CAM/Belsey Rough Draft

           In Critical Practice: New Accents Catherine Belsey argues that the main theme in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (CAM) is that most heinous criminals deserve to die at the hands of their victims and that these acts of vengeance are above the law (110). But are Doyle’s females characters really victims? The female characters in CAM are sexually driven, deceitful, and capable of murder. These qualities demonize the women and rank them in similar immoral character as Charles Augustus Milverton himself. Furthermore, Watson’s descriptions of Holmes reacting to Milverton suggest they have a personal history, which questions Holmes’ motives for taking the case so seriously. It is because of the portrayal of these women as such deceitful figures and Holmes’ obvious hatred of Milverton that the ethical implication of Holmes’ allowing Milverton’s murder is actually quite ambivalent.  With this in mind, is the true reason Holmes denies assistance to inspector Lestrade, not because the ethical implications of a criminal receiving his comeuppance at the hands of his victim, but actually that the household is familiar with both his and especially Watson’s appearance?

            There are three female characters present in the story and several others, which are briefly alluded to in dialogue. It is true, “The sexuality of these three shadowy women motivates the narrative and yet is barely present in it” (Belsey 111); however the women’s sexuality is one of the key illustrations of their guilt. The first of the female characters in CAM is the Lady Eva Blackwell, who appears as a damsel in distress hiring Holmes as her confidante and mediator in negotiations with Milverton. We are never given details of the content of letters being used against her by Milverton, but Watson’s curiosities are appeased by Holmes description of them as “imprudent… nothing worse” (Doyle 374). Milverton on the other hand describes them as “sprightly, very sprightly” (Doyle 375). Both men agree that the content of the letters would put an end to the Lady’s betrothal or else they would not be negotiating, “to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter” (Doyle 375). The content of the letters is reckless and vigorous, no doubt of a sexual nature, else the matter would not be “so delicate.” So the morality of the Lady’s character is compromised by both her sexuality and deceit of her fiancé, especially when placed in historical context.

            It is due to contemporary thought that, “The classic realist text had not yet developed a way of signifying women’s sexuality except in a metaphoric or symbolic mode whose presence disrupts the realist surface” (Belsey 115). However the presence of that symbolic mode in CAM is also greatly responsible for ambiguating the ethical message that Belsey argues is so obvious. The second figure of female sexuality is Milverton’s housemaid, Agatha, whom Holmes becomes engaged to after only, “some days,” of acquaintance (Doyle 376). Holmes also says that he has been meeting with Agatha, “the last two evenings,” therefore the guard dog that roams the grounds at night will be locked up to, “give [Holmes] a clear run” (Doyle 378). Once again, because of Agatha’s sexuality, her character furthers the demoralization of women in the text. Aside from the brief allusion to Agatha’s strong sexuality, she has performed all of the necessary benefactions for Holmes to plan burglary of Milverton’s home, without which his plan would be left entirely to chance and criminal trespass. Therefore she is equally guilty of deceit as the Lady Eva Blackwell.

            The third, and final, female figure is the most heinous and, as Belsey points out, “the only one with an active role in the story”. She is a creature of hysterical anger, who in disguise meets with Milverton under false pretenses and murders him because he divulged adulterous correspondence to her husband who in turn died of broken heart (Doyle 381). This woman is the earliest victim of Milverton in the text, one of many sexually charged women in the story. Milverton claims to have, “eight or ten similar cases maturing” (Doyle 375) and with every sexually charged woman in the story their sexuality grows more apparent and empathizing with them becomes more complicated. The fact that this woman is the only one to have an active role and that she is a deceitful adulterating murderess demonizes her character completely and negates her status as an innocent victim of Milverton. It would have been especially difficult for contemporary masculine readers of such a male dominated society to empathize with this woman on any level.

            Holmes’ dubious treatment of the case raises further ethical questions and in so doing convolutes the ethical implications of the text. We are never given any explanations of Holmes prior dealings with Milverton, but Holmes does allude to having done business with Milverton before. Holmes also appears especially agitated by Milverton, in such a way that causes the reader to suspect what personal connections if any the two may have. Holmes curious explanation of Milverton’s character to Watson suggests that Holmes has had some personal involvement with Milverton in the past:

I've had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion, which I have for this fellow. And yet I can't get out of doing business with him… I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result. (Doyle 373)

We see Holmes’ opinion of Milverton is worse than that of a murderer and his use of “I happen to know” makes it sound like there is a personal connection between Holmes and the noble family that was ruined. Holmes continues to say, “If ever he blackmailed an innocent person, then indeed we should have him, but he is as cunning as the Evil One. No, no, we must find other ways to fight him” (Doyle 374). Holmes himself has just admitted that Milverton’s victims are not innocent, which is why the law cannot be evoked to control him.

            Returning to Holmes’ motives for this rivalry with Milverton we can look to the character Agatha, whom Holmes’ betrothal is sure to end in heartbreak, though he claims not to be worried because he has, “a hated rival, who will certainly cut [him] out the instant that [his] back is turned” (Doyle 377). Why is Holmes so nonchalantly able to allow the breaking of one woman’s heart in order to save the breaking of another? In his own words he, “Wanted information” (Doyle 376). This reads like a game of chess, in which Holmes has just sacrificed his rook to save his queen in a match against Milverton. As readers we are not given any further detail of this betrothal or of Agatha, but it seems a reckless and heartless abuse to use a person in such a way.

