Fragment 72 Insight

Designing this fragment was a pain, mostly because it had two stories going at the same time. I had to make a play, and then I had Shakespeare’s dilemma. I just hope it wasn’t too confusing considering the amount of temporary names thrown about, but I should have made it fairly clear. Picking the theme for both was easy though, because it revolved around one major point: Give Shakespeare a taste of his own medicine.

What better way than to have his tragedy “tragically” corrupted into a partial comedy?

That’s where the parallels get anchored, and there’s quite a few of them. I had fun mixing them while adding plenty of comical moments to the mix. There’s quite a few moments that go just right though, but it’s revealed why later. As much of a prankster as he can be, Merlin did grow a touch of consideration after Chaldea, as a collective, helped Arturia so much. That doesn’t say much for the rather crass other pranksters though.

The most difficult part was setting up the total “flop” of the finale, and the irony that Shakespeare was ultimately the one to make the critical mistake let it happen. Even if the play didn’t go as planned, a tragedy did occur in his mind… at least until he saw the standing ovation and heard the thundering applause. Obviously, everyone else thought otherwise, especially for “pushing” the newly formed couple together. That’s more than enough to drag him out of any ditch.

Lacing interactions in this was obviously trickier because most of it revolved around the play. It soaked up a lot of time, but I still made room to have an increased variety of people Shakespeare talked with. In particular, I wanted to make sure Amakusa and Hans were two of them for obvious reasons, but I also wanted to drop the idea Merlin and Shakespeare get along rather well.

Overall, Shakespeare didn’t really need any extra “developing” so to speak. He’s been a good addition in Chaldea, and fits in rather well with his own eccentricity. It was just a matter of him needing a small nudge to remember his early days, when comedies and histories helped him onto his feet. Maybe now not everything will be a tragedy anymore, and he’ll keep his eyes peeled for unique scenarios of a lighter kind.

I would’ve loved to put a bit more Shakespearean tongue into this, as I took classes on his work in university and high school, but I decided to spare everyone else. I think I proved I was capable enough in Sanson’s fragment.

Here’s the song Phantom of the Opera sang. Both the singer and the song should be recognizable, but of course, the lyrics were altered quite a bit as stated in the entry. 

Teaser: Hours of countless work, and still nothing. It’s enough to drive any sane person into frustration, but they were no ordinary person. What was science without endeavor? If any had the patience to grasp the desired results… it was them.