Line #30 Theatre/Giselle


1	[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giselle_6.jpg]]
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3	''Giselle'' is a {{ballet}} created by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, composed by Adolphe Adam and premiered in 1841. It is said to have been inspired by a poem, and the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_fairies#Wili wilis]] in the second act are taken from Myth/SlavicMythology, where they are ruthless virgins, jilted before or on their wedding day, who vengefully dance men to death. The ballet is well-known throughout the world and is considered to be one of the best productions a troupe can perform. It is said that while ''Theatre/SwanLake'' is the best ballet in terms of ''movement'', ''Giselle'' is said to be the best ballet in terms of ''acting'', with pantomime and expression telling the story of the ballet as well as the choreography.
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5	The ballet begins happily on the day of a peasant festival, with a [[KingIncognito disguised nobleman]] (often a prince or a duke) named Albrecht, who has disguised himself as the peasant Loys. It is in this disguise that he courts the shy and naive Giselle, who falls in love with him while being wholly unaware of Albrecht's true self. After Giselle picks petals in a "He loves me, he loves me not" scenario (and after Albrecht plucks an extra petal while Giselle isn't looking so the flower will produce a "He loves me" answer), the two dance, only to be interrupted by Hilarion, a hunter who is in love with Giselle. Hilarion jealously warns Giselle against trusting strangers and proclaims his love for Giselle, only to be gently refused, and storm away. Giselle and Albrecht are later stopped by Giselle's overprotective mother, Berthe. She warns Giselle of being jilted, for a girl who dies before her wedding night is turned into a wili under control of Queen Myrtha and forever condemned to dance men to death. She herds Giselle back into their home and shoos Albrecht away.
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7	Shortly after, a party of hunters enters the scene; among them are the countess (or princess) Bathilde and her father. They request shelter for Bathilde and refreshments from Berthe and Giselle. Giselle is enthralled by the beautiful noblewoman and her rich clothing, and dances for her, telling Bathilde of her happy engagement with "Loys", who is nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, Bathilde gifts Giselle with her precious necklace before adjourning to rest in the cabin. The peasants return and dance some more and are quickly rejoined by Giselle and Albrecht. Just as Giselle is about to show Albrecht the necklace (or in some versions, tell him about Bathilde), Hilarion appears on the scene and angrily produces Albrecht's sword, then summons the hunting party with the horn left at Giselle's cabin. Albrecht quickly drops the peasant act when confronted by Bathilde, who happens to be his fiancée, and Giselle goes mad and dies tragically upon learning the truth.
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9	The second act consists of Giselle, now one of the wilis, and her attempts to save the grieving Prince Albrecht from Queen Myrtha and her wilis, who successfully kill Hilarion when he goes to pay his respects. Giselle saves Albrecht, but must depart to the afterlife.
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11	----
12	!!''Giselle'' provides examples of:
13	* AristocratsAreEvil: Thoroughly averted. While Bathilde is [[AlphaBitch snobbish]] in some versions of the ballet, [[LovableAlphaBitch she]] treats Giselle with kindness, and presents her with a necklace upon hearing of her engagement. Her father is very friendly and welcoming as well. Albrecht is a selfish player at first, but he [[spoiler:redeems himself in the second act, since he genuinely regrets what happened.]]
14	* BadBadActing: A lot of the Soviet Albrechts aren't convincing. Averted with Rudolf Nureyev's interpretation of the character, who one review went so far as to declare tons more convincing than others in the role.
15	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Giselle saves the prince, who ''has'' fallen in love with her, but must depart forever. At least she now rests in peace and Albrecht will live on.]]
16	* ButNowIMustGo: The ending has [[spoiler:Giselle freed from becoming a wili, but her soul departs from Albrecht, leaving him alive but alone]].
17	* CrazyJealousGuy: Hilarion warns Giselle away from Albrecht and is instinctively mistrustful of him.
18	* CueTheSun: The sunrise [[spoiler:frees Albrecht from the ghostly wilis and in some cases, Giselle as well.]]
19	* DeathByDespair: Poor Giselle dies of a broken heart when she discovers that Albrecht is engaged to another. Some productions try to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] this by having her mother mime caution to her daughter early on, suggesting that [[HeartTrauma she already has a weak heart]].
20	* DelicateAndSickly: Giselle, with hints of a SoapOperaDisease thrown in (she has a weak heart, but this is never elaborated upon).
21	* DependingOnTheWriter: Is Hilarion a DoggedNiceGuy, a vengeful jerk out to spite Albrecht and actively hurt Giselle, or just a WellIntentionedExtremist whose BatmanGambit to get Albrecht and Giselle together winds up becoming a gambit GoneHorriblyWrong?
22	* DoesNotLikeMen: The wilis, who dance with any man unfortunate enough to come across them to death.
23	* DoggedNiceGuy: In the more sympathetic portrayals of Hilarion, he's characterized as good at heart, and in love with Giselle, and attempts to get her together with the prince he realizes Giselles lack of interest in anyone else.
24	* DrivenToSuicide: In an early version of the ballet, Giselle died by stabbing herself with Albrecht's sword. This is kept in some later productions, but it's made clear that the sword didn't kill her as she either bleeds out or dies of her weak heart. Regardless, she's buried in unhallowed ground.
25	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Albrecht redeems himself and survives until dawn, which frees Giselle - and even then it's a BittersweetEnding.]]
26	* EtherealWhiteDress: The wilis, ghostly [[WomanScorned scorned women]] who dance men to death at night, are depicted in white dresses.
