A Light in the Dark

In order for something to be truly defined as sublime, there must be an element of darkness to it or at least something a bit unsettling about it’s main subject. Such themes are well represented in The Tyger, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Ode to a Nightingale, and especially Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. All of these works are filled with awe inspiring images of life, death, and the supernatural. Given their sometimes volatile nature, one might ask themselves how such images can be considered beautiful. Most people will not look past the surface of such things. It is the beauty that shines through the darkness that draws the reader in and makes them find it beautiful.

William Blake’s The Tyger asks how a God who made something as innocent and gentle as the lamb could make something as menacing and violent as the tiger. Blake explores the theme of innocence versus experience in much of his work. It is very easy to see the beauty in the simplicity and sweetness of the lamb, but the tiger is not as easy to look at objectively. Blake even questions how God can possibly feel happy to have created something so dangerous. Looking at the original engraving that Blake did for this could give us some insight into what he is trying to say about the sublime nature of the tiger.

 Notice that he has depicted the tiger with a smile and a friendly look on it’s face and not a fierce scowl. The tiger is just standing there and not causing anybody harm. If one looks at the contrast between his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience engravings on the Blake Archive, they see that he usually makes a major contrast between the two subjects. Blake is trying to say that a tiger is not an evil being, merely strong one. God did not create the tiger to destroy us all because that would defeat the purpose of our existence in the first place. He wants us to appreciate it’s majesty and strength. For the most part, a tiger will not attack a human unless it is provoked, although approaching one is probably not the best idea in the world. It is only fierce when in hunting or defense mode. We can admire their strength as well as their restraint. One can even say that God and the tiger have much in common. God can be far worse than any tiger when his wrath is incurred, and yet both He and the tiger can have a calm and loving nature when it comes to their children. One could even argue that God puts a part of himself into everything he creates, and therefore everything has an element of the sublime in it. God made the lamb and the tiger so we could witness two very different sides of the sublime. It is the heart of the tiger that contains it’s true beauty. Unlike some of the other works, Blake does not choose to use the supernatural. He merely uses the natural world around him.

Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner has many images of despair portrayed within it, but also contains a glimmer of hope. The mariner destroys an albatross, a symbol of good luck, and does not realize it’s true nature and beauty until it is too late. His perception of the sublime is under developed and that is a lesson he must learn along the way. It is not until after the storm and the crew’s death that he is able to see the inner worth in things. His hope lies in warning others. It is not until he is able to pray after all the supernatural horror that things begin to get better for him. The scene where the dead crew comes back to life might be viewed as terrifying to some, but it can be seen as beautiful because life is being restored to those who did not deserve to die, even if it was only for a brief period of time. The beauty in the darkness here is the divine providence granted to the mariner, even if it is a bit macabre. The moment where he is able to pray again shows that he is beginning to truly understand the sublime and not simply take it for granted. There is also the wedding guest to whom the mariner tells his tale. At first he views the mariner as merely a crazy person and does not want to hear his story at all. However, towards the end of the ballad, the wedding guest seems to indicate that he feels wiser for having heard the story. This work is different from the other works because it uses both the natural and the supernatural to get its point across.

Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale contains many allusions to life and death, with the nightingale reminding him of both those things. This work is written by a poet who knows that he is probably going to die young. Keats has also seen quite a bit of death in his life. As much as he wants to enjoy the same glorious Spring that the bird is experiencing, he keeps thinking about how he might never see another Spring again. Keats describes himself at one point in the poem as being in love with death, and sees the nightingale as a vibrant symbol of life. This could be his realization that he needs to focus on the moment at hand rather than the inevitable end. It is the sublime breaking through his darkness and his preoccupation with death. Yet, he still acknowledges that these things are beautiful. For the reader, the beauty of the nightingale remains.  It is the beacon of life in the midst of his worries about death.  Unlike Blake, Keats is finding the darker side of the light. It is up to the reader to find the beauty in the nightingale that Keats cannot seem to enjoy.

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein may be the best example of finding the light in the dark side of the sublime. Before the Creature is brought to life, Victor sees its beauty and potential. When the Creature is alive, Victor is so repulsed by it that he cannot even be in the same house with it. However, there is much beauty and light to be found beyond the Creature’s dark visage. Here is a picture of one of the most iconic scenes from the film version, where the Creature befriends a young girl. 

When looking at this photo, the viewer hardly notices the Creature’s looks. They only see a sweet person longing for friendship. If Victor had seen that the creature was capable of such kindness, he might have been able to help him and we would have been reading a much different story. Jonathan Padley’s essay, Frankenstein and (sublime) Creation, he gives us this take on the Creature: “Everything about the Creature’s demeanour — its attentive eyes, its incoherent noises, its uncertain smile, its reaching hand — likens it to a helpless human baby.”(Padley, 204). Frankenstein’s refusal to take responsibility shows that he does not have as much of an understanding of the sublime as he would like to think. He missed out on an amazing and rewarding opportunity by abandoning his creation. As was discussed in class, Victor was far more in love with the idea than the reality, and he could not handle it. With the ability to flourish, the reader could have seen the true nature of the sublime overcome the aesthetic barrier between the Creature and humanity. Nancy Fredricks states in her essay, On the Sublime and Beautiful In Shelley’s Frankenstein, that “…the sublime pushes the limits of form and sensory perception to suggest a formlessness that cannot be contained within the bounds of representation.” (1). There are even some adaptations of the story that tone the Creature’s appearance down, like the Jason Cobley Graphic Novel version . In order to find the sublime we must look beyond the visual. Even when the Creature goes down a bad path of violence and revenge, the audience still feels badly for him. It is the Creature’s humanity that draws the audience in. Everyone knows what it is to be lonely and they see that part of themselves in Frankenstein’s Creature.  Unlike the other works that have been mentioned, Frankenstein goes to the heart of the human condition to show us the sublime.

The sublime is visible in many places if we know where to look for it. Sometimes one must look more deeply than they usually would because the aesthetics can get in the way, as they do in Frankenstein and The Tyger. The sublime lies not on the exterior but on the interior. It is the light and beauty that we find even in the fearful or hideous that causes something to be truly awe inspiring and worth exploring. It is far more rewarding than taking a brief glance and never seeing the true worth within. 

Works Cited:

Fredricks, Nancy. "On the Sublime and Beautiful in Shelley's Frankenstein." Essays in Literature (1996): 178-89. Print.

Padley, Jonathan. "Frankenstein and (sublime) Creation." Romanticism 9.2 (2003): 196-212. Print.

"The William Blake Archive Homepage." The William Blake Archive Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.

"Frankenstein:." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.

"Understanding William Blake's "TheTyger"" Understanding William Blake's "TheTyger" N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.

"Bride of the Octopus: May 2010." Bride of the Octopus: May 2010. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.