            Earlier in the text Holmes exhibits an uncharacteristic anger for such a master of disguise when negotiating the terms of Lady Eva’s transaction. Watson describes him as meeting Milverton with “a face of granite” (Doyle 374), which becomes a “baffled look” (Doyle 375) when Milverton pokes at Holmes’ acquaintance with the Earl betrothed to the Lady, and upon Milverton’s readiness to leave negotiations Holmes is, “gray with anger and mortification” (Doyle 375). Surely a private detective as accomplished as Sherlock Holmes is more adapt at hiding his emotions when negotiating with a criminal. Thus this display of emotion suggests that Holmes has had prior, likely failed, encounters with Milverton because of which it seems Holmes’ motives for success in this case are driven by something outside of the text, unknown to the reader.

            The questions that arise from the descriptions of Holmes, as well as the, “shadowy, mysterious [women]… contradicts the project of explicitness, transgresses the values of the texts, and in doing so” (Belsey 115), clouds any ethical implications that may be drawn from the text. The tale ends with Holmes and Watson running through the streets to where Holmes knows there is a picture of the murderer. As readers we are left to wonder whether Holmes intends to continue investigations into the Lady’s life, which furthers the text’s ambivalence of its’ only obvious ethical question. So much so, that the only truth that can be accurately drawn from the text, without hesitation or doubt, is that blackmail only leads to disruption.

Bibliography

Belsey, Catherine. Critical Practice: New Accents. Methuen & Co. Ltd. New York, USA. Second Edition. 1987

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton. The Strand Magazine: an Illustrated Monthly. George Newnes, Ltd. London. Vol. 27 (Apr. 1904) etext: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=DoyChar.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1

CAM/Belsey Zero Draft

            According to Catherine Belsey the main theme in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (CAM) is that the most heinous criminals deserve to die at the hands of their victims and that these acts of vengeance are above the law (Belsey 110). But are Doyle’s females characters really victims? The female characters in CAM are sexually driven, deceitful, and capable of murder. These qualities demonize the women and rank them in similar immoral character as Charles Augustus Milverton himself. It is because of the portrayal of these women as such deceitful figures with strong sexual urges that the ethical implication of Holmes’ allowing Milverton’s murder is actually quite ambiguous. With this in mind, is the true reason Holmes denies assistance to inspector Lestrade, not because the ethical implications of a criminal receiving his comeuppance at the hands of his victim, but actually that the household is familiar with both his and especially Watson’s appearance? The tale ends with Holmes and Watson running through the streets to where Holmes knows there is a picture of the murderer. As readers we are left to wonder whether Holmes intends to continue investigation, which furthers the ambivalence of the texts ethical question.

            The first of the female characters in CAM is the Lady Eva Blackwell, who appears as a damsel in distress hiring Holmes as her confidante and mediator in negotiations with Milverton. We are never given details of the content of letters being used against her by Milverton, but Watson’s curiosities are appeased by Holmes description of them as “imprudent, nothing worse”(Doyle 374). Milverton on the other hand describes them as “sprightly, very sprightly”(Doyle 375). Both men agree that the content of the letters would put an end to the Lady’s betrothal or else they would not be negotiating, “to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter”(Doyle 375). The content of the letters is reckless and vigorous, no doubt of a sexual nature, else the matter would not be “so delicate.” So the morality of the Lady’s character is compromised by both her sexuality and deceit of her fiancé.

            The second figure of female sexuality is Milverton’s housemaid, Agatha, whom Holmes becomes engaged to after only, “some days,” of acquaintance (Doyle 376). Holmes also says that he has been meeting with Agatha, “the last two evenings,” therefore the guard dog that roams the grounds at night will be locked up to, “give [Holmes] a clear run (Doyle 378)”. Aside from being sexually charged Agatha has performed all of the necessary benefactions for Holmes to plan burglary of Milverton’s home, without which his plan would be left entirely to chance and criminal trespass. Because of this Agatha’s character furthers the demonization of women.

            The third, and final, female figure is the most heinous. She is a creature of hysterical anger, meeting with Milverton in disguise and murdering him because he divulged adulterous correspondence to her husband who in turn died of broken heart (Doyle 381). This woman is the earliest victim of Milverton, one of many sexually charged women in the story. Milverton claims to have, “eight or ten similar cases maturing”(Doyle 375) and with every sexually charged woman in the tale the ethical claim is less significant.

            “The sexuality of these three shadowy women motivates the narrative and yet is barely present in it”(111)

            “The classic realist text had not yet developed a way of signifying women’s sexuality except in a metaphoric or symbolic mode whose presence disrupts the realist surface”(Belsey 115) This passage is important because the elusive metaphor surrounding the female characters is detrimental to the realist narrative.

2.3 Belsey on CAM

            “The text’s elusiveness on the content of the letters, and the absence of the Lady Eva herself, deflects the reader’s attention from the potentially contradictory ideology of marriage which the narrative takes for granted (110)…  the text is unable to be precise about the content of the letters since to do so would be to risk losing the sympathy of the reader for either the woman or her husband ”(111).

