SPOILERS for The Bride Part Four:
(Talking about name symbolism)
Doctor Cornelia Euphronios
Euphronios was a man known for his vase paintings and pottery. He refined the red-figure technique and helped improve the anatomy of people on vases. He’s also one of the first artists to sign their work. Some of works include: a attic white-ground cup that features Dionysus drinking with one of his Satyrs, a kylix (shallow drinking bowl) with Apollo and a crow, and Sarpedon’s body being carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death). Sarpedon is known for his speech about how the rich are entitled to their lavish lives but are also entitled to help those below them. His speech is similar to the phrase ‘Noblesse Oblige” which means the privileged must also be responsible.
interestingly, Cornelia is shown to be privileged (she has a maid, she faces no consequences for how much electrical power she used, her house is multiple stories) and she’s shown helping those ‘below’ her. Those we know she also faces discrimination (she writes using only C. Euphronios and Frank seemingly assumed she was a man, similar to other writers who had to conceal their womanhood by also using only their first initials). This might tie into Mary Shelly first releasing her book anonymously (it’s believed to be because of her marriage to her husband) and then later as herself. People today can be found saying they think her husband just let her take the credit for writing it but that he is the actual creator. Also, Death and Sleep are interesting characters to have be on one of this most intact and famous works, as Death is treated like Sleep in this movie because of how easy it is to bring them back from the dead.
Also, the name Euphronios means “to think”, “to be minded”, and “prudence, wisdom” according to behindthename.com. Prudence is about self-governing and self-discipline using logic. Which all ties into the women characters becoming more self-governed as they become inspired by The Bride’s lack of care for what society deems she should do.
The maid seen in Cornelia’s house is named Greta which reminds me of the activist Greta Thunberg, who recently got in legal trouble while praising hunger strikes some by pro-Palestinian activists (probably not intentional, but still interesting as we see the maid with The Bride’s black markings on her own face).
And now The Bride’s names. First is Ida, a name Mary gives her very offhandedly just to give her something to be called. Because of how she’s named, the name’s meaning is not of much importance in the film but it does have ties to the mob boss (I’ll mention it in Lupino’s section).
Ginger Rogers is an actual actress that would have been in her 20’s having been in the early stages of her career (Top Speed was 1929, and was about two young and poor men meeting two wealthy women). Top Speed was a musical and so Frank might’ve seen and loved it. It also ties into how he is lying to The Bride because the two men lie about their riches and being boat racers and in both stories the men are forgiven for their lies after coming clean.
The name Penelope has ties to Homer’s Odyssey as Penelope is the wife to Odysseus who remains loyal to him despite her many suitors by weaving a very long burial shroud that people assumed would never end (Frank wanting her to remain loyal to him comes up when he thinks she got together with Jake and other men).
The title of ‘Bride’ details a woman about to marry a man or a woman already married. Marriages used to be arranged for the purposes of marrying countries to prevent war, gaining property, and to fulfill the ‘duty’ women are often said to have to men and their families. The Bride’s orange outfit reminded me of prison attire and the idea of being tied down to either a person or place. She also wears a piece of fabric stolen from another woman’s dress which is a black color that helps obscure her face lol a veil does (black is also an unusual color for weddings and is said to mean the couple won’t last). She chooses this name after refusing to marry Frank as a way to establish that she will never be tied down to what he wants and that her status is not dependent on a man (because she would have been changed from a ‘Miss’ (unmarried) to a ‘Mrs’ (married) while Frank remained a ‘Mr’ (a way to refer to adults and important figure that says nothing on their relationship status)).
Though Frank is also interesting because his name comes from his dad’s last name. He also introduced himself as “Frankenstein” while the doctor changes it to call him just “Frank”. This was done because everyone sees the movie’s cover and assumes that is the monster’s name (spoilers, he doesn’t have one). The name means “stone of the Franks” and “stronghold of the freemen”. Stein often refers to buildings made of stone bricks, aka, big buildings made of smaller pieces (like Frank is) and is pointed out by The Bride as she experiments with how it’s pronounced. His lack of official first name might be due to the movie using ‘Henry’, the book using Victor’, the general public also uses ‘Victor’. ‘Henry’ makes more sense but would possibly be too confusing, he also might’ve not taken that name because it’s more personal to his dad than it is to him (his dad also would’ve been unhappy because he did not believe Frank deserved a name beyond “monster”). His name shows how he is yet to fully realize himself as his own person the way The Bride has and how he views himself as being the monster people have called him.
Jake Wiles is another interesting name. Jake coming from its Hebrew origins means ‘supplanter’ which is someone who either takes over or takes the place of someone else. He takes over the case despite leaving (he is the one try to talk to her and then later shoots first) and he sort of takes the place of Myrna by taking credit for her detective work. It also means “one who follows” and we know that despite his many issues with the world, he continues to do as he’s told. (Interesting, he mentions wishing other people were inspired by other woman and not The Bride, yet he himself is not inspired or motivated by their actions). The last name ‘Wiles’ refers to trappers and hunters, while just ‘Wile’ is a trick means to fool or entice someone/something.
Myrna Malloy is interesting because she mentions people struggling with saying her first name, drawing attention to it. Myrna describes someone who is loved and enthusiastic, which she is loved by her partner (platonically) and seems to have high hopes for her career despite the blatant misogyny she faces. Her last name means “noble chief” and is tied to an Irish family crest with the motto “I would rather die than be disgraced”.
The mob boss is Lupino, which is a name related to wolves (it means wolf-like) and a real family of British and American actors, one of them being named Ida Lupino (the Bride tie-in plus another film reference). It’s also Italian (which, my least favorite part of this film is having another Italian guy be a mobster) and might reference the Luppino crime family (they were alive years later in real life).
