Characters from The Tales of Hoffmann, introduced in The Tale of Antonia.
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Dr. Miracle
Dr. Miracle
- Adaptational Villainy: The story Councillor Krespel doesn't really have a traditional villain (unless you count Krespel himself) with Antonia's terminal illness being the source of most of the drama. Dr. R was — by all appearances — simply an innocent medical expert who was sadly unable to cure her and her mother. Antonia's death was caused by her fiancé playing her the violin, which almost comes across like a Mercy Kill in context.
- Ascended Extra: Plays a far bigger part than Dr. R did in Councillor Crespel. Especially in the 1916 film, which adds an extra act directly showing his murder of Angela.
- Classical Movie Vampire: His 1951 Robert Helpmann incarnation looks the part, if nothing else. George A. Romero went as far as calling him
"the best Dracula there ever was." - Composite Character: While nominally based on Dr. R, his characterization (and name) is taken straight from Miracle Doctor Dapertutto of The Lost Reflection (who also appears here in the Tale of Giulietta, but has been turned into a captain, and more of a sorceror). Meanwhile, Antonia's fiancé B (who was also combined with Hoffmann's Author Avatar) Originally had the dubious honor of killing her.
- His mesmerism skills may be a reference to yet another evil physician, created by Hoffmann- Alban from “Der Magnetiseur”.
- Doppelgänger Spin: In the 1951 movie, Antonia sees a dozen or so versions of him, all playing the violin and compelling her to sing. (Interestingly enough, this is shortly before Hoffmann sees him, Coppélius and Dapertutto all remove their masks to reveal the face of Lindorff.)
- Karma Houdini: Miracle gets off scot-free in the end, as Crespel is never able to prove that he was behind the deaths of his wife and daughter.
- Musical Assassin: By playing his violin, Dr.Miracle is able to compel Antonia to sing until she dies of exhaustion.
- The Music Meister: Forces Antonia to sing by playing the violin. A very dark take in this trope, considering her condition...
- Named by the Adaptation: The original story only gave us the first letters in the names of the doctor and the fiancé. (Hoffmann was a quite frequent user of Spell My Name with a Blank in his tales, adding to the impression that they were "true" stories In-Universe.) He may have been named after his "Miracle Doctor" counterpart from The Lost Reflection, though.
- Necromancer: Maybe. It's not clear if he actually summons the spirit of Antonia's mother, or if he just makes it seem that way.
- Telepathy: He demonstrates his dark powers by conducting his patient interview from afar, seemingly talking to thin air.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Steals Antonia's soul at the end of her act, and it's implied that he did the same to her mother years earlier.
Antonia
Antonia
- Adaptational Job Change: The 1916 film changes her lethal passion from singing to dancing, to account for the limitations of silent cinema.
-
Dawson Casting: Antonia is the one character in the opera to have a canon age (20), and precisely none of the actress playing her on screen have been that young. Justified, since the role is vocally demanding, and most opera singers' voices don't reach their prime until their 30s. - Death Song: In this case, the song is the direct cause of her death.
- Fatal Flaw: Her love of singing and of her dead mother, which eventually ends up becoming her undoing.
- Fighting from the Inside: Her tale starts with her trying to suppress her desire to sing by channeling it into playing the piano instead, but she soon caves under the temptation and starts to belt it out anyway. The 1970 film in particular empazises this inner conflict.
- Generation Xerox: Pretty much Invoked by Miracle, who has her murdered in the same manner as her mother.
- Go into the Light: What her mother encouraging her to do in the 1951 film. However, once Antonia complies, she instead ends up in a circle of flames...
- Musical World Hypotheses: Her act calls attention to this, as singing becomes a major plot point. Depending on whether the production uses recitatives or not, it can be either a case of Adaptation (as Antonia would absolutely not be singing In-Universe) or Diegetic (putting her life at risk whenever she performs an aria), respectively.
- Together in Death: Possibly the case with her and her mother. Whether or not they are together in a desirable place is a whole other question.
- White Sheep: The only one of Hoffmann's love interests who indisputably comes across like a good person, and the only one to be in a functional relationship with him. Of course, she also suffers the worst fate out of all of them.
- Victorian Novel Disease: She suffers from an unnamed disease that she inherited from her mother, which makes singing potentially lethal to her.
