Ingmar Bergman’s The
Virgin Spring uses our visual culture to easily develop the two relatively
flat characters of Karin and Ingeri. Ingeri is the first character we see in
the film. She looks very dirty and she is doing work in the house with the
fire. Later we also find out she is pregnant, though we never find out who
impregnated her, we know that her family does not approve. Karin, on the other
hand, is extremely clean, gets to wear fine silk dresses, gets to sleep in when
she pleases, everyone praises her, and one of the first, and only, things we
learn about her is that she is a virgin. From the moment we see these
characters, Bergman is using their appearances to let the audience know that
one girl is good while the other is bad. I would consider both of these characters very
flat and undeveloped. We know very little of their backstory, and they seem to
have stock personalities; they are almost stereotypes. Ingeri is vilified and
therefore is harsh, brutal, and worships Odin. Karin is glorified as the
personification of “virginity”. She is cheerful, friendly, naïve and Christian.
The exaggeration of Karin’s innocence is somewhat important to the plot because
it makes the audience feel like the the rapist’s crime was more severe, and
plays to the overall theme of sacrifice in the film. The vilification of Ingeri
on the other hand does not add much to the plot of the story. Ingeri’s major
contribution to the plot was her witnessing and reporting the rape and murder
of Karin. This does not require her to be the heathen that Bergman portrays.
She seems to only be there to act as a polar opposite to Karin.
I think I disagree with Ingeri being a flat character. She appears to be a very unhappy, mean woman in the beginning of the film, but by the end we see that she is very sorry how she treated Karin and the intent she wished upon her. In the final scene we see Ingeri washing her face in the water, similar to the way the mother washes Karin's head. I saw this a cleansing symbol to convey that Ingeri had changed.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Alexander. I think Ingeri is a round character as well. Another example of this is in Ingeri's religious viewpoint. In the beginning of the film we see Ingeri praying for Odin to come. As the film progresses and as she sees her wishes slowly comes true, she fears Odin and becomes appalled at her own choice in religion. For a character to show change in something as significant as religious viewpoint shows that she may be a round character after all.
ReplyDeleteI think Alexander and Jennifer both make very good points. Ingeri is engrained in a pagan lifestyle at the beginning of the film and holds a lot of bitterness and anger toward innocent Karin. However, after Karin's death, Ingeri begins to feel guilt. She even asks Tore to kill her because her guilt was greater than the herdsmen--she wished Karin's rape into reality and prayed to her pagan gods for it to occur. If she was a flat character, I think she would continue in her bitter, resentful ways. However, by the end of the film, we see an extreme transformation in her personality. Although she cannot un-do what has already happened, she definitely repents of her actions.
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