we quickly only become interested in her dulcimer and having it for ourselves, after which we «awaken in a mundane world without mystery and wonder».

[Introduction] [Time references] [Analysis of time] [Conclusion] [Second Paper]

Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Ana Cuenca Montero
acuenmon@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press