Kirill Tšernov
FLGR.01.370
28.10.2014
Transgression of a boundary between the past and the present
The theme of transgression is a pervasive theme throughout the A.S.Byatt’s novel, Possesion: A Romance. To better understand and study it, one needs to return to the name of the novel and consider its implications. The novel itself can be read as a meditation on the different meanings of this word, as the reader is presented with different kinds of possession (economical, sexual, cultural, even spiritual).
Many characters throughout the story feel ‘possessed’ in one way or another; at the same time, many of them are ready to do everything to gain possession of someone or of something. The subject of ‘possession’ is often related to its opposite, …show more content…
The desire to possess drives Cropper to rob Ash’s grave (which he enacts with a fierce determination, as if he has been possessed by something other than himself), while his presence is often suggestively evil. Cropper’s possession of the objects of the past gives him a false sense of power, as if these conquests help him to own the past, while his greed destroys the life of what he seeks to possess. However, the true substance of the past still eludes him.
The grave robbery is one of the key moments of dispossession in the text, prefigured by Ash’s Garden of Proserpina poem that begins the novel. The imagery of an Edenic garden with a treasure that is guarded by a fiery dragon is used throughout the text, and particularly during the grave robbery. Above the churchyard there is a weathervane in the shape of a dragon that “moved a little, this way, that way, creaking, desisting, catching a desultory air movement”, ominously warning of what is about to happen. The trees form teeth-like hedges as they fall in the force of the storm, trapping …show more content…
What is evident at this moment is how relationship between the two researchers looks like the early stage of Ash and Lamotte's relationship. In his initial letters, Randolph, who felt an unmistakable fascination with Christabel, attempted to pull her out of her intentional seclusion. Christabel, on her part, composed her letters with a respectful coldness, and was quite hesitant to see someone. The same applies to contemporary times: though Maud is invested in her task, Roland's attention shifts between her and the writings, and he is also the one to start conversations with his significant other. The novel makes explicit the difference between Maud’s aloofness and Roland’s willingness to connect with
FLGR.01.370
28.10.2014
Transgression of a boundary between the past and the present
The theme of transgression is a pervasive theme throughout the A.S.Byatt’s novel, Possesion: A Romance. To better understand and study it, one needs to return to the name of the novel and consider its implications. The novel itself can be read as a meditation on the different meanings of this word, as the reader is presented with different kinds of possession (economical, sexual, cultural, even spiritual).
Many characters throughout the story feel ‘possessed’ in one way or another; at the same time, many of them are ready to do everything to gain possession of someone or of something. The subject of ‘possession’ is often related to its opposite, …show more content…
The desire to possess drives Cropper to rob Ash’s grave (which he enacts with a fierce determination, as if he has been possessed by something other than himself), while his presence is often suggestively evil. Cropper’s possession of the objects of the past gives him a false sense of power, as if these conquests help him to own the past, while his greed destroys the life of what he seeks to possess. However, the true substance of the past still eludes him.
The grave robbery is one of the key moments of dispossession in the text, prefigured by Ash’s Garden of Proserpina poem that begins the novel. The imagery of an Edenic garden with a treasure that is guarded by a fiery dragon is used throughout the text, and particularly during the grave robbery. Above the churchyard there is a weathervane in the shape of a dragon that “moved a little, this way, that way, creaking, desisting, catching a desultory air movement”, ominously warning of what is about to happen. The trees form teeth-like hedges as they fall in the force of the storm, trapping …show more content…
What is evident at this moment is how relationship between the two researchers looks like the early stage of Ash and Lamotte's relationship. In his initial letters, Randolph, who felt an unmistakable fascination with Christabel, attempted to pull her out of her intentional seclusion. Christabel, on her part, composed her letters with a respectful coldness, and was quite hesitant to see someone. The same applies to contemporary times: though Maud is invested in her task, Roland's attention shifts between her and the writings, and he is also the one to start conversations with his significant other. The novel makes explicit the difference between Maud’s aloofness and Roland’s willingness to connect with