Crepsel
Crepsel
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The abusive elements of his relationship with Antonia's mother from their source story are never mentioned, making him a bit of an Adaptational Nice Guy as well.
- Adaptational Mundanity: His Bunny-Ears Lawyer characterization is very much toned down. In the original story, he took apart every violin he played on to "learn their secrets", and completely improvised the design of his house, only placing doors and windows after having already had the walls built. (The builders found his creative process confusing, but still enjoyed the experience and considered him a nice boss.)
- Demoted to Extra: Krespel was the titular character and arguably protagonist of the original story (with Hoffmann's Author Avatar being the First-Person Peripheral Narrator.) The opera focuses more on his daughter Antonia, turning Crespel into a supporting character.
- Face Death with Dignity: One interpretation of his last scene in the 1951 film is that he understands that Antonia's life is beyond saving, and conducts his daughter one last time to help make her aria a Dying Moment of Awesome.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: An unusually sympathetic take in this trope, as Antonia's passion is actually unhealthy and even dangerous for him.
- Good Is Not Nice: He might be quite harsh about it, but he is shown to have a very good reason for not letting Antonia sing or having Miracle treat her...
- Irony: Normally, he would probably be supportive of his daughter's passion, given that he's quite musical himself, but Antonia's condition has forced him to put his own love of singing on hold.
- Kick the Dog: He is shown to be quite rude to His servant Frantz, unlike Antonia, Hoffmann and Nicklausse, who all treat him with more kindness.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Tragically, his efforts end up being in vain, as Antonia succumbs to her condition by the end of her act.
- Parents as People: He has rude tendencies, but they all stem from his desire to keep his daughter safe, which he ultimately doesn't succeed at.
- Reclusive Artist: He more or less forces Antonia to be this by locking her up their home and discouraging contact with other people. Taken even further in the 1951 film, where he's takes her and Frantz and moved to a small private greek island.
Frantz
Frantz
- Alternate Self: The counterpart of Andres in The Tale of Antonia.
- Ascended Extra: Based on an unnamed, minor character from Councillor Krepsel who only appears briefly. Everything about his personality is original to this work.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the 1983 film, both his aria and his preceding monologue are delivered directly to the audience.
- Comically Missing the Point: Happens quite a bit, due to his near-deafness and senility.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Songs an aria about how his master terribly even though he's doing all the chores all by himself.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: He is supposed to not let anybody into the house, but he doesn't quite understand this rule and ends up enforcing it rather leniently.
- Dumb Is Good: He's not quite "all there", and also the most innocent of the servant characters, never intentionally allying himself with The Villain.
- Nice Guy: A genuine sweetheart of a man who shares none of his master's disdain for outsiders and welcomes Hoffmann and Nicklausse like old friends.
- Old Retainer: Implied, as he seems to be much older than Crepsel.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Provides some levity to what is otherwise probably the darkest act of the opera.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Basically disappears from the story before Miracle's murder of Antonia.
Antonia's Mother
Antonia's Mother
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In the book, her relationship with Krespel was quite strained, even veering into abusive territory. The opera never implied that the couple had any such issues before Angela's death.
- Also, Dr. R was originally simply the doctor who reported her death. Here, he murdered her and managed to cover it up. The 1916 film takes it even further by having Miracle sexually assualt her, killing the woman when she doesn't reciprocate.
- Ascended Extra: She technically never appeared at all in the original story. Here, her ghost gets an aria to sing. The 1916 film instead adds a prologue, showing the events leading up to her death.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's often unclear whether or not Miracle actually summons her spirit or just creates an illusion to tempt Antonia.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: The 1916 film changes the causes of both her and her daughter's deaths from singing to dancing.
- The Lost Lenore: Her tragic death still fills Crepsel with sorrow.
- Spooky Painting: In the 1983 film, she steps out of a portrait of herself, leaving the empty scenery behind in the frame.
- Strong Family Resemblance: The 1970 film casts Melitta Muszely to play both her and her daughter. Save for their hairstyles, the two women look identical.
- No Name Given: Sometimes (as in the 1951 film) she's only credited as "Antonia's Mother". Other times (the 1916 film) she's called Angela, the name she had in the book.
- Posthumous Character: She is long dead by the time the story begins.
- Spirit Advisor: An interesting case of a sympathetic, tragic character whose advice still dooms the recipient.
