Notice (lower left) what appears to be a tipped-over empty wine bottle on the floor near the trash basket.

The Sick Bay seems to me to be an improper room in which to find a wine bottle. And, it also seems to me that, whoever is responsible for the tipped-over bottle being located where it is, they missed the intended “target” of the trash basket and didn’t bother to correct that miss.

The trash basket is adjacent to Mr. Hoffman’s desk.

Does this scene indicate that Mr. Hoffman had a drinking problem? And, if so, does it connect this drinking problem with his sexual activities with Clara?

In the “Once Upon a Time” chapter, Jennifer tells us, of her early days at the orphanage: “Back then, Mr. Hoffman was a kind and admirable teacher.” Jennifer also tells us: “He had tried too hard to be someone he wasn’t. The expectations were too much for him… and he wanted to escape those restrictions.” Could these statements tie in with the idea that Mr. Hoffman developed a drinking problem that changed his behavior?
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Thanks, Jay, for the screen-cap!
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But who does the snowman represent?
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Is the scene a foreshadowing of the hanging threat directed at Jennifer, related to becoming the “gift of the month”? Or does it depict the hanging of Mr. Hoffman as Sir Peter? Or the hanging of another “disappeared” person?

The structure of the gallows as two vertical posts, connected by a crossbar at the top, resembles the gallows that we are shown during the animation of the hanging of Sir Peter, but could that gallows have been used (or threatened to be used) on more than one occasion?

Does the location of the gallows in the freezing room of the airship indicate that the actual place of this gallows in Jennifer’s forgotten past was outside of the orphanage during a time of snow? We know that Jennifer experienced snow during her time at the orphanage because she tells us, in the “Once Upon A Time” chapter, in the foyer, at the umbrella stand:

“We never used umbrellas. On snowy days, we’d go out for snowball fights. On rainy days, we’d go out and play in the rain, and get soaking wet. Every time, Xavier would trip and get himself all muddy and we’d laugh. It was so much fun.”

The freezing compartment has a foyer, and the comment above about snow is made in the foyer of the orphanage mansion… is this a coincidence or is it a clue?

It is perhaps worth noting that the steps under the gallows noose do not lead to a door. Using a map to be sure that I was at the right location, I checked the other side of that freezing compartment wall (there is a corridor on the other side) and there is definitely no door at that location.
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Thanks, Jay, for providing the high-resolution screen-captures (via emulator).

Please rate it.

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A blog-post relevant to this video is The Frightened Princess Mystery.

See also the related video, comments, and related links to blog-posts at My Video: Was Clara in Mr. Hoffman’s Bed in the “Mermaid Princess” Chapter of Rule of Rose?

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There are a few editing flaws and rough edges in this video that I felt were too much trouble to fix. Sorry ’bout that.

Before long, she was old and decrepit.

See the time 9:28 in the YouTube video linked to here, Mermaid Princess video, to view that page of the storybook.

In terms of the surface level story of the storybook, the story of a mermaid princess, Stray Dog seems very out of place among the mermaids at the bottom of the sea. Why is he there?

The reasons that have been coming to my mind as possible answers relate more to the pattern of the inclusion of Stray Dog in the Rule of Rose storybooks in general—he can be found in most of them—than to any specific involvement in the story of Clara. So I think I’ll write up most of those ideas in a separate blog-post focusing on that pattern, as those ideas will relate to more than just this particular storybook.

On this specific page of the “Mermaid Princess” storybook, Stray Dog’s presence might serve to help us associate the underwater scene with the orphanage world, thereby encouraging us to identify the mermaids swimming in the background as the girls of the Rose Garden Orphanage.

For some reason, the mermaids of this storybook are not easily identified as particular girls of the orphanage: I don’t see Meg’s glasses, or Diana’s neck tie, for example, included to make such an identification easy.

Perhaps, if the mermaid-concept in this game can be said to relate to Hoffman’s lust, there is an idea conveyed symbolically here that Hoffman’s lust is without concern for the individual psychological needs and well-being of the girls, but just reduces them to generic objects-of-desire. See my blog-post Clara and Hoffman: Mermaid and Hare?.

I have another hypothesis about the “generic” quality of the mermaids, but I’m going to save that for “Part 5″ of this series, as it deserves a separate blog-post.