            In other words, by demonizing the character of Charles Augustus Milverton and omitting specifics about the lives of the women in the story we as readers are led to agree with a sanctified ideology of marriage. However, the omissions are key to maintaining the readers accordance with Holmes’ claim that some crimes are better left to private revenge. If we as readers knew the extent of the sexual nature of these women, we may be less inclined to agree with Holmes’ demonization of CAM, which would have been especially true of Doyle’s contemporary readers.

            “Classic realist text had not yet developed a way of signifying women’s sexuality except in a metaphoric or symbolic mode whose presence disrupts the realist surface… more significant, however, is that the presentation of so many women in the Sherlock Holmes stories as shadowy, mysterious and magical figures precisely contradicts the project of explicitness, transgresses the values of the texts, and in doing so throws into relief the poverty of the contemporary concept of science”(115).

            In other words, Doyle’s use of mysterious female figures was in direct opposition to the classic realist form. However for the time it was forward thinking of Doyle to portray women as strong, sexual characters. Therefore his female characters may have aided in the progression of contemporary intellectual thought. Doyle’s use of women as secondary characters tells the truth of the ideology of his contemporaries, that women were secondary. However Doyle’s allusion to women as strong, sexual and self-serving breaks through that ideology and Holmes’ willingness to aid these women illustrates a shift towards feminist thought.

            “In the Sherlock Holmes stories classic realism ironically tells a truth, though not the truth about the world which is the project of classic realism. The truth the stories tell is the truth about ideology, the truth which ideology represses, its own existence as ideology itself”(117).

            In other words, the Sherlock Holmes stories use classic realism to present ideologies directly to the reader—portrayed by the characters, plots and subplots—rather than presenting the reader with truths about the world and allowing the reader to bring their own ideologies into the story.

            In her analysis of Sherlock Holmes, Catherine Belsey takes a pseudo-new criticism approach. She focuses mostly on the form and structure of the stories as classic realist detective fiction. However to stay strictly within the new critic approach would be to deny the text of all of its underlying themes and messages. So Belsey combines this approach with historical and thematic analysis. She does not directly proclaim, but it is clear through her text an exhibition of Northrop Frye’s formalist “concept of human nature and of culture which sees literature as imitating not the world but rather ‘the total dream of man’”(23).

            She utilizes the intentionalist position (15), to analyze how the structure of the story influences the reader to share in the opinions of Holmes and Watson. By omitting the content of the letters the story intentionally maintains the respectability and marriageability of the Lady Eva, thus the reader agrees with Holmes and Watson, that she is worthy of their protection. Belsey is careful in her analysis to appropriate these omissions to the text’s elusiveness, not to Doyle’s authorship. In this sense it is the story that presents the reader with ethical questions, not Doyle himself.

            By interpreting the form and content of Sherlock Holmes Belsey concludes through historical analysis that the mysterious nature of the women in Sherlock Holmes stories is indicative of Doyle’s contemporaries in classic realism. However, Belsey explains that this, “throws into relief the poverty of the contemporary concept of science”(115). The mysteriousness of the female characters is contradictory to the realist text approach, which “installs itself in the space between fact and illusion through the presentation of a simulated reality which is plausible but not real”(117). The not real also illustrates how Frye’s formalism is exhibited by the Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes’ and Watson’s scientific intelligence is an ideal, not precisely a representation of the sciences of the time, but a slightly more advanced scientific knowledge.

Quickwrite 10/19

             In The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton the dialogue between Holmes and Watson could be seen as analogues for the relationship between author and reader because their characters operate within the text in much the same way narration serves to explain the story to the reader. In CAM Watson is the narrator, however he does not know many of the answers to the questions that readers have. Throughout the story Watson is asking Holmes to answer those questions for him

            “But surely,” said I, “the fellow must be within the grasp of the law?”

            “Technically, no doubt, but practically not.”

In this passage we see that Watson is moving to question CAM’s motives. Through the dialogue between them, we as readers, get the answers we need to put the story together. Again we see Watson posing a question, which is important for the reader to understand what the story is building on

            “And why is he here?”

            “Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands.”

And so the story begins, the reader now knows the direction this tale will take. Much of the descriptive text comes from Watson, however the longer portions of dialogue come from Holmes as he is explaining the nature of things to Watson. So the story is centered mostly around Holmes and could be told in the first or third person, but the character of Watson acts as a middle man, or avatar, without whom we could not read the story.

            In Catherine Belsey’s Critical Practice she claims, “The project of the stories themselves, enigma followed by disclosure, echoes precisely the structure of the classic realist text”(112). In this sense it is Holmes whose responsibility it is to disclose the secrets to the reader and Watson is the conduit through which the reader experiences Holmes’ detective work. Belsey also identifies an underlying ethical questions, not openly discussed in the tale. This is the question regarding the nature of the letters, which are to be used to destroy Holmes’ clients marriage and which were used to destroy the marriage of CAM’s murderer.  It is Watson’s responsibility as narrator to be the force that, “draws attention to the parallel,” of these questions (112).

