A Long Fatal Love Chase Essay Research — страница 3

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vibrantpersonality are repeatedly brought up in the novel. Alcott depicts her as ” full of power and passion,yet still half unconscious of her gifts; beautiful with the beauty that wins the heart as well assatisfies the eye, yet unmarred by vanity or affectation” (43). Her moral principles are shown when sheturns down Tempest’s second offer of marriage even though she still loves him. When he asks her why shewill not become his wife after he gets a divorce, she replies: “Before I was innocently guilty, now Ishould be doubly guilty if I went back to the ‘gay and free life I love.’ Atone for the wrong you havedone me by ceasing to tempt and trouble me. I will not yield, though you hunt! me to death” (101). Lastly, Rosamond has to be enduring to survive so long on her

own with her crazedhusband constantly showing up and ruining her efforts at a fresh start. For example, the last time hecatches her alive, he places her in a mental institution. Tempest leaves her a note saying that she willnot be able to leave until she relents and lets him take her home with him. She decides to stay, andeven though her health takes a turn for the worse, she stays for several weeks until Baptiste tricks herinto a false escape where Tempest is waiting (179). Another main character in the novel is PhillipTempest. He is very handsome (despite the scar on his forehead that he received in a duel) and charming. In the matter of a month he is not only able to convince Rosamond to marry him, but to leave everythingelse behind and sail around the world with him, a man

she hardly knows (42). Tem-pest is also willing tokill if it further his own ends. When he takes Rosamo!nd to England, he sees Willoughby, who finds out that Rosamond does not know that Lito is Tempest’s son. Since Rosamond thinks that Lito is only a boy that Tempest foundand is taking care of, Tem-pest sees Willoughby as a threat. After finding out that Willoughby has heartdisease and may die from sudden shock or intense excitement, Tempest takes him on a tour of the town. Heruns him ragged with his unrelenting energy, until Willoughby loses consciousness and later dies in hisroom (61). Ultimately, Tempest feels no guilt toward any misdeed that he commits, no matter how much hewants to. He admits it to Rosamond when he says: “I mean that it is natu-ral for me to be wicked

thanvirtuous; when I do a bad act, and I’ve done many, I never feel ei-ther shame, remorse or fear” (62). While Rosamond’s and Tempest’s true character show from the beginning, Ignatius’ real identity is notseen until the novel is almost through. Rosamond first describes him as “..a cold, silent man with apale, ascetic face and eyes that seemed so bent on tur!ning from the vanities of the world that they were seldom lifted from the ground (124). Later, whenIgnatius helps her escape, he is regarded as a kind man who is willing to leave eve-rything for a womanhe loves, but cannot have because he is a priest (141). Finally, Ignatius re-veals to Rosamond that hehas lead a whole other life before he became a minister. His real name is Bayard Conde, a hero who ledthe

gallant students in the last revolution. He explains why he came to the ministry by saying: “I triedlove, glory and pleasure; none satisfied me, and, weary of the world, I left it” (199). Therefore,Alcott uses the characters as a means of bringing righteousness, depravity, and mystery to the novel inorder to show more than one perspective. In A Long Fatal Love Chase, Alcott uses several varying literary techniques. An impor-tanttechnique used in the novel is the foreshadowing of Rosamond’s death. For example, when Tempest andRosamond are sitting in her grandfather’s house during a storm, lighting strikes Rosamond’s favorite treeand she remarks: “It is a bad omen, for the superstitious say when the tree dies I shall follow soon”(14). The next instance occurs a few

days later when Rosamond asks Tempest what he saw in the magicians’magic mirror. He replies: “A lovely dead woman, an old man mourning over her and myself standing nearwith an expression of remorse and despair such as I am quite incapable of feeling” (20). Anotherimportant literary device is point of view. Alcott writes the novel in third person omniscient to showboth the character’s actions and feelings. By using this method, it is possible to see Tempest’s twosides when he tells Rosamond, “promises are easily made” then mutters to him!self, “and broken” (47). This technique also gives Ignatius’ character more depth. Through third personomnis-cient, the reader sees his thoughts, which tell how much he obviously loves Rosamond. His ac-tions,however, show how