I have, in the past, proposed the possibility that Clara, dangling from a rope as the Mermaid-boss, might relate to her having been hung out somewhere as an offering to Stray Dog. If so, then I suppose that Stray Dog’s presence in the “Mermaid Princess” storybook might also relate to that idea.

What do you think is the reason for Stray Dog’s presence in the illustration drawn in the “Mermaid Princess” storybook?

Before long, she was old and decrepit.

Why should the mermaid that symbolizes Clara be spoken of as ever getting old and decrepit? Clara was only 16 years of age during the time that Jennifer is remembering in the Rule of Rose game.

Jennifer says, during the “Once Upon A Time” chapter:

I wonder if I’ll be like Clara when I’m older… Will I enjoy those days?”

Does the above question from Jennifer imply that Clara did not enjoy those days? Clara does not ever seem to me to be happy or playful in any scene of the game that we see her in. Does “old and decrepit” perhaps refer to Clara having lost her youthful outlook on life?

Why would it have been the case for Clara, that she would have lost her youthful outlook on life? I think that this is likely to relate Clara’s description in the Rule of Rose game as “the frightened princess”. I have written of some of the reasons that I think she was described that way in my blog-post: The Frightened Princess Mystery.

If Mr. Hoffman had sexual relations with Clara, this in itself might affect Clara’s mentality in an extreme way. Even more so, if the hypothesis is true that Clara had become pregnant and then had an abortion.

Comment-maker honestartifice recently wrote (in the comment thread of The Frightened Princess Mystery, comment #92):

Something I noticed that may back up the whole ‘Clara was preggers’ thought: In the Mermaid Princess storybook, on the page with the text, “Before long, she was old and decrepit,” the mermaid’s belly seems distended. Look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSgZARynq9E&feature=channel_page at about 9:21 for the beginning of the storybook, 9:29 for the page I’m talking about. I wondered if she always looked like that in the book, especially since in that image, all the other mermaids seem very slim and straight. Although there could be a slight bulge in her lower body earlier in the book (it’s hard to tell because her fin is bent) it does not look as pronounced as on that page. On the next page, after she has apparently died, she looks slim again.

This is a very interesting observation and interpretation of the changing body-shape of the Clara-mermaid in the storybook drawings. But the wide body-shape of the Clara-mermaid, in this drawing, is not so obvious a depiction of pregnancy that anybody has ever remarked upon it before. I can easily imagine a skeptic being unconvinced. What do you think? Is honestartifice’s proposed interpretation of the changing body shape of the Clara-mermaid in the storybook drawing convincing to you, or not?

When Jennifer finds Martha’s hat in that chapter, we see the text:

The hat worn by Martha, who was accused of being a witch.

And later in the “Unlucky Clover Field” chapter of Rule of Rose, when Jennifer finds a dirty rag, the voice of Martha (her invisible ghost?) says:

I was a mighty witch. Yet now, I am but a powerless wretch. Rubbish and dust.

It isn’t at all clear why Martha should be depicted as a witch in the Rule of Rose game. Could it be that we are meant to associate Martha, in some manner, with the witch of “The Little Mermaid” fairytale? And if so, what might that association be meant to tell us about what happened in the orphanage during Jennifer’s forgotten past?

The witch of “The Little Princess” fairytale is the one who facilitated the getting together of the mermaid and the prince. The witch did so by providing a potion which removed the mermaid’s tail and gave her legs.

The price that the witch demanded for her help was the tongue of the mermaid.

Could this be construed as a suggestion that Martha somehow facilitated the sexual relationship between Clara and Mr. Hoffman? And that Martha played a role in keeping Clara quiet about it?

Jennifer tells us, in the “Once Upon A Time” chapter of Rule of Rose:

“Clara was a quiet person. To me, she looked like just another student at the orphanage…except when she spoke to Mr. Hoffman or Martha. Then, she looked scary.

I have questioned whether the word “scary”, above, is a proper translation from the Japanese. Clara has been called the “Frightened Princess”, so perhaps “scared” is the word that should have been used. If so, why was Martha included with Mr. Hoffman as one that contributed to Clara’s fear?

Amanda wrote in her diary:

I tattled on Mr. Hoffman as they told me to do, but I failed again.

