Marina Warner's Indigo has a peculiar architectonic structure, with a striking and meaningful nomenclature. In this intricate design Warner depicts a story of oppressed women and shows alternative views of the history. She based the main structure of her story on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and filled it with autobiographical facts of her family's history. There are three main parts entitled Serafine I, II and III respectively, which in turn are divided into 33 chapters grouped into six parts with a very catchy and telling headings: Lilac/Pink, Indigo/Blue, Orange/Red, Gold/White, Green/Khaki and Maroon/Black - each of them playing an important role in carrying the meaning in a pictural way. There are also three main female characters, whose significance I will try explore on the background of the novel's multilayered design.
On the first glance the plot of Ford's play depicts total moral decay with debauchery and carnal desires being the ultimate aim of life. Murder, promiscuity, hypocrisy, and revelling at banquettes are the setting for the corrupted society of Parma, with Giovanni and Annabella's incestuous relationship leading the prime of the total immoral self indulgence. On the other hand, however, would Ford simply write a bloody tale of debased humanity without hinting to us at something deeper? Is the incest truly the lowest and most abominable act here? On the background of all the misdoing that takes place in this supposedly ordered and lawful world, Giovanni and Annabella's relationship is portrayed as the only way out of a social trap in which true passionate love finds no place to exist.
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