How do biblical allusions work in Titus Groan?
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- One reason to read authors and works across different ages is to see them talking to each other. Today I’d like to try to explain how I recognise and interpret biblical allusions using some examples from Titus Groan, the first in the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake. I’ll show you what the biblical allusions are and what I think they signify.
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- Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
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This is fantastic analysis! By coincidence, I was planning to read this trilogy in 2023 and was excited when you mentioned it in your December wrap-up. I read Titus Groan earlier this month and thoroughly enjoyed, and the allusions you explain here really deepen my appreciation. Isn't Peake's prose wonderful? I couldn't believe the number of lines that I highlighted. I'll be reading Gormenghast next month.
Thanks for the great content.
Hi thanks so much - I'm really glad you find the video interesting :)
Yes Peake's writing is beautiful. There are a lot of beautiful sentences indeed.
Ah you'll be finding out if the story goes the direction I 'predicted' haha, I should read the second one soon too. Hope you enjoy Gormenghast!
Excellent analysis as usual. 😊 Your videos are alway so interesting and informative. Yes, please do make more like this. Happy reading! ❤
Thanks so much for the encouragement! I’ve been unsure and nervous about this topic. Really glad you find it interesting and thanks for letting me know!
This was really thought provoking and interesting. I think all allusions in texts should be pointed out, it makes for informed reading, always a great thing👍📙
Really glad you find it interesting!
Brilliant video! I loved this book and I loved your analysis. I love finding biblical motifs in literature and would love to hear more from you along the same lines.
Thank you :) Glad you enjoyed it!
You might like this as a comparison text with the end of Titus Groan:
From Browning's Paracelsus:
No change! The weary night is well-nigh spent,
The lamp burns low, and through the casement-bars
Grey morning glimmers feebly: yet no change!
Another night, and still no sigh has stirred
That fallen discoloured mouth, no pang relit
Those fixed eyes, quenched by the decaying body,
Like torch-flame choked in dust. While all beside
Was breaking, to the last they held out bright,
As a stronghold where life intrenched itself;
But they are dead now - very blind and dead:
He will drowse into death without a groan.
From Titus Groan:
And then, as he stood quite still, his hands clasped about the handle of the feather duster, the air about him A quickened, and there was another change, another presence in the atmosphere. Somewhere, something had been shattered -- something heavy as a great globe and brittle like glass; and it had been shattered, for the air swam freely and the tense, aching weight of the emptiness with its insistent drumming had lifted. He had heard nothing but he knew that he was no longer alone. The castle had drawn breath.
He returned to his hammock -- strangely glad and strangely perplexed. He lay down, one hand behind his head, the other trailing over the side of the hammock in the cords of which he could feel the purring of a sentient Castle. He closed his eyes. How, he wondered, had Lord Sepulchrave died? Mr. Flay had said nothing about his being ill. But that was long ago. How long ago? With a start, which caused him to open his eyes he realized that it was over a year since the thin man had brought the news of Titus's birth. He could remember it all so clearly. The way his knees had clicked. His eye at the keyhole. His nervousness. For Mr. Flay had been his most recent visitor. Could it be that, for more than a year he had seen no living soul?
Mr. Rottcodd ran his eyes along the wooden back of a dappled otter. Anything might have happened during that year. And again he experienced an acute uneasiness. He shifted his body in the hammock. But what could have happened? What could have happened? He clicked his tongue.
The Castle was breathing, and far below the Hall of the Bright Carvings all that was Gormenghast revolved. After the emptiness it was like tumult through him; though he had heard no sound. And yet, by now there would be doors flung open; there would be echoes in the passageways, and quick lights flickering along the walls.
Through honeycombs of stone would now be wandering the passions in their clay. There would be tears and there would be strange laughter. Fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings. And dreams, and violence, and disenchantment.
And there shall be a flame-green daybreak soon. And love itself will cry for insurrection! For tomorrow is also a day -- and Titus has entered his stronghold.
oooh interesting. I'm not familiar with Browning, just had a quick but will go and have a think. Thanks very much for sharing!
