Analysis Of E. Nesbit's Short Story 'Hurstcote'

Hurst of Hurstcote
E. Nesbit’s short story, “Hurst of Hurstcote”, is an eerie tale that takes place in England. The short story had a confusing start, but the further I got into it, the more it started to make sense. The narrator, Bernard, tells the story of his old friend John Hurst, who would later become John Hurst of Hurstcote, the owner of one of the nicest mansions in England. John attended Oxford and was not particularly popular with the other guys because of his strange infatuation with studying science and black magic. However, he was well liked by the girls on campus. John goes on to meet a girl by the name of Kate Danvers, whom he later married. Shortly after this he became the Hurst of Hurstcote. Bernard was invited to stay at John’s …show more content…
The bond between John and his wife was so extreme and romantic that you could practically feel his sadness. Lines like, “He would not believe; he still sat by her, holding her hand, and calling her every name that love could teach him. I began to fear for his brain. I brought him cup of coffee which I had mixed with an opiate. In about an hour I went back and found him fast asleep with his face on the pillow close by the face of his dead wife” (page 291). When I first read this it strangely caught my attention, the sadness in his actions and emotions made John’s pain very palpable. You feel the pain that John was enduring. The emotional distress and sadness is absolutely a gothic element. Another good example of a gothic element would be the supernatural twist of the story. John goes to Oxford and spends his time studying black magic, which he inevitably uses to hypnotize his wife’s soul. This gives the story that dark, mysterious element. “When I found them dead together in the vault, she had been buried five weeks. But the body that lay there in John Hurst’s arms, among mouldering coffins of the Hurst’s of Hurstcote was perfect & beautiful as when he clasped in his arms, a bride” (page 295). I expected the ending of this story to be quite harsh or depressing. But when I read that last quote, it didn't seem entirely gothic to me. The end of the story is death and sadness. However, what is interesting about this story is that while he was going insane and holding his wife’s soul in custody, what he does is also somewhat justifiable. John displays strong feelings and love for his wife Kate, his mind does not just spoil out of nowhere from a disease. His heart is left broken by the death of his soulmate. John made it clear that he did not intend to live his life without his bride. In the end he got what he was looking for, a way for them to be together