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Act 2, Scene 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If We Were Villains, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Free Will
Identity and Disguise
Love and Sexuality
Theatre and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
About an hour later, Filippa knocks on Meredith’s door and tells them both to get up and go to the dock. Oliver determines that something is wrong. He wakes Meredith, and they go to the dock. As they approach, Oliver notices the stars and then sees his friends standing on the dock ahead. Oliver gets to the dock and looks down to see Richard’s body floating in the water with a badly battered face. The group stays still—until Richard groans and reaches toward them—he’s alive, but barely.
Sometime between Meredith and Oliver’s tryst and now, Richard has reached the brink of death. The stars again mark the significance of the scene, but they also set the stage for a question of fate and free will, inviting the students (and readers) to consider what they will do moving forward—and what they are even capable of doing. When Richard reaches toward the group standing on the dock, his gesture can be read as either a plea for help or a threat of vengeance.
Themes
