Theme Of Carathis In The Western Imagination By Adam Potkay

Adam Potkay argues that “Vathek relies, in part, on the all-too-familiar logic that when someone must take the blame, Cherchez la femme”7. Indeed, Vathek is guided to the path of the forbidden knowledge by a woman, Carathis. Carathis is Vathek’s Greek mother, who follows a different religion than him, and to whom he depends in every decision in his life. Vathek does not only respect her because she is his mother, but he also respects her knowledge and genius and thus, “It was she who had induced him, being a Greek herself, to adopt the sciences and systems of her country which all good Mussulmans hold in such thorough abhorrence” p.8.Beckford depicts her as the source of evil in her son’s life.

Some critics and scholars classify the gothic …show more content…
Its monsters are typically non-white—Oriental, African, or otherwise non-European—creatures that pose a threat to Western masculinity, culture, and racial sanctity.” If Carathis is the source of horror in Vathek, then she is its monster. Is Carathis a “non-white—Oriental, African, or otherwise non-European—creatures that pose a threat to Western masculinity, culture, and racial sanctity?” The answer is, indeed, no. On the contrary, she is the white--- Western, European --- a creature that poses threat to the Eastern community. She is the other version of The Sultan’s English Roxalana, or The Fruitless Enquiry’s European Elphania who “from a slave… raised her to his bed and throne” (female captivity). Vathek is not a story about the past, there is no mention of any past events or any flashbacks, and this explains why the readers are not informed of Carathis’ past as a captive in the harem. Besides, she is a secondary character in the story, so it was not important to mention the story of her captivity. William Beckford mentions only her Greek origins, and leaves the rest to the reader to observe and