We
have understood poison as a literary tool to represent several things:
symbolically, comically, and fatally. Each post shows a varying use of poison, interlinked
through its purpose of quite simply changing the body. As seen with Alice’s
body disfigurement in Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland when eating and drinking the objects left behind; or Ron’s
horrific ordeal in Harry Potter and the
Half Blood Prince.
Placing
poison within food is a symbol itself: food is an object on which we survive, therefore
it becomes an invasion of not just the trust we place in our food, but our
safety. Each text presents the unaware victim, the risk and vulnerability of
eating or drinking something that is meant to be harmless, and each case explores
the consequences. The argument of this blog shows poison as not only a murder
weapon, but a symbolism of constraint, a need for the murderer to be heard or
seen; each text gives that to the murderer without realising.
Works Cited
Caroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London,
Macmillan. 2015. Print.
Rowling, J K.Harry
Potter and the Half Blood Prince.Arthur
A Levine Books, New York. 2005. Web.
<http://publish.uwo.ca/~hamendt/WD%20final%20Project/litertaure/Half%20Blood%20Prince.pdf> Accessed
March 2017.
Everyone knows Alice in Wonderland. The Victorian story has become
a huge success in reprints, theatre, and film. The story of a girl who finds
herself in a bizarre fantasy world. My focus is immediately after this: the Eat
Me, Drink Me scene. Though these don't constitute fatal poisons, they
represent unwanted manipulation of the body - both substances cause Alice's
body to change in size. If these are interpreted as 'poisons', it lends an
intriguing flavour to the text (no pun intended).
(2) Book cover
"It was all very well to
say 'Drink me', but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in
a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked 'poison'
or not'; for she had read several nice stories about children who had got
burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts, and other unpleasant things, all because
they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught
them: […] she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked
'poison', it is almost certain to disagree with you later." (9)
Alice's deliberations over whether to drink from the bottle are
quite entertaining. The innocence of the child and the systematic way in which
she is instructed contrasts the possibility of poison itself. The innocence is
further highlighted by the text's coy refusal to acknowledge the fatality of
poison, simply admitting that it "disagree[s] with you" (9).
Her sensible
distrust of the bottle is contrasted with her recklessness with the cake, easily
convincing herself to eat it:
"Soon her eye fell on a little glass
box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small
cake on which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well,
I'll eat it,' said Alice,' and if it makes me grow larger, she can reach the
key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way
I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'" (12)
This impulsive
choice presents her naivety in a more realistic view of a child. It also illustrates cultural
difference in perception between food and drink. Children are more often
instructed to fear poison in strange liquids than food.
Film
In the 2010 film
version shows the White Queen making a reversal potion so Alice can turn back
into her original size. However, the choice of ingredients - worm fat, buttered
fingers, and three coins from a dead man's pocket - all suggest a form of
fatality with unpleasant effects from drinking it.
Works Cited (1) Annie's Hidden World. Eat Me Cake. 2011, n/a. Blogger. http://hiddenworld-annie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/who-knows-how-to-bake-upelkuchen.html. Accessed March 2017. (2) PanMacmillan. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 2017, UK. Pan Macmillan Publishing. https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/lewis-carroll/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland. Accessed March 2017. Caroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London, Macmillan. 2015. Print.
The most iconic example of twenty-first century children's
fiction, Harry Potter frequently explores the manipulation of bodies -
transfiguration, magical medicine, and of course, dangerous potions. As
with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the prospect of non-fatal
poisoning is explored. These poisons are meant to distort the body or corrupt
the thoughts. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ron
is mistakenly poisoned twice: first with a love potion, and then, more
sinisterly, by poisoned mead. Here, then, are two different types of poison -
one of the mind, the other of the body.
Ron, unaware, greedily eats a box of chocolates sent as a gift to Harry. These
chocolates were laced with love potion, causing Ron to pine for the sender,
Romilda. This use of a 'poison' is comedic, used to justly punish Ron for his
theft:
‘“They
didn’t fall off your bed, you prat, don’t you understand? They were mine, I
chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for the map, they’re the
Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda gave me before Christmas, and they’re all spiked
with love potion!"' (393)
Harry brings Ron ingloriously to the office of the Potions master,
Horace Slughorn, to have an antidote administered. After deceiving Ron into
taking it, the three decide to celebrate with Slughorn's mead:
“I’ve
got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead . . . hmm . . . meant to give that
to Dumbledore for Christmas . . . ah, well . . .” He shrugged. “He can’t miss
what he’s never had! Why don’t we open it now and celebrate Mr. Weasley’s
birthday?” (397-398)
The jovial atmosphere of this scene is shattered by the
advent of a dangerous poison in the mead, drunk by Ron before the toast. This
contrasts the previous example of greed from Ron - now his life is in genuine
danger. The scene returns to the more traditional usage of poison, as
presented in previous works in this blog - as a murderer’s tool. Yet it is
also tragic, as once again it is clear that Ron was not the intended
target, simply an unwitting victim of a wider intrigue.
