The Adventure of the German Student - Book Report/Review Example

Using Gothic Enlightenment to read The Adventure of the German The Adventure of the German was written by Irving Washington (1783 - 1859). It is an example of early American Gothic Enlightenment. This short story is about Wolfgang, a German student's encounter with the woman in his dream. He unknowingly makes love to the ghost and seems to have committed necrophilia. The self-married couple is parted by daylight when the woman loses all traits of life. The panic stricken Wolfgang summons the police officer who delivers the final blow to his already shocked mind. The officer reveals that the woman was executed by guillotine the day before. Wolfgang was so upset that he became insane and died in a madhouse in Paris. The story does not end here. The reader is left with doubts about the identity of the storyteller. Since the narrator came upon this tale in the madhouse, how reliable is his personal account of his witness What was the narrator doing in the asylum This thesis states that Washington used the techniques of Gothic Enlightenment to mock at the supernatural elements in Gothic tales. The literary scholar Andriano says that The Adventure of the German Student is most probably a story in the category of Gothic Enlightenment. (Andriano 70). The supernatural element is explained away by hinting that the narrator and the personal account witness are unreliable. Wolfgang is discredited as being insane so his personal account may not be true. His mental state is challenged as a consequence of narrating his tale of wedding night nuptials with a corpse. Wolfgang however, says that the animated corpse has rendered him insane. The narrative says; 'The student burst into a frenzy. "The fiend! The fiend has gained possession of me!" shrieked he; "I am lost forever." ' It is reminded that the narrator has earlier warned about Wolfgang's mental state when he tells that; 'He took up a notion, I do not know from what cause, that there was an evil influence hanging over him; an evil genius or spirit seeking to ensnare him and ensure his perdition.' Wolfgang thinks that he has unluckily fulfilled his self-prophecy. Rather than being a perpetuator of improper behavior, he claims that he is a victim of Evil. One may argue that Wolfgang knowingly entered into the participation of sensual pleasure because he was forewarned. The strange oddity of meeting the woman in his dreams should have raised sufficient warning that this was no ordinary encounter. Wolfgang was more awestruck by her physical beauty than in possession of his better senses. The narrative says; 'What was his astonishment at beholding, by the bright glare of the lightning, the very face which had haunted him in his dreams. It was pale and disconsolate, but ravishingly beautiful.' Wolfgang did not recognize the sign of haunting by this encounter of the woman who has been haunting him in his dreams. The evil genius in him could have been in recession or that this evil genius encouraged him to befriend the woman because the genius reviled in seeking his destruction. Using the theory of Gothic Enlightenment, this would imply that Wolfgang invented this episode because he already had nurtured a woman's face in his dreams and was waiting for an opportunity to a induce a transition from his inner psyche to an external medium that could be expressed. The encounter with this woman may have been a figment of his imagination, so desperate was he to give rein to a pleasurable pursuit. The narrator, in the same vein of Gothic Enlightenment, had mentioned sufficient basis to support this argument. The narrator says; 'He was too shy and ignorant of the world to make any advances to the fair, but he was a passionate admirer of female beauty, and in his lonely chamber would often lose himself in reveries on forms and faces which he had seen, and his fancy would deck out images of loveliness far surpassing the reality.' Whether or not there was an evil spirit is of secondary importance to the accorded fact that Wolfgang is fascinated with feminine beauty. Wolfgang is a victim of his own making when he caves inwards to his imagination and desires. Washington has provided sufficient basis in his setting of the initial location of the woman to explain the dubious credibility of the narrator. Given the proximity of the seated position of the lady at the scaffold of the guillotine, it is a wonder that Wolfgang does not question the credibility of the woman. Would a sane woman be found at that time of night, out in the open, under bad weather, and at the gruesome location of the guillotine The improbability or low possibility of all these factors would hint that there might be an element of supernatural in this episode. Washington teases the reader by the inclusion of a highly suspect story scenario and drops clues along the way to cast doubt on the reliability of the characters and circumstances. This style of narrative that ridicules the story is called a satire. Washington was not a fan of Gothic literature and he put together all these elements of high macabre to show how ironic it was that the Gothic tale has the convenience of containing tragically morbid elements to help the plot. Washington's satire on Gothic Enlightenment goes even a step further. He has written the story as a humorist. Punter says that 'Washington had exploited the comic possibilities of the Gothic 'tall tale' in such stories as 'The Adventure of the German Student'. (Punter 116). He placed juxtapositions of the 'ravishingly beautiful' woman, along with the human avarices like temptation and lust, to show how Wolfgang is responsible for his choices, however informed or ill-informed he is. Wolfgang is the protagonist who has at least two antagonists; his evil genius self and the beautiful woman. At every step along the story, the protagonist encounters temptations. The narrator says; 'The popular delirium (revolution in Paris) at first caught his enthusiastic mind, and he was captivated by the political and philosophical theories of the day: but the scenes of blood which followed shocked his sensitive nature, and made him more than ever a recluse.' He succeeds in fending off his alter ego genius self (who reveled in the climate of derision) because he abhorred gore. When his evil genius was denied by the abstinence of social circumstances by his friends' insistence and by his own censure, the evil took on the form of the beautiful woman to ensnare him. Gothic Enlightenment serves to debunk the Gothic myths. Wolfgang's follies of weakness for the opposite sex are scorned and he is portrayed to be in derision because he was so desperate for female companionship that he ignored the potential dangers of bringing home a stranger. Washington mocks the Gothic tale by having the woman say that her home is; '"Yes-in the grave!" '. Wolfgang does not shy away but instead chooses to feel empathy and sympathy for her because he is friendless too. He has let down his guard against Evil because of his human