Curiosity: Fatal Flaw of the Lovecraftian Mythos
In the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, ignorance is in fact bliss -- or at the very least, sanity. Challenging the unknown -- making it known -- is a nearly sure way to a bad end; dead, insane, or both.
Unlike most people in his stories, who go through life safely blinkered, Lovecraft’s doomed protagonists are unable to resist poking into non-Euclidean corners and shining lights into tenebrous places.
One might ask why, in the face of danger to life, limb,and sanity, Lovecraft’s doomed protagonists persist in heading into the unknown. One answer might be that, having grown in ignorance, they don’t know the danger that they face until it’s too late, and they have crossed an invisible, but irrevocable, line between the safety and sanity of ignorance and the dangers of knowing too much.
But this answer only raises another one; why do Lovecraft’s protagonists defy what is, in the Mythos, literally common sense.
An answer to that could come from the archetype of the tragic hero who is led to his doom by his fatal flaw. In Lovecraft’s stories, that flaw is curiosity. It is not a surprise that so many of Lovecraft’s stories feature students or teachers at Miskatonic University.
But not all students or teachers fall victim to the lure of forbidden knowledge. Lovecraft’s tragic heroes also possess a sensitivity that predisposes them to madness. Many of his heroes are writers or artists.
This leads to a chicken-or-egg question; are Lovecraft’s protagonists doomed because they seek out the unknown … or do they seek out the unknown because they are doomed?
(For the Vacation Necronomicon School assignment "300 words or less on madness and the unknown.")
This entry was originally posted at http://kit-r-writing.dreamwidth.org/480276.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Unlike most people in his stories, who go through life safely blinkered, Lovecraft’s doomed protagonists are unable to resist poking into non-Euclidean corners and shining lights into tenebrous places.
One might ask why, in the face of danger to life, limb,and sanity, Lovecraft’s doomed protagonists persist in heading into the unknown. One answer might be that, having grown in ignorance, they don’t know the danger that they face until it’s too late, and they have crossed an invisible, but irrevocable, line between the safety and sanity of ignorance and the dangers of knowing too much.
But this answer only raises another one; why do Lovecraft’s protagonists defy what is, in the Mythos, literally common sense.
An answer to that could come from the archetype of the tragic hero who is led to his doom by his fatal flaw. In Lovecraft’s stories, that flaw is curiosity. It is not a surprise that so many of Lovecraft’s stories feature students or teachers at Miskatonic University.
But not all students or teachers fall victim to the lure of forbidden knowledge. Lovecraft’s tragic heroes also possess a sensitivity that predisposes them to madness. Many of his heroes are writers or artists.
This leads to a chicken-or-egg question; are Lovecraft’s protagonists doomed because they seek out the unknown … or do they seek out the unknown because they are doomed?
(For the Vacation Necronomicon School assignment "300 words or less on madness and the unknown.")
This entry was originally posted at http://kit-r-writing.dreamwidth.org/480276.html. Please comment there using OpenID.