10 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2023
  2. Jul 2023
  3. Oct 2022
    1. These words were a sufficient explication of the scene. The nature of his phrenzy, as described by my uncle, was remembered. I who had sought death, was now thrilled with horror because it was near. Death in this form, death from the hand of a brother, was thought upon with undescribable repugnance. In a state thus verging upon madness, my eye glanced upon Carwin. His astonishment appeared to have struck him motionless and dumb. My life was in danger, and my brother’s hand was about to be embrued in my blood. I firmly believed that Carwin’s was the instigation. I could rescue me from this abhorred fate; I could dissipate this tremendous illusion; I could save my brother from the perpetration of new horrors, by pointing out the devil who seduced him; to hesitate a moment was to perish. These thoughts gave strength to my limbs, and energy to my accents: I started on my feet. “O brother! spare me, spare thyself: There is thy betrayer. He counterfeited the voice and face of an angel, for the purpose of destroying thee and me. He has this moment confessed it. He is able to speak where he is not. He is leagued with hell, but will not avow it; yet he confesses that the agency was his.”

      There's so much in this chapter. Firstly prudent reasoning from Carwin vs religious enthusiasm indirectly clashes in this emotion heated scene. Carwin has confessed his sins. Wieland escaped prison again to sacrifice Clara in his belief that the voice he hears is a divine messenger. Clara had thought of commiting suicide before Carwin's confessions, but once Wieland appears, she dreads the thought of dieing. The atmosphere has such eerie gothic elements. On the other hand there's a lot of character development, all 3 have changed a lot which makes them dynamic characters. Carwin seeks to clear up everything he had done out of guilt. Wieland had gone insane. But the most dramatic change is within Clara, who everyone adored, percieved as pure, brave and just and now - even though she just heard from Carwin that he had not made Wieland murder his family, Clara turns on him with a lie, a religious reasoning to save herself from her brother and to make his brother realize that "the divine messenger" is unreal. Clara is trying to use a possibly deadly trick on the two men. All three characters has reached a big turning point.

  4. Oct 2020
    1. I saw her bag was open again.

      I think it's pretty amazing how Mansfield uses this motif to illustrate the carelessness/lack of responsibility of Mrs. Raddick - it'd be interesting to see if she does this for other ways. Character-development seems like a really hard thing to track/write a program for because every character has different traits and isn't just described by adjectives.

  5. Sep 2019