The above is a statement that many have argued is a mistranslation, saying that it should read “tattled to Mr. Hoffman (about Jennifer)”. But what if the statement is correctly translated, and Amanda meant that she had gone to Martha and told her about Mr. Hoffman doing naughty things with Clara? And that Martha wouldn’t act on this information. Is that a possibility?

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Click on this link for the text of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”.

A long, long time ago, the Mermaid Princess fell in love with a human prince. But for years, her love went unrequited.

The two accompanying drawings both show the Clara-mermaid alone, and a sailing ship on the facing page.

This echoes the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Little Mermaid” (1836). In that story, the mermaid protagonist also falls in love with a prince that she sees on a sailing ship.

How does such a situation relate to Clara?
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It would seem that the counterpart of the beloved prince, in Clara’s case, must be Mr. Hoffman.

In the Rule of Rose game Clara and Mr. Hoffman are always linked: only in “The Funeral” chapter can Jennifer be alone with Clara, but before Jennifer can leave Clara, Mr. Hoffman will enter and take Clara into an adjacent room.

I have made a case for the existence of a sexual relationship between Clara and Mr. Hoffman in the following blog-posts:
The Frightened Princess Mystery
Clara Naked in Hoffman’s Bed
Clara and Hoffman: Mermaid and Hare?

The idea that Clara loved Mr. Hoffman might seem at odds with some of the evidence cited in the first of the three links immediately above: Why is Clara the “frightened” princess if her relationship with Mr. Hoffman is one of love? Why, if she is in love, does Clara seem so reluctant and ashamed when, in “The Funeral” chapter, Mr. Hoffman takes her from the Sick Bay to the Sickroom?

The third of the three links immediately above may shed some light on this why this sexual relationship was depicted in this storybook as involving love. Clara may have, in the opinion of some of the other orphans at least, been thought to have accepted Mr. Hoffman.

As Clara is the mermaid “boss” that must be battled in order to complete the “Mermaid Princess” chapter of Rule of Rose, the mermaid on the cover of this storybook can be confidently identified as a fantasy representation of Clara.

Turning the page of the storybook, we see another depiction of a lone mermaid. This mermaid has large black spots where the eyes and mouth would be expected to be seen.

Does this second mermaid drawing also represent Clara? I think so.

As we will see later in this storybook, this second drawing depicts what the mermaid princess looks like when she is dead, when the storybook says: “all alone even on the day of her death.”

With regard to the black spots where the eyes would be expected to be seen, in this second mermaid drawing, it is relevant to compare the depiction of Clara as the mermaid “boss” as having dark empty sockets instead of eyeballs. See this short youtube video: Clara’s eyes.

Should we take the death of Clara as the mermaid princess of the storybook as providing evidence that Clara died at the orphanage during Jennifer’s forgotten past?
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In the “Once Upon a Time” chapter of Rule of Rose, Jennifer tells us: “One day, Mr. Hoffman suddenly disappeared. Clara and Miss Martha soon followed, leaving me and the other orphans alone.”

This statement of Jennifer’s has sometimes been misrepresented by people as saying that Hoffman, Martha, and Clara “left”. But “disappeared” is a word with more possibilities than “left”. One also can “disappear” due to dying and the body being disposed of.

What does it mean when the fantasy depictions of Rule of Rose characters die in the storybooks?

In the “Sir Peter” storybook, Sir Peter “bagged and whisked away” may depict the death of Peter the rabbit, or Mr. Hoffman, or both. See my blog-posts:
“Sir Peter” Storybook: The Story of Hoffman? (Part 1)
“Sir Peter” Storybook: The Story of Hoffman? (Part 2)
Did the Orphans Think That the Men’s Lavatory Was Haunted By Mr. Hoffman’s Ghost?

In “The Goat Sisters” storybook, the goats—representing Meg and Diana—are shown dead with Stray Dog standing nearby. And we know that Meg and Diana were indeed killed by Stray Dog during the orphanage massacre. See my blog-posts:
The Goat Sisters Storybook, Part 4, Mixed Message
The Goat Sisters Storybook, Part 5, Stray Dog and a Grimm Wolf

In “The Funeral” storybook, we see a buried bag that represents buried Brown.

In the “Stray Dog and the Lying Princess” storybook, we see the girls of the orphanage (other than Jennifer and Clara) killed by Stray Dog. And we know that Stray Dog did indeed kill the girls.