2.2 Belsey's 'Ideology' and 'Charles Augustus Milverton'

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            “The subject is constructed in language and in discourse and, since the symbolic order in its discursive use is closely related to ideology, in ideology. It is in this sense that ideology has the effect… of constituting individuals as subjects, and it is also in this sense that their subjectivity appears ‘obvious’.” In other words, ideology is the defining factor for subjectivity of the individual. Language and discourse are the tools with which we define our ideologies to others. This passage is important to laying the groundwork of Belsey’s claim that ideology is the determinate of subjectivity.

            “But there is no practice without theory, however much that theory is suppressed, unformulated or perceived as ‘obvious’. What we do when we read, however ‘natural’ it seems, presupposes a whole theoretical discourse, even if unspoken, about language and about meaning, about the relationships between meaning and the world, meaning and people, and finally about people themselves and their place in the world.” In other words, it is our own ideologies that determine how we read and interpret text. This is important because it breaks down the assumption of “common sense” and calls to light the realization that “common sense” is constructed and embedded by the individual through ideology.

            “It is only by adopting the position of the subject within language that the individual is able to produce meaning.” In other words, the reader creates meaning of the text, through the knowledge and ideology they conceive prior to reading, and by placing themselves within the text.

            [Concerning the narrative of Bleak House (79-81)] In this passage Belsey presents the reader with the narrative of Bleak House, which is told from two perspectives: one of the innocent and unfortunate Esther Sumerson, one of an unidentified narrator. Both are in the third person, neither is omniscient. The structural difference between them is that Esther’s narrative is past tense and the other is present tense.  What emerges is a third narrative, an “unwritten discourse” created by the reader, as they begin to understand and judge the history of the characters. This passage is important because it illustrates how we as readers extrapolate meaning where none is given. The very different narratives of Charles Dickens converge in the readers mind in such a way that we understand far more than either character. We become the omniscient narrative in much the same way that we define meaning through ideology in our reading of other texts.

           

            I am not sure that Belsey’s section on ideology helps me to understand any more of Charles Augustus Milverton than I did before. Meaning in CAM is generated in the morality/immorality of Sherlock Holmes. The story posits that wanton criminals get what they deserve and it is a needless expense for law to delve into the who and why concerning such acts of revenge. Whether or not this was the intent of the story is questionable because in the end Holmes is in fact interested in the who. Any further interpretation would be created by the ideologies brought into the text by the reader.

            CAM is an example of classic realism, so we can assume that some of the text is an accurate portrayal or at least based on Doyle’s experiences. Therefore it is possible that plot and characters could be based on stories Doyle read about in the news, heard in gossip, or acquaintances. However, without bringing historical knowledge or scientific discourse into the reading it is not possible to draw any more meaning from the text than the obvious concepts of morality. But then my assumption of the obviousness of the immorality is based solely on my ideologies, which I would not have been self aware of prior to reading Belsey.

[For TrIG with Mel Wensel, but I thought this would be interesting for some]

An Exegesis of Racial Discourse in Frankenstein [title of my imaginary paper]

Annotated Bibliography

MALCHOW, H.L. Was Frankenstein’s Monster ‘A Man and a Brother’? Gothic Images of Race in Nineteenth Century Britain. Stanford University Press 1996

            H.L. Malchow exposes the parallels between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and racial ideas prevalent in Europe in the early 19^th century. Particularly topics concerning the slave trade in the West Indies and the expansion of Western Empire over Asia and Africa. Malchow does not claim to present concrete evidence or a magic key to unlock all hidden meaning and intention in the text. Her interests lay, rather, in identifying the connection of Shelley’s subtext to stereotypes that were popular of the time.

PIPER, Karen. Inuit Diasporas: Frankenstein and the Inuit in England. Romanticism 2007 (13.1) pp. 63-75.

            At the end if the 18^th century an Inuit man stowed away on board a ship sailing for Scotland and became on of many who would be presented as gifts to the king and queen. Karen Piper’s essay relates this tale and many other tales portraying Inuit peoples (Inuk), commonly caught by arctic explorers, as a spectacle in court from the 16^th through the early 19^th centuries. In contrast, “yellow peril” became a prevalent throughout Europe at the end of the 19^th century. Piper argues that Shelley’s descriptions of the creature and omission of arctic indigenes from Walton’s expedition clearly connect the creature to Inuk (i.e. instead of encountering Inuk on their expedition Walton encounters the creature). Further, the portrayal of the creature as a grotesque monster is a precursor of “yellow peril” ideas.

RICHARD, Jessica. “A Paradise of My Own Creation”: Frankenstein and the Improbable Romance of Polar Exploration. Nineteenth-Century Contexts 2003 (25.4) pp. 295–314.

            This essay discusses the parallel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and romanticism of polar expeditions funded by Britain at the beginning of the 19^th century. Richard analyzes documents to present the reader with a clear idea of the British government funded race to map an arctic route around the world. This is salient to Frankenstein because the mystery of arctic travel was popular topic in 1818, when Shelley was revising for publication.

SAMUELS, Robert. “Frankenstein”’s Homosocial Colonial Desire. Writing Prejudices: The Psychoanalysis and Pedagogy of Discrimination from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison. State University of New York Press, Albany 2001.

