John Fowles’s novel The Magus is an enthralling book that grabs a hold of the reader and will simply not let go. There are several reasons for this books ability to captivate its readers; the main reason is its strong relation to mythology. Just as in mythology the reason that this novel is so compelling is the complexity of the relationships that the characters have with one another. The Magus would not have been compelling to read if you as a reader could not associate with at least one of the characters. It is the same for mythology if you could not relate with the gods or heroes then the myths would be dull. In this novel Nicholas Urfe has three main relationships that send him through an emotional rollercoaster.
The first of these relationships is subsequently the most emotionally taxing and ultimately frustrating. This is the relationship with Alison a young women who represents nothing more to Nicholas than a physical attraction at first. This relationship quickly advances as it always inevitably does and Alison rejects Nicholas. If it was not for this rejection this novel could have turned out completely different in fact Nicholas might have simply seen the God Game for what it was. Instead he is sucked into the game and continues this game to try and get Alison out of his mind. Playing the God Game is his way of trying to purge the idea of Alison from his mind. The relationship between Alison and Nicholas continues near the end of the book when she comes to see him on the island. It is during this visit that Nicholas turns down her unconditional love for a chance at a relationship with Julie. This was arguably the worst decision that he makes during the entire novel. This essentially marks the end of the relationship between the two until the end of the book when he realizes his mistake and tries to get Alison back.
This relationship is almost exactly the same as Cupid and Psyche. In this story Alison would be Cupid and Nicholas would be Psyche. Nicholas does not know what he has until it is gone and then he chases after it with no success until that is Alison decides to see him. The only difference in this myth and the relationship between Nicholas and Alison is the ending in the myth they live happily ever after and in the novel the ending is a mystery to the reader.
The second relationship that Nicholas has in this novel is with Julie. This relationship was probably the most confusing relationship in the novel due to all of the layers of the relationship. This relationship is noticeable because of the metamorphosis of Julie. Throughout the novel she changes roles in the God Game multiple times. Even though she changed her role in deceiving Nicholas he seemed to be completely oblivious to her changes. Her first role in their relationship was the innocent mentally deranged young woman. This role appealed to Nicholas because he thought that he could outwit Conchis in his God Game. This shows us what kind of person Nicholas is during the majority of the novel a selfish man who uses people to make him feel better. Then later when Julie changed to the emotionally vulnerable young women. Nicholas uses Julie in this role to make himself feel better about Alison leaving him. Then Julie makes one last transformation and crushes all of Nicholas’s hopes at true love with her. This was supposedly done to teach Nicholas a lesson and to deter him from continuing his womanizing ways.
This relationship can be related to that of Persephone and Hades. There are multiple references to Persephone in the novel she makes multiple references of running away from the situation in addition to that she is abducted while with Nicholas. The first and the most obvious reference to Persephone is the book that is left open on the beach. The book was open and the poem read, “First must thou go the road to hell And the bower of Ceres’ daughter Persephone” (Fowles 69). Nicholas who just wants Julie for his own selfish purposes represents Hades. Hades only abducts Persephone to feel better about himself not because he loves her. This relationship was set up as part of the God Game and was meant to teach Nicholas a lesson. While this seems a brutal lesson Nicholas is given plenty of warnings the greatest of these was the two clues he was given after Julie was abducted. “One was a doll. The other was a human skull… The doll was Julie, and said that she was evil, she was black, under the white innocence she wore.” (459).
The third relationship the Nicholas had was with Conchis the master puppeteer behind the God Game. This relationship was one of frustration for both Nicholas and the reader. Conchis is a very subtle character seeming to leave every decision up to Nicholas, however he was so understanding that he could manipulate Nicholas and steer his decisions in the direction he wanted. This was evident when Conchis continuously warns Nicholas about Julie, “She may appear normal tomorrow. You must not let that deceive you.” (312).
In this novel Conchis represents two different mythological characters Apate and Zeus. The Greek goddess Apate was the goddess of fraud and deception. Conchis fits this description perfectly as the instigator of the God Game he is the focal point of the deception. He represents Zeus in a more subtle way pulling the puppeteer strings from the shadows. Zeus often in mythology plays other gods and mortals against each, however he rarely gets his hands dirty (unless of course it involves a woman) preferring to use others to reach his goal.
While there were other relationships that were portrayed in this novel and each one added depth to the story these were the relationships that most people could relate their own lives to. John Fowles uses relationships to not only captivate his readers but to imbed the story and its lessons into the reader’s minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment