It is common for me to see questions about rope and rope-symbolism in Rule of Rose forums.
There is LOTS to be written on this topic because rope and rope symbolism appear often, and in many different contexts, throughout the Rule of Rose game. And I think that there are many different ways in which ropes and rope symbolism are used.
In this post, I’ll propose a hypothesis about just one way that I think ropes are used in the setting of the airship. This doesn’t mean that I don’t think that there are other meanings or uses for ropes that occur in the airship or elsewhere. But in this instance, I propose that the ropes represent spider-webbing.
In the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter, if one enters Sector 9 Turbine Area (coming from the Sector 8 cargo Bay) , and then go straight ahead up to where the door of the Port Livestock Room is on your left (you will have passed, on your right side, the area where Jennifer found Brown tied up in the “Unlucky Clover Field” chapter). Now turn right, so that you are facing the Starboard Livestock Room door. From this point of view, you should get the best view of rope that is representing spider-webbing. Look at the ropes just to the left of the door of the Starboard Livestock Room as you approach that door.
In the center of the web, is a “knot” that I propose represents a trapped creature (such as insect) that has been wrapped round with webbing by the “spider”.
What does this mean? Why is this shown to us?
I think that it has to do with the idea that the airship is the orphanage transformed. See my post on this topic: Jennifer Through the Looking-Glass (part 1).
The spider-webbing actually exists as spider-webbing in the world of the orphanage, but it has been “transformed” into rope in the airship world.
Is there an additional point being made here?
I think so.
I brought up the point, in my post The Unluckiest of Days, that time is messed up in the November chapter of the game.
I suspect that time is messed up in many of the chapters, and I think that this might be an indicator that time is messed up in this chapter as well.
Spider-webbing in the orphanage might indicate a time after Martha has “disappeared”, because now nobody is cleaning the orphanage. But Martha was present in the orphanage during at least part of November, and the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter is called October. Remember, however, that we see Martha attacked by imps in the April chapter (“The Unlucky Clover Field”), and we see Martha bound and bagged in the July chapter ( “The Bird of Happiness”). I don’t think that the months assigned to chapters have much meaning.
So I think that we should consider the possibility that some of the events in this chapter might relate to a time after Martha has “disappeared” from the orphanage.
However, the possibility that the ropes-as-spider-webbing have a symbolic purpose needs to be considered too.
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Just now added the final sentence about possible symbolic purpose.
hmm…here’s what i think…
the knot in the center is Jennifer…
and the other ropes connecting to one another to the knot are her memories, all mixed up but somehow connected…
Hello there.
I’ve been reading through the archive and I find it all very fascinating.
On several occasions, several characters are seen tied with rope. Jennifer on multiple occasions, the Jennifer-rag doll, Brown, the Mr. Hoffman boss, Martha and the Clara boss. I’ve also noticed that Jennifer is tied with rope after or during the transitions like the Funeral transition when she wakes up in the ‘airship’. I’ve also noticed that the door in a part of OUAT where the Aristocrats are waiting for Jennifer is also wrapped with rope or something resembling it. Rope is usually used to keep something restrained in someway, so it’s possible that the rope could represent Jennifer’s subconscious efforts to keep her memories locked away.
And there’s also the way all of them have been tied up as well. Jennifer and her ragdoll have always been tied up against a pole of some kind. She’s forced to be kept in place and is at the mercy of her captors, which could relate to Wendy’s attempts to keep her Prince. Hoffman-boss is shown with rope all over his torso, especially around one of his arms and his face, though he is free to run around hitting people with his stick. Martha is shown bound from head to toe, as with Brown except he’s suspended in the air, possibly alluding to the sacrifices the other orphans have made. Clara-boss, as mentioned in previous entries has her lower torso bound tightly with rope to make it look like a fish’s tail.
The spider web could be a metaphor if one was to stretch it enough. Webs are used as not only traps to capture food, but it’s also doubles as the spider’s home, much like how the Aristocrat club and their games were used by Wendy to provide a sense of normalcy in the orphanage after all of the adults left, but it was also used to an her attempts to lure and capture Jennifer to keep her as Prince Joshua.
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Long comment is loooooong. XD Hopefully this didn’t come out too redundant.
Oops! I reviewed the gameplay video of when Jennifer is running around in the orphanage and killing the imps and I realized it was the door to the inner court that was tied up with rope. Silly me, posting at 2 or so in the morning.
Hmm i like your idea HolyMoocow.
It is true that the rope is very important in this game (remember when the imps through the rope on Jeniffer after she returned the bear? well, they had hands too, but i remember rope) Though, that part never made too much sence for me
Could also mean that none of them were free, all of them had to yield to certain contraints.
Also, Jennifer’s past won’t let go of her, she’s trapped, bound to remember. Towards the end, when it gets clearer what had happened back then, do I err or does the number of ropes increase? This could mean that it’s getting harder and harder for Jennifer to struggle against remembering the truth.
I don’t know if it’s at all related to this, but I know that the Freudian/Jungian interpretation of spiders and webs where they appear in dreams is as a representation of the negative aspect of the female archetype. (Entrapping, controlling, devouring, etc. etc.) Although, poking around some dream-interpretation-y sites, they can also signify good luck, industriousness, and female power, among other things. I wonder, if the web/ropes do relate to Martha, if they represent that the only maternal figure in the children’s life was not entirely a positive one. It would fit in with the whole witch thing, as well.
Anyway, just thought I’d toss in that bit of information. Don’t know if it makes any sense in terms of the game, but…there it is. This blog is fascinating! Thanks for illuminating this game!
Welcome, honestartifice!
I thought the airship was the children’s “playplace” at night when they read about it taking off. The ropes were to, i’m guessing, “hold” the ship together when it disappered.