An exception, perhaps, might be the bird of “The Bird of Happiness” storybook. Eleanor’s prized red bird was, in fact, only a doll in Jennifer’s true past, and therefore couldn’t die. But might the bird might also be a fantasy representation, at times, of a person? Comment-maker “Cry” brought up the idea that the red bird might represent Eleanor’s father. I have suggested, as an alternative, the idea that the bird might (at times at least) be a representation of Hoffman, as the father-figure of Eleanor’s life at the orphanage. The death of the bird, in that case, might represent the death of Hoffman. And, as yet another alternative, I propose that the death of the red bird might represent Martha’s death. Martha, after all, had a red bird’s head drawn on the bag that went over her head when she was bound and bagged. I’m going to think more on this last idea, because I think I like it very much.

It seems to me that the death of a character in a storybook may be a reliable indication of death during Jennifer’s forgotten past. If so, then we may have, in “The Mermaid Princess” storybook, evidence that weighs against the idea that Clara abruptly left (traveled away from) the orphanage, and which supports the idea that Clara perished at the orphanage.

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In the web-page entitled Diana & Actaeon from The Classics Pages, I found some parts of the mythology of Diana (aka Artemis) which seemed to have a resonance with the story of Rule of Rose. Perhaps it is just coincidence, but perhaps there was an influence on the author(s) of Rule of Rose?

Some excerpts:

Diana (aka Artemis) was… virgin goddess… protectress of girls evolving from virgin to mother – and killer of women in childbirth.

If Clara became pregnant by Hoffman, I wonder how Diana felt about it.

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At her temple at Brauron on the east coast of Attica (Vravrona) – and probably also at her sanctuary on the Acropolis in Athens – young pubescent girls from all over Attica took part in the strange ritual of “being a bear” – precise details are unclear, but there’s some evidence that they played at being men for part of the time

In Rule of Rose, we have, in respect to “Joshua”, both the idea of girl as “bear”, and the idea of girls playing at being male.

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…the Actaeon myth is strange. The goddess – seemingly a grown woman, but paradoxically one destined never to reach menarche (the “eternal teenager” ) – is observed… by a… huntsman as she bathes naked… He stares in fascination and awe… Diana sees him… And so she turns him instantly into a stag – which his own 50 hounds then tear apart.

Might there be a parallel here? Was Hoffman’s behavior towards Diana interpreted by her as an affront to, and an assault upon, her virginity, and so she influenced the other orphans—who had been like his loyal dogs, competing for his affection and doing tasks for him—to turn against him?

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See also:
A Possible Significance of the Name “Diana” in Rule of Rose? (Part 1)
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I think that I have found some strong evidence against the theory that the forest scene at the end of the “Sir Peter” chapter of Rule of Rose might actually be the occasion of the hanging of Mr. Hoffman (see Part 1 of this series of blog-posts, and the comments there, for discussion of that theory). This evidence also argues against the “Mondays pea…etc.” chant being about Hoffman, Martha, or Clara.

At the end of that final scene, in the forest, of the “Sir Peter” chapter, Jennifer sticks a maggoty dead rat in Amanda’s face.

In Amanda’s diary, the following entry was made:

Sunday, June 1

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Those awful things got into my mouth!
She’ll be sorry the next chance I get.
But why me again?
What have I done?
(Working Class Luggage, “Rag Princess Sews”, Amanda’s Diary)

If the statement, “Those awful things got into my mouth!”, can be safely assumed to be a reference to the maggots getting into Amanda’s mouth when Jennifer thrust the maggoty dead rat into Amanda’s face, then we must date the forest scene to June 1, which is long before the time when Hoffman, Martha, and Clara disappeared (they were all present in the orphanage as late as November).

It seems to me that, unless we claim that two separate incidences were somehow mixed together in Jennifer’s memory (or we claim that the maggots were not the “awful things” that got into Amanda’s mouth), we must dismiss the idea that this scene, and the “Monday’s pea… etc.” chant, relate to the disappearances of Hoffman, Martha, and Clara.  A pity, as I had a shocking theory, to explain the plural peas in the chant after Thursday, that I was working on, but which totally goes down in flames with the June 1 date for this scene.

To view the forest scene, watch this YouTube video:  forest ceremony

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(to be continued)