Setting for Meleager

The story of Meleager takes place in Ancient Greece more specifically in Aetolia as can be seen in the map below the land wasn't flat and the ports and rivers were great resources for the people.


In this picture you can see a typical landscape, demonstrating the many hills and trees that cover the location of where Meleager lived and wandered.

Pitching Meleager

We met today and came up with a pitch for the play! Doesn't this make you want to see it produced?

Kent did this in one take...

Common Elements tied to Shakespeare Plays

I have added a column to tie the common Elements in Meleager to other Shakespeare plays. Check it out here.

Is this a shakespeare play?

I am working on a 30 point checklist of determining the validity of a Shakespeare play. This is what I have found with Meleager so far.

Common Elements in Shakespeare Plays
Murder Death Plans thwarted	Not Yet
Stabbing the wrong person	Not Yet
Fatal Flaw with the main Character	Yes
Marriage	Not Yet
Across Class conflict	Can be developed
Confusion
Cross Dressing	Atalanta in the Hunt
Revenge Betrayal	Euriponditis with the log
Rise of Power
The Woods	All of the Hunts
A Storm	Not Yet
War
Love	Yes
Entire Army Cross Dress	No
Battle of the Sexes	Meleager vs. Atalanta
Word Play	Meleager and Euriponditis
A line and B line story lines	Yes
Everyone Dies	Almost Everyone
Mental Illness	Not Yet
Forgiveness	Meleager forgiving Euriponditis
Secrets	Lots
Shakespeare gave characters depth	Working on
Include a historic Event	Not Yet
Different Nationalities/Accents
Audience feel pity for main Character
Chiasmus	Yes
Education
The word "Esoteric"
Comic Relief
Honor

Hopefully we can find all of these in Meleager. Let me know if I need to and anything.

Euriponditis

Euriponditis

Young aspiring blacksmith with a specialty in weaponry. Has a hard time being respected because of his youth and inexperience in hunting. He has fallen for a married woman but is weary of pursuing it. He decided to prove the superiority of his weapons he would capture the White Stag. Through great frustration he is never able to catch the Stag. Throughout this process he pleads with God to help. Finally Meleager leads him to the stag and he curses Orion for forcing him to lose everything to find this Stag. Unfortunately he loses The Stag and Meleager is furious. Euriponditis becomes Meleagers servant and weapon provider.  Euriponditis never forgives the God's. This leads him to kill the husband of his future wife.

Quest for the White Stag, Act II

This is the story of Meleager and Euriponditis. How Euriponditis became Meleagers Sidekick, adapted from Nickson's story “The Calf and the Hyena.” Then adapted to fit with the White Stag

Euriponditis was an inexperienced Hunter but a great weapon maker, to establish a stronger reputation he felt the need to capture the White Stag to show the great quality of his weapons. During this hunt Euriponditis was having grave struggles greater struggles than he had ever had before. He pleaded with God to aid his hunt. Time went by and he became more and more frustrated. He would sell everything he owned to gain knowledge on how to catch the White Stag, he lost everything.

One night at a Tavern near his home Euriponditis overheard a man named Meleager who claimed to be the ultimate Hunter. Euriponditis thought that maybe Meleager could lead him to the White Stag. Euriponditis confronted Meleager and challenged him  to prove he was a great hunter by capturing the White Stag. Meleager with a war of words guarantees success. Atalanta overhears this conversation and decides to go and observe this hunt. The next day the hunt begins, and Meleager with his superior skill captures the White Stag quite easily. Before he returns he decides he might as well relax for a bit to appear as thought it wasn’t too easy, and that it took a little fight.  As Meleager is resting Euriponditis comes across the White Stag who is tied to a tree.

When he sees this Euriponditis curses the gods. "To all the gods of mountains and trees, you can't claim to have helped me find this stag," the Euriponditis said. "And to you, who claims to be the provider of everything and my mighty creator, I have nothing to do with you but to let you know that I'm very disappointed. Wait a minute! Don't even try to trick me that you provided this to me. No, this is entirely my efforts. Where were you when I sold all my belongings? Was it too difficult for you to bring this boar closer to me when I hadn’t sacrificed anything? Now, if you would excuse me, I want to enjoy this prized stag, and if you feel like you are the one who brought it, try and take it away from me."

So Euriponditis decided to capture the White Stag, but to prove he didn’t need God to help him decided to let the Stag go first and then recapture the Stag.  He started to loosen the rope, and prepare for the fight. He loosed the rope, and the White Stag went loose. Euripondits could never catch the Stag. Poor Euriponditis, that was the closest he got to his prize. He started crying and wailing and telling Orion that he was kidding, but that didn't help. Meleager came back to obtain the White Stag and was surprised to find Euriponditis sitting in the place of the Stag. With great sorrow in his eye Euriponditis pleads with Meleager to help him prove his weapons, Euriponditis offers to be his sevant, and provide him weapons for the rest of his life. Meleager not necessarily liking this man but keen of the idea of free weapons helps him catch the boar and give Euriponditis the credit and they have been friends ever since.  This relationships proves beneficial to both sides Euriponditis providing superior weapons to Meleager and Euriponitis increasing his reputation for fine weaponry.

Little did they know Atalanta saw and heard everything. She rubs it in Meleager’s face that Euriponditis is a better hunter, and said that she could hunt better than him as well. Atalanta challenges Meleager to a Boar hunt. But is denied the attempt because she is a woman, and women have no place in the hunt.

Found Plot for Lost Shakespeare Play!

We are still working to discover the name of this play, but have dug deep and found the basic plot for a lost Shakespeare play. There are still missing parts that need to be found please post if you find some of the missing pieces to the plot.


Basic Plot


Prologue: Introducing Meleager

• Birth
• Prophecy - Fates
• Mention him growing up and also Jason and the Argonauts

Act I

• Returns Home to Calydon and Aetolia
• Meets Atalanta
• Meets Euriponditis
• War of words
• Meleager challenges Euriponditis to capture the White Stag
• Atalanta overhears and conspires with friends to watch the challenge.

Act II

• Euriponditis and Meleager kill the White Stag.
• Euriponditis becomes Meleagers Servant
• Atalanta mocks at how long it took Meleager to catch the Stag
• Demands entry in the Boar hunt
• Denied because she is a woman

Act III

• The Boar Hunt
• Atalanta dresses as a man to participate
• Atalanta draws first blood on the Boar
• Meleager finishes the Boar off
• Meleager gives skin to Atalanta

Act IV

• Death Scene
• Meleager kills his brother Toxeus and uncle Plexippus
• Because they mocked him for giving the skin to Atalanta
• Euriponditis kills Iphicles and Eurypylus
• Iphicles is the husband of Euriponditis’s love.

Act V

• Meleager dies
• Althaea (Meleager’s Mother) convinces Euriponditis to throw the log in the fire.

Key plot ideas we are searching for the answers.

1. Kleopatra and Atalanta
1. Wife vs. True Love
2. Euri’s love story
1. Fall in love with a married woman
2. Could be Iphicles’s wife Chloe
3. The Boar Hunt
1. What occurs
2. Does Euriponditis become a friend or a servant?
3. Significants of the Boar Hunt
4. Meeting of Meleager and Atalanta
1. In an Inn or Tavern
2. Dynamics
3. Atalanta overhears conversation of Meleager and Euriponditis and conspires with friends to cheer on Meleager.
5. Meeting of Meleager and Euriponditis
1. War of Words
2. Meleager learns of Euriponditis’s superior weapons
3. They are competing for the whitestag.