MarcusofAr
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Elisabella
Is Gor a philosophy? Is it a worldview that would encompass most if not all possibilities?
Or would it be better described as a moral code applicable only to those who choose to pursue it?
It is all three.
It is a philosophy, the acceptance of which generates a worldview that encompasses most, if not all, possibilities.
In accepting Gorean philosophy, those who choose to pursue it adopt an alternative morality (and whatever applicable moral codes are pursuant to it) which is is some ways different from that most commonly associated with modern Western society.
So the answer to your questions is: Yes.
In relation to the OP, I fail to see where the character of Carmen is supposedly such a large departure from women as described in the Gor novels. Her independent spirit is represented in characters like Verna, Talena, and Telima. Her passion seems equal to that of Doreen (Tuka). Her pride and resistance to control is seen in characters like, again, Verna, and Vella. Her arrogance is equalled by that of Tarna.
All things considered, she's just a strong, passionate woman who is determined to wield her sexuality on her own terms, and who doesn't care what her repressive society happens to think about it.
In THAT sense, she's Gorean all the way. Except she's not on Gor-- she's on Earth, and is surrounded by people who react negatively to her unbridled sexuality. Her problem is that she can't find her match in the males around her. That doesn't stop her from trying.
quote:
Carmen is a woman prepared to give herself completely, aware of the magnitude in human terms of this decision but in turn she will demand the same from the one to whom she surrenders herself. Portrayed as "free, independent and mistress of all her decisions", Carmen’s strength and capacity of expression, her calm acceptance of her fate, and especially of her death show her "interior security, strength of temperament, personality and beauty...".
-- Berganza T. The real Carmen in Programme for Carmen. Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 1984.
She wants to give herself completely to love. She just can't find the right man, one to whom she feels is worthy of her utter devotion. Nor will she settle for less.
In pursuit of her goal, she wields seduction as a weapon, using it to get what she wants. Naturally. It is obviously in her nature to do so.
Finding Don Jose to be weak and therefore unworthy of her passion, she sets her sights on what she believes is the strength of the famous matador, Escamillo. Don Jose, unable to deal with this turn of events and unable to inspire Carmen to abandon her life of sexual freedom for one of repressive morality as his wife, kills her in a fit of rage.
Carmen is not Un-Gorean, per se. Rather, she is sexually liberated in a way that Gorean philosophy fully supports, and she seeks magnificent strength in the men to whom she is attracted-- again, a completely Gorean frame of mind. She will only respect pure strength in a potential life mate-- the man who allows her to control and essentially enslave him must therefore be unworthy of her surrender.
Her tragedy is that she seeks a Gorean man, and cannot find one. So she searches through unworthy candidates, and ultimately grows to despise weakness in men when she encounters it. Nor will she bend to any man too weak to inspire her.
Don Jose is NOT a Gorean man-- or at least, he is unwilling or unable to react to his love for her with anything but simpering weakness. He begs for her to marry him-- and in so begging, he confirms his weakness. For this, she despises him. She must. Again-- it is in her nature to do so.
In Verna, we see the same situation. Proud, noble, arrogant in the extreme, Verna despises men until she faces Marlenus, who is finally strong enough to conquer her and inspire her love. If, say, Tarl was a weakling and hopelessly in love with Verna, and slew her when she spurned him in favor of Marlenus, the story would end no differently than in the opera. But Tarl isn't Don Jose, nor is he in love with Verna. There is no Don Jose in the Gorean version, so it ends differently.
Marlenus could keep Verna as a slave, but he chooses to allow her to be free, since that is part of what he admires about her. He senses she would rather die than live in slavery-- which is the ultimate manifestation of Gorean freedom, as is revealed in the warrior codes, and which willingness is considered sacrosanct in Gorean philosophy.
But Verna won't be free in the repressed manner of a Gorean Free Woman in Gorean society-- even as a Ubara. Instead she chooses the freedom of the forest, and she and Marlenus part ways. Still loving one another, but separated by their respective pride. And by Marlenus's own codes.
This all plays out, in both versions, according to common factors in human nature.
It's too bad Carmen wasn't transported to Gor. She might have met her own Marlenus, or Rask, or Drusus, and she might have finally met a man strong enough to inspire her absolute devotion, and ultimately her ecstatic surrender.
So... yes, it all makes sense from a Gorean viewpoint. On Gor, Carmen might not have despised and used men as she did upon Earth, because there, the men might have been strong enough to resist her wiles and inspire her love.
The tale of Carmen is no exception to Gorean philosophy. Not in the least.
I wish you well,
_Marcus_
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RE: Carmen - 
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