From where does fear originate? This is the question that I
have wondered throughout the text, and concluded only that fear is provoked by
the unnatural.
The governess articulates, “Here at present I felt
afresh—for I had felt it again and again—how my equilibrium depended on the
success of my rigid will, the will to shut my eyes as tight as possible to the
truth that what I had to deal with was, revoltingly, against nature” (James
77). Not only is the presence of the dead scary because it is unnatural, but
even the children’s goodness is considered “unnatural” when their characters
are called into question. “Why of the very things that have delighted,
fascinated and yet, at bottom, as I now so strangely see, mystified and
troubled me. Their more than earthly beauty, their absolutely unnatural
goodness” (47). Perhaps this is why (if beauty is considered natural) beauty is
a factor in determining one’s goodness.
1 comment:
I agree, I think that the unnatural beauty is unsettling. I think this has been a really common theme throughout all the other stories as well. If something is beautiful, it brings to light all other imperfections around them in full. As the illusion of beauty fades, the reality of the ugly, and unnatural is revealed. I know this will differently occur in Dorian Grey.
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