Rasputin and the D&D Jokes; Don't BLAME me! (The other thing we had to do.)

31 Then one night some men of higher standing
32 Set a trap, they're not to blame
33 "Come to visit us" they kept demanding
34 And he really came

These lines basically sum up the whole second assassination attempt on Rasputin. The first attempt being the one where he was stabbed by an old follower of his (she was a prostitute too). Now, knowing the details of the first attempt is intrigal to understanding the second attempt and why it failed.

The second attempt on Rasputin's illustrious life was by way of poison. Now, it is known that Rasputin, after being stabbed in the abdomin, developed a sort of intolerance to sugar. So, clever bastards that these nobles were, devised a plan to bake a cake (no frosting) with the poison hidden within. Of course, the cyanide dicipated after the baking process, leaving it an utterly harmless confection that Rasputin undoubtidly consumed with wild abandon.

Now that recap is over, we can get to the analysis.

The lines: thirty one and thirty two, paint a picture of duality in the most savage protester or authority figure. Let me explain. When you catch a bad guy in the movies, they're generally regarded as satanic figures comparable only to Hitler, Stalin or a Captain Planet villain. When in real life, excluding the examples I just mentioned, they are not as evil as you make them out to be. Just take John Dillinger; sure he shot a couple people up and robbed countless banks during the depression era but even his victims loved him. How could this be? Charisma, he had a charisma score of at least natural 18 and I'm not explaining that joke.

So, why aren't they, the nobles, to blame? Because as stated in line twenty nine, Rasputin has lots of hidden charms, and I'm not talking about that hammy cartoon cereal commercial. He has charisma, so obviously they, the nobles, finally met him and discovered his charming qualities. But it was too late! They already had (failed at) poisoning the sugarless cakes! Who was to blame? Anyone who hadn't met the glorious Rasputin in all of his charismatic progressive seventies glory, that's who.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger