The fear of
death is natural for all people. No one wants to die, especially without making
an impact. However, how long is too long
to live? The narrator in Shelley’s The
Mortal Immortal portrays just how painful time can be, especially when
alone. He opens the story with a line that really stuck with me. He says, “The
weight of never ending time – the tedious passage of the still succeeding
hours” (986). He shows just how long his
life is dragging out, and he knows there is no end near. He then goes on to
describe his life as boring and calls himself a victim. I find that very
interesting because he brought this life upon himself. Everything bad that happens
is due to his temptations and need for things he cannot have.
The
narrator, “Winzy” raises the question, “Am I immortal?” He hopes that he only
has been cursed with an extremely long life, and not one for all eternity. The
interesting question, we as readers should ask is how did he get himself in
this position? Struck by love and pain, he wanted to free himself from the
curse of loving Bertha. Ironically enough, this trapped him in a new curse, the
curse of immortality. On a side note, what did he see in Bertha? She was not
very kind to him, pestered him all of the time and told him to go make a
horrible deal to earn himself more money. But hey, love is love? Yuck.
 |
| ...If only |
The most
interesting thing about the potion Winzy drinks is that at first it makes him
feel incredible. He says, “my thoughts were in heaven” and he could see the
“beauty of heaven and the earth”. This is some pretty peaceful and beautiful
imagery for a man who on the previous page wanted sweet revenge from a “false
and cruel” worthless girl who he detested and felt bitter scorn for. This
potion tempts Winzy just as he was tempted by gold. He wanted something he
could not have. First he wanted money to win Bertha’s love, and then he wanted
to feel anything but love because she could not be with him. See a pattern
here? Bertha kind of sucks. So of course
he ends up falling more deeply in love with her and they run off together. She
says, “Take me to your mother’s cot; swiftly let me leave the detested luxuries
and wretchedness of this noble dwelling – take me to poverty and happiness”
(991). So now she doesn’t care about money? Interesting. She probably sees his
new good looks acquired from the potion.
When Bertha
starts to age and Winzy stays young and healthy, it ruins their marriage.
People shun them and believe he is cursed. She also feels self conscious of
her aging and lack of beauty. A very interesting moment occurs when Winzy is
speaking about Bertha dressing herself up to look young. He says, “I could not
be angry – did I not myself wear a mask? Why quarrel with hers, because it was
less succesfull” (994). He points that
she is simply trying to look younger, something he successfully has. He has a
false appearance of youth that he cannot make go away. The difference is he
wants to age and she is ashamed of her getting older.
Winzy stays
with his wife until she dies, despite the shame it brings her to be with him.
For some strange reason, despite her constantly trying to prove he was aging
and looking for faults in him, Winzy loves Bertha unconditionally. After her
passing, his immortality becomes more unbearable. He continues to wish that he wouldn’t live
forever. Some of the most haunting and poetic lines in the story read, “Yes the
fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live,
the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man—born to
perish—when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of this nature”
(995). He is saying that no matter how
weary he grows of life, he is still afraid to die. This, is what makes him a mortal immortal. He feels, he longs, he
dreads and he suffers. Though he cannot age nor die, he suffers the same fears
and desires of any other man. However, for him, this pain and suffering can
last a lifetime. By writing this story,
he is making his mark and leaving his impact. Although he may not be happy, he
is making his impact on the world, and leaving his name and his story to be
known.
Final comment, Tuck Everlasting totally ripped
of this plot 
I like where you are getting at here. Like Keats, Shelley expresses in "The Mortal Immortal" that the fear of death is natural to everyone. No one wants to die or think of how they are going to die. We all live like we are somewhat immortal. However, the narrator questions his immortality in which he becomes after drinking an elixir belonging to his mentor. His love, Bertha dies, and this tortures him because he no longer wants to be immortal. I think this is ironic for all humans because we want this sense of immortality, but we cannot survive the consequences such as our loved ones passing on without us. I was very sad after reading this and imagined myself in Winzy's position.
ReplyDeleteI liked your blog post a lot! You get across one of the main themes I think that is part of this story, that being is being immortal all that great? After reading this, I would say not. Like stated before me, no one wants to die, or when or how we are going to die. But I feel like for most people in their lives, they will realize that death is a natural part of life and accept it. Unfortunately for our narrator here, he does not realize this until after he has taken the elixir. After his true love dies, he has no one else and still he must remain alive. I feel bad for the narrator but in a sense he kind of had this coming. He just took the elixir without really thinking about it, and now he is being punished for it. Once again another dreadful tale about life and death, but I enjoyed it myself. It teaches us that no one should pursue immortality or be forever young, you would just be tampering with the way nature intended life to be.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting when you brought up how when it comes to Winzy, "Everything bad that happens is due to his temptations and need for things he cannot have." I found this almost biblical at points. An earlier biblical point that I noticed was when Winzy says, "My failing steps were directed whither for two years they had every evening been attracted,-- a gently bubbling spring of pure living waters, beside which lingered a dark haired girl." It is possible that "pure living water" is just a coincidence, but in the bible Jesus sits with a Samaritan woman who has had many husbands near a well, and he speaks to her about "living water" that would make it so that she would "never thirst". She does not listen to him or believe him. This could allude to the "living water", or elixir of life that Winzy will eventually have.
