BREAKING DOWN THE RHYME

I have a rough plan for what I intend to do with the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty“. The rhyme revolves around a tragedy (“Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.“) and subsequently, a loss (“Couldn’t put Humpty together again.“). There is an element of helplessness even with powerful protectors and powerful men such as the King’s men and King’s horses. But that’s mostly a surface-level analysis.

Firstly we have to ask ourselves questions: Why was the most unstable of forms, an egg (although anthropomorphic), sitting on the wall? Why were the King’s horses and King’s men summoned to help this egg creature? What’s a “Humpty Dumpty“? What do these things represent?

In my opinion, I see it in a political light. The “Humpty Dumpty” could supposedly refer to the ignorant, foolish civilian who is prone to making lousy decisions for the state or even himself, and only has himself to blame.

Helplessness? More like purposeful lack of preparation and doing what’s only necessary . . . for oneself. The state, despite understanding the nature of the ignorant civilians, chose not to prepare for the ugly consequences that would happen someday in order to save their own strength at the moment. The act of appearing right after the tragedy has happened is merely for show (even though the King himself does not bother to present himself anyway).

Everyone is fundamentally selfish, and the rhyme acknowledges that. Rather, the moral we can take away from this is that we have to be self-accountable and fend for ourselves instead of relying on others.

WHAT I INTEND TO REPRESENT

I intend to retain the same lessons to take away from the nursery rhyme. There will be a nice blend of medieval imagery (to keep the nostalgia in) and use of a modern context (via iconic references). Here are some of the images I found and edited.