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Act 4, Scene 8
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
Alexander is stable after his overdose, but his classmates get pulled out of class for a psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatrist finds signs of post-traumatic stress disorder in Wren and James, so Wren takes another day off from class. James wants to attend, so Gwendolyn’s class consists of Oliver, James, Filippa, and Meredith. After interrogating Filippa and Meredith about their siblings for an hour to help them play sisters, she turns her attention to the lack of chemistry between Meredith and James, whose characters kiss in Act IV of King Lear.
It's curious that Wren and James are the ones who are deemed most psychologically affected by Richard’s death. For Wren, it makes sense—Richard was her cousin. But why has Richard’s death traumatized James so severely?
Themes
Gwendolyn tells them that they need to approach the scene from a less logical and more emotional place. She tells them to look at each other while she narrates their attraction to one another, telling them that James wants Meredith in spite of himself, while Meredith covets his attention. Meredith and James run through the scene again, and as Oliver anxiously watches, James kisses Meredith with violent passion. Meredith clutches at his shirt and kisses him back. James leaves the room afterward, and Meredith finishes the scene angrily. The moment the bell rings, Oliver flees.
It's unclear whether Gwendolyn is just goading the students to set the scene, or whether she actually believes these statements are true. Either way, Gwendolyn’s instructions touch on Meredith’s secret loneliness and not-so-secret dislike of being told she’s looking for attention. And Gwendolyn’s strategy works, which forces the reader to wonder whether James is really as indifferent to Meredith’s charms as he told Oliver he was. Oliver, witnessing this scene, sees his two love interests turning their attention to each other instead of him, a sight that seems to make him both jealous and uncomfortable.
Themes