            In chapter five of Writing Prejudices Samuels dissects Shelley’s commentary on Captain Robert Walton’s and Victor Frankenstein’s identification of the creature as an Other and connects this to colonial/empirical enslavement of indigenous peoples. The chapter is quite extreme in exegesis, however Samuels makes two important claims about Frankenstein: firstly, he argues that Victor Frankenstein is a symbol of “repressed desires... that he reflects onto his debased Other”; second, the creature is “a victim of prejudice who attempts to escape his enslaved state”(73).

2.1 Salient Liens of Charles Augustus Milverton

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            Early in Arthur Conan Doyles story Sherlock Holmes is speaking to Watson comparing Charles Augustus Milverton. Holmes asks, “Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces? Well that’s how Milverton impresses me”(1). These lines are salient to detailing the extent of Holmes loathing of this famous blackmailer, which is also the only justification given for Holmes’ refusal to assist in finding Milverton’s killer, “I considered him one of the most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge”(8). In these lines Holmes justifies his release of the case to inspector Lestrade, however the last line foreshadows a mission that is to be carried out by Holmes and Watson. In the last paragraph Holmes figures out who the killer is, thus we can assume he and Watson will deal with her in their own way.

           

Resurrections of Chase

            The speed of the chase is often what pulls us to the edge of our seat, but winding walks of diminishing speed can be just as intriguing. To illustrate pace in such a way that the reader can actually feel the change is a difficult task. In “Man of the Crowd” Edgar Allan Poe uses quickening and dizzying descriptions of thoroughfares to emulate the narrator’s emotions creating a pace felt by the reader. Poe creates these emotive passages through a masterful use of language and syntax, which make the narrator’s voice read more like stream of consciousness and increase the readers’ ability to empathize with the narrator. Throughout the tale the narrator’s descriptions alternate between focus on what is being seen and what is being done, so that during short periods in which pace is at a lull the reader is engaged in finite details and can recover from the narrator’s often dizzying stream of consciousness. Use of this modern form of story telling in “Man of the Crowd” occurred nearly a century before what is considered to be the beginning of modernism in literature, therefore Poe is a pre-modernist author.

            In the beginning of the story the narrator is convalescing in a hotel in London and has been lounging in the parlor seated near the window. He remarks on the scene unfolding in, “One of the principle thoroughfares of the city, and had been very much crowded during the whole day. But, as the darkness came on, the throng momently increased; and, by the time the lamps were well lighted, two dense and continuous tides of population were rushing past the door”(102). In this passage Poe uses the increasing speed of the crowd in front of the hotel to illustrate the narrators growing interest in the scene. As the, “throng momently increased,” the narrator is finished with the newspaper, beginning to look around, and by the time the lamps are lit he is, “filled… with a delicious novelty of emotion,” and cannot turn away from the window (102). We empathize the narrator’s interest because the syntax emulates tension and creates rhythm. The first sentence is smooth, a single comma creating a soft pause right in the middle. The second sentence is broken up by several commas and a semicolon, each strategically placed, so that the short pauses between segments create a slow and steady rhythm like the beating of a heart. In this passage Poe illustrates the bustling pedestrian traffic by breaking from conventional syntax using a run-on sentence. It is common in 19^th century literature to see a heavy use of commas to separate sentence fragments creating what we refer to today as a run-on; however, Poe’s use of commas urge the reader to continue. The short and sudden pauses of the commas emulate the bustling traffic. Because there is no period we as readers are not signaled to stop, instead we accept short pauses illustrating pedestrians pausing abruptly as other pedestrians present obstacles to the scene. The semicolon also represents the moment at which the narrator’s interest in the scene is alight with the same energy as the traffic flowing outside the hotel.

            The speed of the chase is not always quick, but Poe continues to use syntax and language with dizzying effect. Upon entering a street, “densely filled with people,” but, “not quite as thronged,” the stranger, “walked more slowly and with less object than before – more hesitatingly... he crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly without apparent aim; and the press was still so thick, that, at every such movement, I was obliged to follow him closely”(106). Though the speed of the chase has slowed the narrator is forced to follow closely so as not to lose the stranger. However, following closer arises a sense of urgency in not getting caught. Poe creates urgency, again utilizing commas to create a run-on sentence, illustrating the narrator’s engagement in the chase and compelling the reader to feel tension without the narrator outright claiming its presence. Shortly thereafter, their wandering brings them, “to a large and busy bazaar, with localities of which the stranger appeared well acquainted, and where his original demeanor again became apparent, as he forced his way to and fro, without aim, among the host of buyers and sellers”(107). Again the actual pace is slow, but urgency is maintained through syntax and the actions of the stranger, which force the narrator’s and thereby the readers’ attentions. Not before long the stranger, “hurried into the street, looked anxiously around him for an instant, and then ran with incredible swiftness through many crooked and people-less lanes, until we emerged once more upon the great thoroughfare whence we had started”(107). In these passages, Poe not only uses syntax to create rhythm, but his careful use of language is also important in interpreting the story. Instead of “to and fro” he could have written back and forth, side to side, or hither and thither, but “to and fro” has a bouncing quality to it. This coupled with syntax are what make it possible for the reader to feel the chase as though they were alongside the narrator.