27	* TheFairFolk: The wilis, who are beautiful, ethereal women who murder any man they meet.
28	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Giselle runs mad and dies upon learning that Albrecht is not only a noble, but ''engaged.''
29	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Myrtha, queen of the wilis, is more than happy to attempt to force Giselle to dance her prince to death.
30	* GoneHorriblyWrong: If the ballet portrays Hilarion more sympathetically, his attempt to get Albrecht and Giselle together backfires spectacularly and results in Giselle dying of a broken heart. [[spoiler:And even more so: the wilis make sure he gets his dose of karma.]]
31	* HeroAntagonist: Where Hilarion is between more heroic or more antagonistic, varies between productions, but he's always more sympathetic than the wilis regardless.
32	* HolyBurnsEvil: Traditionally, Giselle's tombstone is a cross. During the climax, it proves useful protecting Albrecht from Myrtha.
33	** As mentioned below, one stage adaptation, rewritten as a play, gives a local priest a showdown with Myrtha, allowing Giselle to be spared.
34	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: [[spoiler:Even as a wili, Giselle's kindness prevents her from taking revenge on Albrecht and ends up saving them both]].
35	* TheIngenue: Giselle is a sweet, pure-hearted, innocent young girl who loves dancing and her boyfriend. Unfortunately, she's the heroine of a tragedy.
36	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:So Hilarion's intervention revealed the whole KingIncognito deal and caused Giselle to go insane, die, and become a wili upon her death? When he goes to mourn Giselle, the other wilis subject him to this via forcing him to dance until he's almost dead of exhaustion, then [[KillitWithWater drowning him in the lake]].]]
37	* KillItWithWater: [[spoiler:How the wilis finish Hilarion off after dancing him to exhaustion: they throw him in the lake and drown him.]]
38	* KingIncognito: Albrecht dresses up as a peasant in order to hide his true status,
39	* LightIsNotGood: The wilis, who are beautiful young women that dress in white and murder men every night.
40	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Albrecht, upon watching Giselle's insanity and subsequent death, has a JerkassRealization too late and later goes to Giselle's grave in order to mourn her.
41	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Hilarion reveals Albrecht's true identity to Giselle, hoping that this will help him win her heart. Instead she goes insane and dies.
42	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The wilis only appear at night, and they have an aversion to crucifixes.
43	* TheOphelia: [[spoiler:Giselle goes mad upon realizing Albrecht's true identity (and engagement), and then passes away.]]
44	* ThePowerOfLove: Invoked by Giselle as she attempts to save Albrecht from Myrtha and the other wilis. [[spoiler:It works.]] In some versions, this ''[[GoodHurtsEvil wounds]]'' Myrtha.
45	* RaceLift: ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_Giselle Creole Giselle]]'', a 1984 ballet commissioned for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. It includes a SettingUpdate to 1840's Louisiana, a few name changes (Albrecht to Albert), and only slight variations in the choreography. It has since been performed in its own right.
46	* RedemptionEqualsDeath:
47	** [[spoiler:Averted. Albrecht doesn't ''have'' to die to redeem himself for Giselle's death.]]
48	** [[spoiler:Played straight with Hilarion. He's intercepted by the wilis as he pays his last respects to Giselle... and the pack kills him just before Giselle and Albrecht show up.]]
49	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Albrecht is the nobleman rich suitor for Giselle, while Hilarion is the game-hunting poor suitor.
50	* SadisticChoice: Myrtha orders Giselle to dance Albrecht to death, or ''she'' will. [[spoiler:Giselle decides to TakeAThirdOption and dances slowly enough for Albrecht to keep up and reviving him when he's exhausted and near death.]]
51	* ShrinkingViolet: Giselle is terribly shy, at least around people she doesn't know very well.
52	* SlobsVsSnobs: Hilarion tends to have shabby clothes and hair to contrast Albrecht's noble upbringing and clean-kept gaudy outfits.
53	* SpannerInTheWorks: Hilarion, who reveals Albrecht's true identity, inadvertently causing Giselle's death.
54	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Some dramatic adaptations of the story spared Giselle and Hilarion. One version effectively rewrote the wilis as sirens/witches who murder the men they love, and Giselle is ultimately rescued by a local priest (complete with a showdown with Myrtha) before she can become a true wili. The story ends with Giselle accepting Hilarion's love, with the prince marrying Bathilde.
55	** Another dramatic adaptation added an epilogue that revealed Giselle dreamt most of the story. Albrecht was never a prince and marries Giselle. The likewise spared Hilarion marries Giselle's cousin.
56	* TooDumbToLive: InUniverse, this is what Hilarion is thinking in some versions when he summons Albrecht's hunting party with the hopes that the resulting news will really lead Giselle to make up her mind (she thinks Albrecht is a peasant from a nearby village, and Hilarion thinks revealing his secret will let her know she's about to marry into nobility). [[spoiler:Turns out, he's even more of an idiot than he thought ''she'' was, and things end in KarmicDeath for him.]]
57	* UnrequitedTragicMaiden: Giselle is a beautiful young girl who falls in love with a handsome prince... who's already engaged and has no interest in a genuine romance with her. [[spoiler:He ''does'' fall in love with her after she saves his life... but by then, Giselle must depart for the afterlife.]]
58	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Bathilde's arrival [[spoiler:kicks off all the crap that will lead to poor Giselle's death.]]
59	* WomanScorned: The wilis, especially Myrtha, who were jilted before their weddings and died, and now take their revenge on any unfortunate man who crosses their path.

Context Theatre / Giselle