ReplyDeleteI also found later biblical reference to Adam and Eve eating off of the tree of knowledge. Winzy drinking the elixir of life that he thinks is just a potion reminded me of this because although he is warned, he is swept away to drink the potion by temptation of its beauty, and his greed.
The last biblical reference I found was when Winzy states, "Nay, in the end I should be burnt as a dealer in the black art, while she, to whom I had not deigned to communicate any portion of my good fortune, might be stoned as my accomplice," which could connect to the possible stoning of an adultress in the bible. An adultress in the bible is seen as a sinner for her adultery, but Jesus tells the men that wish to stone her to only throw the first stone if they have never sinned. No one throws a stone, and Jesus gives her another chance to try and be a better person, and less of a sinner. I found this connection interesting because of the many sins of this story, from all characters.
I suppose I’ll respond as I read along:
ReplyDeleteDid he find it a curse to love Bertha? I think the curse was more that she didn't love him back at first.
I particularly loved the part of the text when Winzy drinks the potion. It almost made me think of Shrek: the lure of consuming something that will change you in some greater way than you even know but suspect drives you to go against what is right and...drink it.
Bertha is such a vulgar woman, and I agree with you, Jamie, she sucks. Selfish, self-centered, insecure, and vindictive and manipulating can describe her along with "sucks."
Ah, for Bertha to look young again...so, she plasters on the make-up in attempt to reverse time and compete with her husband's (or other women's) good looks (out of jealousy, reputation, etc etc). This is, of course, LADY WISHFORT.
I like how Bertha and Winzy want the opposite out of life: to age v. to stay young. I like Winzy's mindset better, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with looking "old and sophisticated" as time goes on. I think of it as a gender thing, too: women never ever want to look old, whereas men embrace it because it gives them a sexy, worldly, sophisticated, "I'm experienced" appeal (lol). Women looking old is like..."Hmmm, you're beat."
I was shocked and a little humiliated at the fact that Winzy stays with the b****. I was all for him lashing out at her and taking off to pursue some other female (she doesn't even have to be young, just nice and genuine).
Poor Winzy; I felt really bad for him. He wants to die but at the same time he's afraid. I can only imagine how much he constantly struggled mentally over the position he's in, what he wants, his past, etc. It all seems like a really heavy load to bear.
Lastly, I suppose as a child we all say “I want to live forever!” Our parents tell us that they will, so then we want to and for some time actually believe it and that it will be the most wonderful thing. Shelley has proved that whole idea wrong (so I’m going to stop wishing it now). Although, it would be nice never to age…at least for some time…
There is an interesting footnote on page 987 of the anthology that says, "'Mortal Immortal' also examines the question of whether love can survive time's ravages is beauty does not." After finishing the story and thinking back to this, I shifted my thoughts to the idea that maybe this a story about love's death knell...or being trapped inside a love that should have died a long time ago. It's been said that Mary and Percy Shelley weren't the happiest couple and I feel that there is connection here.
ReplyDeleteWhen Winzy is summoned by his master to watch over the elixir until it changes he warns hims by saying "you would not cease to love you Bertha--beware to drink!" And he doesn't cease to love her. His feelings become boundless and all encompassing, When he sees her again he says, "I no longer loved--Oh! no, I adored--worshiped--idolized her!"
When Bertha starts to grow old and his age remains the same, the fervor behind his love weakens and he is bound by a sense of duty to her well being. He says, "I loved you in youth; God is my witness that I would not desert you in age, but that your safety and happiness require it." I mean...I don't know about anyone else, but this struck me as something that can be deeply personal on a lot of levels. Perhaps people are stuck together by an old love that will not die, that is impossible to move away from, like Winzy's potion has made it impossible for him.
Ultimately, I think Shelley's point is that love must end and if it doesn't in life, it most certainly will in death: "the beverage of the alchemist was fraught rather with longevity than eternal life."
I could totally be making this up, so I apologize, but I thought that it would be interesting to tie some of the details back to that footnote.
I really enjoyed your post and a lot of the things you touched on were things I noticed while reading too! I really enjoyed this story because it had a bit of everything that I like: the magic of the Elixer of Life like in Harry Potter, the romance aspect, and the illusion that living forever would be a wonderful thing. I didn't know if I should feel sorry for him or not. He let Bertha walk all over him and then fell into temptation when he drank half the potion after the professor told him not to. It was sorta funny but also really sad because it means that he is going to spend the rest of his life alone and miserable. I feel like that might be a little harsh! I almost wish that he would have expanded the story and talked about making a potion to reverse the spell or something...that would have been interesting too and then it wouldn't have ended on such a somber note!
ReplyDeletePs- Bertha is a bitch and I definetely don't feel sorry for her! She made herself look pathetic and it just goes to show that trying to make the boy you love jealous with another guy isn't the smartest route. Get it together BERTHA!!
-Megan Harpel
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