follies. This story is like a moral lesson about the pitfalls of human follies. Wolfgang gives into his temptations and is punished not by the object of his debauchery but by his own guilt. The narrator says; 'They tried to soothe him, but in vain. He was possessed with the frightful belief that an evil spirit had reanimated the dead body to ensnare him. He went distracted, and died in a madhouse.' By virtue of the Gothic Enlightenment, the incredible story of the animated, beheaded corpse is explained away by discrediting Wolfgang's account as being untrustworthy because he is mad. Wolfgang could have invented the story and carried the corpse back into his quarters. (Andriano 70). By incorporating doubts into the credibility of the story, Washington uses the Gothic Enlightenment to ridicule the Gothic tale. If the student is mad, then how reliable is his story The narrator's admission that he heard this story from a student in the madhouse discredits him. Why was he in the madhouse too Was he a visitor or an inmate If the narrator had been insane before, how reliable is his account now Since the narrator might not be a reliable witness, it casts doubt upon the truth of the account. The short story has a multilayered narrative. The omniscient narrator is used at the end to reveal the first narrator as; 'Here the old gentleman with the haunted head finished his narrative.' The mystery continues just when the first mystery of Wolfgang's adventure ends. Why is this old gentleman described as having 'the haunted head' Does the omniscient narrator imply that the old man's head was haunted with the story Or is the implication on the old man having a haunted head because of his experiences A third possibility explores the notion that the haunted head of Wolfgang is there with the old man, that is, the old man is Wolfgang himself. Washington did not offer any conclusive deduction but rather suggested that the reader should use rationale to derive at the conclusions. Besides the Gothic Enlightenment, Washington also examines the mysteries of life, death and beyond using other theories. Using plain rationale, it can be induced that Wolfgang could have carried the corpse back into his room and hallucinated about the rest of the episode. Other prevalent theories are the animation of zombies and vampires. The woman claims; ' "I have no friend on earth!" ' This is the typical reaction of the zombie, who loses all former memories upon reanimation. As such, the first person who talks to her will impress her and this explains why she follows Wolfgang home readily. Later, when they converse, the narrator says; 'She was strangely affected by his recital, and acknowledged to have felt an impulse towards him equally unaccountable.' When Wolfgang pledges himself to her forever, he unknowingly gives away his soul. When he comes into this realization, he loses his sanity, mind, soul or essence of himself. It is deduced that after the woman has achieved her purpose, she becomes lifeless again. The abduction or kidnapping of Wolfgang's soul can be explained in other rational terms. Andriano says; 'The haunting is an incursion into the male ego's dominion: the female demon is seen as an usurper or intruder; she inhabits and insidiously attempts to exert her influence, to feminize the male.' This can be seen when Wolfgang is said to be ashamed of his humble dwellings because; 'The next morning the student left his bride sleeping, and sallied forth at an early hour to seek more spacious apartments suitable to the change in his situation.' The woman has succeeded in domesticating him in this aspect. There is another theory on why the nameless woman agrees with Wolfgang on everything and seems to be his match, soul mate and platonic friend. The woman could be his evil genius. This can also explain why this woman has no name in the short story. She cannot have a name because Wolfgang has the rightful name and body of himself. Wolfgang dreams about a woman because his anima (feminine inner personality) exerts itself. The woman in his dreams is actually himself. He recognizes the features in his dreams and at the guillotine because the face is essentially of himself. Similarly, it can be argued that the woman befriends Wolfgang easily because her animus (masculine inner personality) bonds with Wolfgang. (Andriano 73-75). Andriano says that the woman has all the characteristic traits of an anima. She originates in the mind of Wolfgang. She is an unconscious projection onto a real woman. She is the influence instigating change. She is bipolar in attraction and repulsion towards herself. She invokes a real primordial experience in Wolfgang and he cannot wait to be formally married before savoring her as his bride. Andriano explains that; 'Irving, then, has traced an archetypal pattern: the failure of a young man to integrate the feminine, a failure resulting in madness.' (Andriano 75). Wolfgang could have carried home the corpse and his anima imagined the corpse talking and interacting with him. The theory of Gothic Enlightenment would explain that the anima fails to satisfy the man and that is why the head drops out from the woman's body. The woman has become a corpse because that feminine persona within the man (Wolfgang) has died. On the other hand, the dead anima could have been beheaded because it is not identified as part of the Wolfgang's character. (Andriano 75). Although every man has his own anima and animus, Wolfgang faced conflicts when his anima and animus could not reconcile with one another. Besides believing in Gothic Enlightenment, Washington also believed in the Romantic Era's philosophy of the intrinsic goodness of man. Wolfgang is being a good Samaritan when he says; "If a stranger dare make an offer," said he, "without danger of being misunderstood, I would offer my humble dwelling as a shelter; myself as a devoted friend. I am friendless myself in Paris, and a stranger in the land; but if my life could be of service, it is at your disposal, and should be sacrificed before harm or indignity should come to you." Similarly, believing in the same vein of goodness, Washington makes Wolfgang go mad after he has realized the magnitude of his transgressions. In conclusion, The Adventure of the German Student is a short story written with elements of Gothic, satire, humor, psychology, Romanticism and Gothic Enlightenment. The story has an open ending and many interpretations can be read. Wolfgang faced many internal conflicts with his evil genius, anima, animus, follies and psychic. The adventure with the beheaded bride is his final battle that claimed his sanity. Washington used the techniques of Gothic Enlightenment to deconstruct the Gothic tale and show the weaknesses of the Gothic tale. The end. Works Cited. Andriano, Joseph. Our Ladies of Darkness: Feminine Daemonology in Male Gothic Fiction. USA: Penn State Press, 1993. Punter, David. A Companion to the Gothic. UK: Oxford, 2000. The Adventure of the German Student by Irving Washington. 1 Jan 2005. Russell Tayler. 14 May 2007. . Read More