The Simpleton

Alternate Titles: Servant

The Simpleton is not necessarily a stupid character, though she does tend to take things too literally, and to get muddled on a regular basis. In some instances, she is actually esteemed to be exceedingly intelligent or clever, though somehow her cleverness always ends up getting her into needless trouble. She is the incarnation of St. Paul's dictum about wisdom being foolishness, and foolishness wisdom.
When she is simply simple, she is capable of getting everything absolutely right by accident -- or at least of getting the essential things right such that all of her mistakes and miscommunications work out in the end. When she is intelligent, and especially if she suffers from intellectual pride, she ends up making a muddle of everything because she lacks basic common sense; this is the sort of woman who might well be able to solve the problem of fluid space-time dynamics in paradimensional hyperspace, but who doesn't realize that you ought not to blurt out your entire plan to the evil one just because he says "please."
Trust, obedience, truthfulness and wonder are the Simpleton's ruling virtues. These qualities make her an exceedingly sympathetic character, but they also place her at risk of being abused by others. She will generally not be able to tell if someone else is lying or deceiving her, and has difficulty in differentiating between legitimate authorities and people out to take advantage of her. If, for example, an Accuser tells her that he is going to marry her, or that it is normal for uncles to have sex with their neices, she won't be able to tell that she ought to refuse him -- and if he later blames her when she becomes pregnant, she won't realize that it is his fault and not hers.
She is often a somewhat absurd character, and tends to be more or less oblivious to her absurdity. She may wear outlandish clothes, or blurt out everything that comes into her head, or speak with some sort of absurd speech pattern, but unless some heartless (or mulish) soul comes along and criticizes her for her eccentricities, she is generally utterly unaware of how she appears to others. Fortunately, everyone with a sense of judgement or taste realizes that she is enchanting and endearing; only people with cramped and superficial priorities regard her with scorn.

* Hagar, like many literary characters, moves, archetypally, through the course of her quest. The Stone Angel is essentially about her transformation from a Mule -- her past self -- into a Simpleton.

Archetypal Events: Tell the Truth, Keep Silent, Muddle, Obey, Wait, Bake, Clean

Common Simpleton Plots:

Mixed Messages: The Simpleton is given detailed but ambiguous instructions by some sort of competent authority. She follows them to the letter -- with disastrous or hilarious results.

The Fool and the Simpleton: A passing wayfarer falls for the Simpleton, and she falls for him. Neither of them are able to express this very competently, and they are both constantly wandering around from one thing to another and getting their signals crossed. Chance and fate intervene time and again, but it is anyone's guess whether their romance will ultimately come to a serendipitous fruition, or whether they will wander off in different directions, never realizing that their affections were mutual.

A Problematic Pregnancy: An Accuser seduces the Simpleton -- this can be an actual seduction, in which she comes to trust and believe in his false promises, or he can simply come in and order her to lie still; both will work equally well, though the latter is obviously the more disturbing of the two variants. She becomes pregnant, often while remaining within the Accuser's power. She may be forced or coerced into an abortion that she doesn't want, especially if a Witch becomes involved.

Innocent Silence: A Simpleton is accused of a crime, usually a murder, in which she either knows or believes that she knows who is guilty. It is unthinkable to her that she would tell a lie, but she has some sort of loyalty to the guilty, or presumed guilty, party. She remains stubbornly silent and will say nothing in her own defense until it is either proven that her suspicions are wrong, and that she can tell the truth without hurting someone she cares about, or until the truth comes to light in some other way.

Home: Away from Home
Supply: ?
Weapon: Needle
Clothing: Apron
Prize: ?
Monument: ?
Minor Symbols: Pets; especially birds - mostly large talking ones,

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