            Throughout the tale no description is as dizzying as the description of the stranger getting caught up in a crowd exiting a large theater. The narrator is, “at a loss to comprehend the waywardness,” of the stranger’s excitement in the crowd:

As he proceeded, the company grew more scattered, and his old uneasiness and vacillations were resumed. For some time he followed closely a part of some ten or twelve roisterers; but from this number one by one dropped off, until three only remained together, in a narrow and gloomy lane little frequented. The stranger paused, and, for a moment, seemed lost in thought, then, with every mark of agitation, pursued rapidly a route which brought us to the verge of the city, amid regions very different from those we had hitherto traversed. (107-108)

In the first half of this description we see the pace moving steadily, but slow as the stranger becomes, “lost in thought,” then suddenly takes off again as the stranger makes for more crowded avenues. Again we see Poe utilize syntax to generate pace and at the end of this description he uses the very clever phrase, “hitherto traversed,” which literally means until now traveled across, but the connotation of those particular words evoke a sense of adventure to the description because traversed is commonly used in reference to seafaring and mountaineering.

            In Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities he explains modernity in terms of print and the simultaneity of a nation moving calendrically through time. In the second paragraph the narrator is reading a newspaper and from the third paragraph onward the lighting of lamps, sunrise, and shadows illustrate the changing hours. Chronology of events cannot be argued here because the narrator and stranger are constantly moving forward through a 24-hour period. Poe’s use of the epigraph and the detailed third person explanation of the book that cannot be read place those ideas in the readers’ mind at the beginning of the tale. His juxtaposition of the stranger to the epigraph and introduction at the end of the tale force a cyclical readability by referring back to those ideas. In this sense Poe has reflected the modernity as explained by Anderson through the narrators reading of the newspaper and through the chronology of the tale. His extraordinary use of language and syntax forcing the reader to empathize with the narrator coupled with the use of linear time join the reader, narrator and stranger together, sharing in the experience of the chase through London. However Poe’s use of cyclicality suggests a break from linear time. Perhaps the dagger hidden under the stranger’s cloak was used to stab the narrator and this is an event they relive night after night?

Plagues of Rhetoric [extra credit]

            In the first presidential debate of 2012 Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney continues to speak about the bigger picture and only the bigger picture as it stands today, he avoids getting into specifics and frequently says, “Any claim to the contrary…”/“virtually everything you just said… is simply not accurate.” In the first segment Romney begins the campaign by outlining the economy as it stands today, citing statistical data, painting a picture of how horrible the U.S. economy is and placing blame directly on president incumbent Barack Obama and the policies he has brought to America during his term. Obama attempts to rebut Romney’s claims by countering Romney’s statistical data and bringing to light economic analysis of the platform submitted by Romney and how economic professionals have found Romney’s plan will worsen the deficit.

            Romney chooses to redirect, but fails to satisfy my hunger for an answer. Romney opens his redirect with his favorite phrase saying that Obama’s claims are, “simply not accurate.” However instead of presenting some factual basis or identifying aspects of his own plan to explain how Obama’s information is wrong, Romney dances around the subject with elementary explanations of economics and presents broad pictures of what needs to happen. Not once does he specify how he plans to bring those needs to fruition.

            This is seen throughout the entire debate. I will not say that Romney is lying, but his ambiguous claims make it very difficult for the citizens of the U.S. to make informed voter decisions based on this debate. This is one of the plagues of rhetoric and partly the reason our forefathers began the electoral college, essentially so that informed and intelligent delegates can interpret the needs of their people and ensure that the popular vote is in the best interest of the voters in their district. When candidates use ambiguous rhetoric to dance around issues, presenting their own opinions and elementary definitions, they are sidestepping suspect pieces of their platform because they know they can maintain their own popularity within communities, which favor them by choosing not to divulge aspects of their plan.

            I do not have time to go into it in full detail, but I have the debate playing on repeat in the background and I just noticed Romney mention how Obama has plans and has had four years to bring them to fruition, but failed. No one is talking about the fact that congress, majority of which is republican, has the authority to block the president’s plans. Romney continues to place blame on Obama. Obama has been gentile enough to be inclusive of some of his better ideas and admit that there are areas where he and Romney agree. For me I see Romney as a childish tattle-tale pointing the finger at his brother for tracking mud in the house when he too has mud on his shoes, and I see Obama as being gracious and accepting of the reprimand. Not every citizen would read into it that way, but perhaps it is also my own beliefs creating a lens through which different “truths” are apparent to me.

Rough Draft

            The speed of the chase is often what pulls us to the edge of our seat, but winding walks of diminishing speed can be just as intriguing. To illustrate pace in such a way that the reader can actually feel the change is a difficult task. In “Man of the Crowd” Edgar Allan Poe uses quickening and dizzying descriptions of thoroughfares to emulate the narrator’s emotions creating a pace felt by the reader. This sense of pace is only constrained by Poe’s obvious use of linear time from the second paragraph onward. The modernity of the tale can be seen through the narrators reading of the newspaper, which also sets the tale to be read chronologically, however Poe’s use of the epigraph and the detailed third person explanation of the book that cannot be read force a cyclical form to the overall tale. Throughout the tale the narrator’s descriptions alternate between focus on what is being seen and what is being done, so that during short periods in which pace is at a lull the reader is engaged in the more important aspects of the tale and can recover from the often dizzying chase.

