Reading, this evening, about a privately-owned version of Edvard Munch's famous composition "The Scream" going up for auction in May, it reminded me that I should post about Palpatine'a death; namely, how it appears to resemble the figure in Munch's painting. Take a look at Vader hoisting his decrepit master into the air and carrying him to his ultimate doom. Palpatine's mouth is aghast and his body almost appears contorted to vaguely resemble this quixotic being. Even the tendrils of lightning that Palpatine is shooting from his hands in this instance (which are raised back, somewhat calling to mind the figure in the painting, who has them cupped against his head) evoke the dramatic swirls of clouds and water behind the figure in the painting. The painting is commonly interpreted, with Munch's own words serving as a guide, as an expression of the agony and horror within nature; of nature itself. I find this very ironic where the Emperor is concerned: a being who tried to bring nature under his control and bend it to his near-indomitable will, finally dying at its merciless charge, and expressing incredulity in a way that seems to call Munch's primal depiction of it to mind.