“Ron
had dropped his glass; he half-rose from his chair and then crumpled, his
extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was dribbling from his mouth, and his
eyes were bulging from their sockets. [...] Harry leapt over a low table
and sprinted toward Slughorn’s open potion kit, pulling out jars and pouches,
while the terrible sound of Ron’s gargling breath filled the room. Then he
found it — the shriveled kidney like stone Slughorn had taken from him in
Potions. He hurtled back to Ron’s side, wrenched open his jaw, and thrust the
bezoar into his mouth. Ron gave a great shudder, a rattling gasp, and his body
became limp and still.’ (398-399)
These grisly
details highlight the threat of the poison to the body. The experienced
Professor's failure to react reflects the shock of the reader at the sudden
change of pace, expressing the social power of poison as a hidden threat that
cannot be guarded against.
Film
Below, for comparison to the text, is the film clip of Ron's
poisoning:
Works Cited (1) Doodle Books. "J K Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 1/1 HB". 2005. Doodle Books, England. Web. <http://www.doodledbooks.com/j-k-rowling---harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-11-hb-56-p.asp> Accessed March 2017. Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Arthur A Levine Books, New York. 2005. Web. <http://publish.uwo.ca/~hamendt/WD%20final%20Project/litertaure/Half%20Blood%20Prince.pdf> Accessed March 2017.
The novel presents an invasion of the norm, an invasion of the ordinary. The storys shows how the protagonist and narrator cannot be trusted as she is later revealed to be the murderer of her family by putting arsenic in the sugar when they go to use it. Food is a central focus within the novel. Almost all interactions between characters are at a dinner, lunch or breakfast. Food is always shown in the background, as a product of family history as they keep decades of preserves in the cellar. The main room is their mother's drawing room, a place where they frequently have tea with visitors.
Evidently, food is also portrayed frequently as a form of death. Especially when Merricat threatens the villagers:
"put death in all their food" (110)
which becomes a conflict as food is something that generally brings warmth, comfort, and wholeness. But instead, food is manipulated and endangered, to become something life-threatening and, quite simply, poisonous.What is evident about this quote is the personification of death. Merricat resorts to violence as a way of resolving something, but she mostly uses food, something that people generally trust and depend on, to kill people. This conflict of innocence and killer-like thoughts, creates an eerie atmosphere for the reader. The New York Review of Books shows a different review, focusing on the witchcraft presented in the novel. It states that 'Merricat's wholly sympathetic creator/collaborator Shirley Jackson has struck every essential note of her Gothic tale of sexual repression and rhapsodic vengeance; as it unfolds in ways both inevitable and unexpected.' (Oates). It's very interesting as they also present a comparison between the novel and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in terms of innocence and repression. It says, 'Merricat Blackwood appears to be a typical product of small-town rural America - much of her time is spent outdoors, alone with her companion cat Jones; she's a tomboy who wanders in the woods, unwashed and her hair uncombed; she's distrustful of adults, and of authority; despite being un-educated, she is shrewdly intelligent and bookish.' (Oates). Another interesting quote is Merricat's knowledge of poisons itself, listing the side effects of the poison she is most attracted to: Amanita Phalloides. She frequently mentions this type of poison and choose to have it in her imaginary world when playing. This quote shows this example:
“I had made sure of what to say to him before I came to the table. 'The Amanita phalloides,' I said to him, 'holds three different poisons. There is amanitin, which works slowly and is most potent. There is phalloidin, which acts at once, and there is phallin, which dissolves red corpuscles, although it is the least potent. The first symptoms do not appear until seven to twelve hours after eating, in some cases not before twenty-four or even forty hours. The symptoms begin with violent stomach pains, cold sweat, vomiting--” (72)
This scene is shown when Charles is about to eat the pancakes Constance had made for him, the first thing he has eaten in the house. It's a tense scene but also comical as Merricat starts to list the side affects of eaten Amanita Phalloides, a poison. Merricat, knowing she can't touch any food prepared or sharp objects such as knives, instead verbally poisons his food, by scaring him with the idea of the pancakes killing him.
Film
It's only been recently revealed that a film will be made for next year starring Sebastian Stan, Taissa Farmiga, Alexandria Daddario and Crispin Glover. Sadly there isn't a trailer available yet, but below is a theatrical production of the book by Yale Repertory Theatre in 2010.
Works Cited: (1) Frost, Bethany. Red Rose Tea Set. Photo. 2017. (2) Ortberg, Mallory. Every Meal in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 2016. n/a. The Toast, http://the-toast.net/2016/04/11/every-meal-in-we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-in-order-of-sinisterness/. Accessed February 2017. Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Live in the Castle. London: Penguin, 2009. Print. Oates, Joyce Carol. "The Witchcraft of Shirley Jackson". The New York Review of Books. 8 October 2009. Web. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/10/08/the-witchcraft-of-shirley-jackson/>