            In the beginning of the story the narrator is convalescing in a hotel in London and has been lounging in the parlor seated near the window. He remarks on the scene unfolding outside, “This latter is one of the principle thoroughfares of the city, and had been very much crowded during the whole day. But, as the darkness came on, the throng momently increased; and, by the time the lamps were well lighted, two dense and continuous tides of population were rushing past the door.”(102) In this passage Poe uses the increasing speed of the crowd in front of the hotel to illustrate the narrators growing interest in the scene. As the, “throng momently increased,” the narrator is finished with his newspaper, beginning to look around and by the time the lamps are lit he is, “filled… with a delicious novelty of emotion,” and cannot turn away from the window. The syntax in the first sentence is smooth, a single comma creating a soft pause right in the middle. The second sentence is broken up by several commas and a semicolon, each strategically placed, so that the short pauses between segments create a slow and steady rhythm like the beating of a heart. After, “increased; and,” the phrases become longer, but Poe continues to illustrate the speeding traffic by switching to a nearly iambic meter. This not only describes the speeding of traffic, but also represents the quickening of the narrators interest in the scene.

            Poe’s narrator is constantly struggling to keep up with, we could go as far as to say hungering for, this chase. However at one point the stranger, “walked more slowly and with less object than before – more hesitatingly,” and still the narrator struggles to keep track of the chase as the stranger, “crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly without apparent aim; and the press was still so thick, that, at every such movement, I was obliged to follow him closely. The street was a narrow and long one, and his course lay within it for nearly an hour”(106). Though the speed of the chase has slowed the narrator is forced to follow closely so as not to lose the stranger. However, following closer arises a sense of urgency in not getting caught. Poe creates this sense of urgency by breaking from conventional syntax, illustrating the narrator’s engagement in the chase and compelling the reader to feel the tension without the narrator outright claiming its presence. They begin again to wander through the city and are shortly thereafter brought, “to a large and busy bazaar, with localities of which the stranger appeared well acquainted, and where his original demeanor again became apparent, as he forced his way to and fro, without aim, among the host of buyers and sellers.” Again the actual pace is slow, but urgency is maintained by syntax and the actions of the stranger, which force the narrator’s and thereby the readers’ attentions. Not before long the stranger, “hurried into the street, looked anxiously around him for an instant, and then ran with incredible swiftness through many crooked and people-less lanes, until we emerged once more upon the great thoroughfare whence we had started…”(107) In these passages Poe explains the narrator’s trouble in following the stranger, constantly changing pace, crossing “to and fro” and simultaneously using meter and syntax so the reader and narrator feel as one.

            Throughout the tale no description is as dizzying as the description of the stranger getting caught up a crowd exiting a large theater. The narrator is, “at a loss to comprehend the waywardness,” of the stranger’s excitement in the throng:

As he proceeded, the company grew more scattered, and his old uneasiness and vacillations were resumed. For some time he followed closely a part of some ten or twelve roisterers; but from this number one by one dropped off, until three only remained together, in a narrow and gloomy lane little frequented. The stranger paused, and, for a moment, seemed lost in thought, then, with every mark of agitation, pursued rapidly a route which brought us to the verge of the city, amid regions very different from those we had hitherto traversed.(107-108)

In the first half of this description we see the pace moving steadily, but slow as the stranger becomes, “lost in thought,” then suddenly take off again as the stranger makes for more crowded avenues. Again we see Poe utilize syntax and iambs to generate pace and at the end of this description he uses the very clever phrase, “hitherto traversed,” which literally means until now traveled across but the use of those two words keep within the meter while adding a sense of extensive strenuous hiking to the description.

            During the course of the tale, linear time is one of the few things keeping the story grounded. In the second paragraph the narrator is reading a newspaper and from the third paragraph onward the lighting of lamps, sunrise, and shadows illustrate the changing hours. Chronology of events cannot be argued here because the narrator and stranger are moving simultaneously through a 24-hour period. This connects to Anderson’s explanation of a nation moving calendrically through time. In reading “Man of the Crowd” Poe’s extraordinary use of language forcing the reader to feel and identify with the narrator coupled with the use of linear time join the reader, narrator and stranger together as a community sharing in the experience of the chase through London.

            In this sense Poe could be viewed as a pre-modernist writer. His extraordinary use of language, breaking from conventional syntax to emulate the narrators emotion so that the reader becomes part of the story by empathizing with the narrator, was nearly a century before we began to see poetry breaking free from conventional form.

           

"Zero Draft Redux"

1.            The speed of the chase is often what pulls us to the edge of our seat, but winding walks of diminishing speed can be just as intriguing. To illustrate pace in such a way that the reader can actually feel the change is a difficult task. In “Man of the Crowd” Edgar Allan Poe uses quickening and dizzying descriptions of thoroughfares to emulate the narrator’s emotions creating a pace felt by the reader. This sense of pace is only constrained by Poe’s obvious use of linear time from the second paragraph onward. Throughout the tale the narrator’s descriptions alternate between focus on what is being seen and what is being done, so that during short periods in which pace is at a lull the reader is engaged in the more important aspects of the tale and can recover from the often dizzying chase.

