#hal capp

• Goneril would've been happy to stop at two children, but Albany wanted more, and she thought it would help solidify their marriage. Now she spends more time working on her investments to ensure each of her children will have comfortable funds when they turn eighteen than romancing her husband. It would be nice if he applied himself to a job as well, but he seems content to be a gentleman of no profession.

• Albany loves having a big family. Since he married into money, he's happily not working which gives him more time to spend with the children. Where Goneril wants to impose rules and order the way she was raised, Albany indulges in the children's whims and gets them anything they want. As he tells Goneril when she disapproves of his spending: you're only young once!

• Miranda feels the burden of being the eldest daughter. Anytime she wants some space, at least one of her younger siblings always barges into her room to bother her. Her mother's strict rules on conduct and dress are stifling, and even her loving father's lack of ambition leaves her with little respect for him. She dreams of escaping to the city, getting an apartment and sitting in quiet coffee shops until sunset.

• Hal has a bit of an attitude, like he's always spoiling for a fight. He's gotten in trouble at school more than once, and his father always makes excuses for him in front of his teachers. Neither of his parents have noticed that he is a very sensitive child who keenly feels—though he can't express it well at his age—the pain that courses through the Capp family from so many tragic deaths and such harsh rivalry with the Montys. So fighting has become his emotional outlet.

• Desdemona is convinced that the Summerdreams are fairies, though no one believes her. Her best friend Bottom doesn't have wings, so Desdemona crafted a couple out of fabric and paint for them to wear together (fine, she didn't make them herself, she begged Miranda to do it). If she can't live out her dream of being a fairy, then she'll be just like her big sister when she grows up! Except she'll wear pink all the time like she does now. Miranda's disdain for pink is the only thing Desdemona holds against her.