„The shadow of the Rock has grown darker and longer“.
At the beginning of the book, on St. Valentine’s Day, nineteen girls and their two school mistresses from the Appleyard College leave for a picnic to “Hanging Rock”. The girls are all wearing white and clean clothes. That symbolises purity, cleanness, properness and virginity. Thereby author, Joan Lindsay, tries to show, the contrast between these girls and the hard, brutal and ruthless nature. The atmosphere is very positive- everything and everybody seems to be very beautiful and friendly, but after some time, some indicators show, that there will soon be a big turmoil and many troubles.
One indicator for some troubles is, when Miranda opens the gate and the horses are spooked and birds fly up. Another example which shows that something terrible is going to happen soon, is when Irma is leaving, wearing a stark, red cloak. Red is often associated with danger, anger, and even evil or death and will perhaps cause also big troubles. After some time, four girls, called Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith, decide to go to explore the „Hanging Rock”, with the result, that only one of them comes back. The other three seem to be disappeared.
In this essay I will describe most of the characters and will briefly explain how the lives of the characters in the book, “Picnic at Hanging Rock” have been affected by the contact with the „Hanging Rock”.
The first character which I will write about is Mrs. Appleyard. She is the owner and headmaster of the College and from the beginning on, she is a quite unfriendly, temperamental, impatient and mean character. She is also the one, which unloads/vents her annoyance on Sara and unfortunately, Sara has to suffer quite badly from that. One example were Mrs. Appleyard treats Sarah quite mean, is when Sarah asks, if she could perform her own poem, instead of another. But Mrs. Appleyard rejects.
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Mrs. Appleyard also drinks alcohol. But the effect of the „Hanging Rock” on Mrs. Appleyard is fairly extensive. First, she just drinks very much alcohol but as she realises that the whole situation starts to get out of control, that she will loose her reputation and her college, she goes to the “Hanging Rock” and commits suicide by falling down the “Hanging Rock”.
The next person, called Marion, was also one of the four girls, which were exploring the “Hanging Rock”.
She is quite intelligent and also very good in school, especially in mathematics. The effect of the “Hanging Rock” on Marion, is(the same with Miranda), not clear. She was never found. Nobody has seen her since her disappearing.
The next character which I will write about is Miranda. She is the one, who behaves lovingly to everybody around her and is therefore also loved by everybody. One example which proves that, is when she gets all these cards on the St.Valentine’s Day. When she is leaving the picnic ground with the other girls, waving the French teacher goodbye, the latter says: “Now I know who Miranda is: She’s a Botticelli Angel!”. Joan Lindsay describes her as very beautiful and even compares her to the grace and elegance of a swan. Miranda is also the person, who does not care, if people are rich or poor and helps her orphan friend, Sara very much. Because Miranda is so friendly, helpful, considerate and has a great charisma, she is shown in the book as the positive, good and central force. ( In the beginning of the film, Miranda is shown brushing her hair at a mirror. What do the different images of Miranda symbolise. Since the viewer sees two confusingly oriented reflections of Miranda’s face, it suggests as if there is more than one Miranda, or at least another side to her known personality. The mirror image therefore, symbolises the complexity of her character. ) The effect of the “Hanging Rock” on Miranda is quite dramatic. She seems to be disappeared and is not found anymore.
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The person, which also has a quite important role in the book, is Irma.
She falls in love with Michael and is the one, who goes to explore the “Hanging Rock” together with Edith, Miranda and Marion. Because of some coincidences, Irma is found. As she is found, her clothes are torn and dusty and her shoes and corset are missing. But her feet are clean. That suggests, that there has been going on something really strange and that Irma has to have, like Edith, terrible memories of this “Hanging Rock”, too. Irma splits up with Michael and is withdrawn from the college.
Another person, I want to mention is Edith.
As the four girls explore the “Hanging Rock”, Edith does not want to continue on as the other three do because she is fatigued and cranky. ( She is quite corpulent… ).
She becomes frightened of something as they are leaving her and runs screaming back to the picnic, what is in the end, her rescue. But the negative experiences of Edith sit deep in herself and will hunt her the whole life long. She will always remember these experiences and will suffer from them poor.
The next person, which I will write about is Sara.
She is suppressed very much by Mrs. Appleyard. Mrs. Appleyard unloads/vents her annoyance on Sara and unfortunately, Sara has to suffer quite badly from that. Irma says that Sarah reminds her of a deer her papa once brought home. Her mother said it was doomed, which suggests poor Sarah is also doomed. Although Sara is suppressed, she is actually quite a strong person. But in the end, Sara disappears too. Finally she was found dead. So, in this case one can say, that the effect of the “Hanging Rock” on Sara was her death.
Michael, is a person, which has difficulties in carrying out things, he want to do and also has problems in deciding things.
Irma falls in love with him, but he actually does not love her. But he is too weak to tell her in face, and therefore he writes her an letter, in which he had written that he ends up the relationship( In this letter, he gives no explanation, why he ends it up !).
In reality, Michael just pines for Miranda.
Albert, goes together with Michael to Irma’s parents, to visit them. After Albert resigns his position as a college worker, he gets a thousand dollars for reward. With that money, Albert starts his own business- He decides to make money with horses. So the effect of the “Hanging Rock” on him is quite good.
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The effect of the “Hanging Rock on Mlle Dianne de Poiters, the French and Dancing mistress, is more or less positive. She announces that she is gets married and will also be leaving the college.
I do not know, if the „Hanging rock“ has had any effect on Mrs. Valange. Mrs. Valange went to Mrs. Appleyard, to tell her what she thinks of her and is therefore fired.
The effect of the “Hanging Rock” on the handyman and the housemaid is, that they leave the college.
The following summer, a fire finishes the destruction of the college.