2.            My argument is derived from formal reading of the text. I will use examples directly from the text to illustrate how Poe’s descriptions are directly connected to the overall pace of the tale. I could also apply realism, speculating that the reader would understand the complexities of what Poe details because they have most likely encountered similar instances, thus reading Poe’s wonderful descriptions could provoke the reader’s memory (i.e. the dizzying effect of the narrator trying to follow the stranger through the bazaar would have greater effect on one who has been lost in such a crowd).

3: [Note: I will cut down the quotes through heresy of parahrase as much as can be without losing the pace]

“This latter is one of the principle thoroughfares of the city, and had been very much crowded during the whole day. But, as the darkness came on, the throng momently increased; and, by the time the lamps were well lighted, two dense and continuous tides of population were rushing past the door.”(102)

            In this passage Poe uses the increasing speed of the crowd in front of the hotel to illustrate the narrators growing interest in the scene. As the, “throng momently increased,” the narrator is finished with his newspaper, beginning to look around at the scene unfolding before him, and by the time the lamps are lit he is, “filled… with a delicious novelty of emotion,” and cannot turn away from the window.

“He crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly without apparent aim; and the press was still so thick, that, at every such movement, I was obliged to follow him closely. The street was a narrow and long one, and his course lay within it for nearly an hour, during which the passengers had gradually diminished.”(106)

“A few minutes brought us to a large and busy bazaar, with localities of which the stranger appeared well acquainted, and where his original demeanor again became apparent, as he forced his way to and fro, without aim, among the host of buyers and sellers… He hurried into the street, looked anxiously around him for an instant, and then ran with incredible swiftness through many crooked and people-less lanes, until we emerged once more upon the great thoroughfare whence we had started…”(107)

            In these passages Poe explains the narrator’s trouble in following the stranger who constantly changing pace and crossing to and fro. As such the narrator is forced to follow closely so as not to lose the stranger. However, following closer arises a sense of urgency in not getting caught, which insights tension felt by the reader.

“As he proceeded, the company grew more scattered, and his old uneasiness and vacillations were resumed. For some time he followed closely a part of some ten or twelve roisterers; but from this number one by one dropped off, until three only remained together, in a narrow and gloomy lane little frequented. The stranger paused, and, for a moment, seemed lost in thought, then, with every mark of agitation, pursued rapidly a route which brought us to the verge of the city, amid regions very different from those we had hitherto traversed.”(107-108)

            In the first half of this description we see the pace moving steadily, but slow as the stranger becomes, “lost in thought,” then suddenly take off again as the stranger makes for more crowded avenues. At the end of this description Poe uses the phrase, “hitherto traversed,” which literally means “until now traveled across” but the use of those two words turns the description into an extensive strenuous hike.

4.            During the course of the tale, linear time is one of the few things keeping the story grounded. Chronology of events cannot be argued here because the narrator, stranger and reader are moving simultaneously through a 24-hour period. This connects to Andersons explanation of a nation moving calendrically through time. In the second paragraph the narrator is reading a newspaper and from the third paragraph onward the lighting of lamps, sunrise, and shadows illustrate the changing hours.

1.3 Voyant Activity

 

The clustering of words such as, "wild, large," "great, lips," "thick, long, visage," in the visualization made me realize a sensuousness of Poe that I did not get when reading the story. Perhaps it says more of my personality than of Poe's work.

The spike in use of "rain" between segment 5 and 6 and the steady decline of the use of the word between 6 and 9 made me curious about the progression of weather in the tale. I found it interesting that "crowd" is used most between segments 4 and 7, between which the "stranger" emerges. I thought that perhaps that was a good indication of how the mans personality may have developed in parallel with the growing crowd.

Lack of the word stranger in the first half of the story is appropriate due to the narrators uncanny ability to stereotype every person he sees. Only the one man is a stranger to him. I would have liked to have seen a little more denouement with the use of the word, but I suppose considering that the stranger's role in the tale ends so abruptly it is appropriate that the word would as well.

Waywardness only appears once in the tale, but it is such an appropriate description of the stranger and could also be congruous with despair. The stranger is described by Poe as being so utterly unpredictable and the narrator questions the man's motives, guessing at the perverse nature of the man's activities through sight of the knife and the man's reaction to crowds. This description could also be seen as congruent to despair because the man's obviously desperate character.

I would not say that this exercise changed the way that I understood Poe's tale, but I would say that it provided me with a gas lamp to shine on certain aspects of the tale. Using the text-mining to observe the use of certain words should not be taken as a way to critically analyze a story because it is like dissecting a literary work in a way that the author did not intend, therefore the person doing the mining could see or omit anything they consciously or subconsciously wanted. I would venture to say that to use this tool for critical analysis is just as if not more heretic than paraphrasing.

Overall I did not enjoy this activity. Aside from not being able to use many of the features that Voyant supposedly provides and not being able to do the keyword analysis on the words I had wanted to look into, continuously got an error message that simply would not allow me to view "Keywords in Context" of several words. As a small project to facilitate discussion of theme using words that appear more frequently this is a decent activity, but as a writer I think that this is a tool that would be best left to use by young aspiring writers, like myself, to see where we have trouble showing versus telling or bringing to light our personal vernacular by presenting us with words we use too often.