This was wonderful. Please continue!
Thank you! Glad you like it :)
What do you think now?
Do you think he was Moses? Delivered his people by absence in the desert, given that Gormenghast could hardly continue the old ways in his absence.
Or is he Jonah? Running away from his calling to reform the castle of sinful dead works?
(Book 4 had oceans and islands as themes, so maybe he was supposed to be swallowed by a whale).
Thanks for the message! I feel like not many people read the novel and fewer were engaged with my ideas in the video, so it’s really lovely to hear your thoughts!
I haven’t started book 2! Does it become clearer as the series continues? Your message makes me want to start book two soon, maybe over Christmas holidays.
@@adayofsmallthings
I liked your interpretation, even though it doesn't come true in the way you thought it would. It comes true in a different way-almost like a mix of Midian Moses and Sea Jonah. Also, in the third book, Titus meets a madman who dresses up like a thorn bush. That is like a mix of a Moses and Parable of the Sower reference.
I don't think there's much point to interpreting Peake logically-he is the master of nonsense and probably wrote the book to fuel his love of the grotesque characters he used to draw, who slide between nutty and touching. He isn't a Chosen One fantasy writer.
Read the second book, it is totally worth it.
The third book is more fragmentary and Peake was already mentally ill, so it suffers for quality, but there are still examples of strong symbolism especially in the last act, which is like the Crucifixion.
I used to be obsessed with the Gormenghast trilogy in high school because of the BBC mini series. The novels were obscure and hard to track down, but reading them was a delight. Steerpike was the originator of the Machiavellian archetype now popularized in Game of Thrones IMO. You are the first one I've ever come across to talk about Titus Groan/Gormenghast! Subscribed! 🥰
oooh it sounds like I need to go find the mini series. Interesting I haven't heard of 'Machiavellian' before, will go search now... thanks for subscribing!
Be aware that the BBC series looked lovely, but some of the casting was...odd. In particular I am thinking of John Sessions as Prunesquallor and Neve Campbell as Fuschia - both central characters and both...not good. They also cut out sooo much that gives meaning and colour to the books, concentrating on the more "comedic" aspects. So much could have been done. Ho hum!@@adayofsmallthings
@@keithhealing1115 ah interesting to hear. I haven't watched the series yet. Will keep these things in mind if I ever get to it - thank you!
Very interesting, thanks you. There should be a LOT more coverage of Titus Groan...
Personally, I am always a little unsure of ascribing deep meaning to works of literature. I often think that authors write a story and that happy coincidences then follow. The joy, for me, of Titus Groan is the language - it is a book completely composed of atmosphere - the very opposite of Tolkein's work. I re-read it over Christmas and it is extraordinary.
I think that ascribing too much hidden depth to it is slightly problematic. Certainly, The Earling shows us what is to come, the fact that Titus will turn his back on ritual and castle and family, but there is no salvation in it. His rebellion, when it finally comes, is born from selfishness and the pain of losing his sister, not of some grand attempt to rectify the many problems with the Castle.
Titus, after all, leaves Gormenghast to rot.
I'm just reading Gormenghast at the moment and have seen what you said about turning his back on his family and the castle. I agree he hasn't brought salvation even though he tried to break away from the laws. I'm slightly disappointed to be honest! But alas it's not my story to dictate lol I wish I could chat with Peake about it!
Yes the language is very atmospheric!
Also, thank you so much for the thoughtful comment!
I am so sorry - I thought you had read Gormenghast. I would not have spoilt the ending otherwise.@@adayofsmallthings
The problem with Titus groan is that not enough people have read it. I have recently changed jobs and a colleague and I discovered a mutual love of the book and nerded out happily, confusing everyone around us. Made me very happy. Small things indeed...@@adayofsmallthings
@@keithhealing1115 No need to apologise! I just finished reading the bit about Fushia when I saw your message so you didn’t spoil it haha