45 pages • 1 hour read
William BeckfordVathek
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1786A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Eyes
Eyes, particularly the “terrible eye” of Vathek, are a motif throughout the story. They mirror the characters’ mental states: Vathek’s eye is frightening when he is enraged, Nouronihar’s eyes enlarge upon the sight of riches, and the Stranger’s eyes are “huge” and “glow like firebrands” (6). In a Gothic text like Vathek, these descriptions reflect the genre convention of heightened emotion while also suggesting the characters’ motivations.
Eyes also recur as a motif in connection with material satisfaction and The Dangers of Excess. The Delight of the Eyes is one of Vathek’s palaces of the senses, Vathek desires to be great in the eyes of others, and Vathek’s astrological observations make his eyes tools for divining the path to more riches. In this way, eyes are also connected to power. They can be used to assess people and situations and even to transmit emotion. Vathek’s eye is almost lethal, all but killing Fakreddin when they argue over Nouronihar.
Eyes’ dual function allows the narrative to draw a broader connection between material satisfaction and the inner soul and to comment on Appearance Versus Reality. The eyes, uniquely susceptible to material wonders, are avenues for excess to imprint itself upon the soul. As eyes can be deceived, so too can a person’s soul be deceived as to what they need. Eyes do not necessarily see the world clearly, but they reflect to the world the truth of a person’s soul.
Fire
Fire symbolizes the dark and mysterious. It appears in conjunction not only with the Stranger and the subterranean palace, but also with acts of magic. Carathis uses fire in her rituals, and descriptions of the Stranger often involve fire—e.g., his burning eyes. Dilara, Vathek’s wife, looks forward to “the rites of fire” that await her in Istakar (100). Harkening to traditional Christian imagery of hell, fire is connected to this dark world, a tool of summoning and an emblem of the infernal.
Fire can also be a tool of entrapment. The people of Samarah are drawn by Carathis’s magical fire to the tower, where she sacrifices them. Just before Nouronihar is led to her vision of the wealth of the subterranean palace, she is lit up by a glow “like the reflection of a burning furnace” (67). This palace, the greatest trap of the novella, is referred to as the “palace of fire” (84). In these passages, the novella plays not only on fire’s association with mystical and infernal powers but also on its ability to consume, much as the characters are consumed by excess, curiosity, greed, etc. Carathis’s relentless desire for power consumes human fuel, making her ultimate fiery fate—as well as that of Vathek and Nouronihar—an instance of poetic justice.
Nature
Nature is often at odds with the will of Vathek. Imagery of wild and untamed natural landscapes is common in Gothic, Romantic, and Orientalist literature, and in Vathek, the motif often denotes the dangerous circumstances that Vathek has led himself into. The natural world continually rebels against Vathek’s attempts to reach the infernal palace. His journey to Istakar is interrupted by storms and wild beasts, forcing him to accept the hospitality of the religious Fakreddin. The mountains hide Gulchenrouz and Nouronihar from Vathek. Even the gorge hinders Vathek, with the Stranger disappearing into it before he can be further questioned.
In opposition to Vathek’s pursuit of the subterranean palace, the natural world becomes connected to religious virtue. Fakreddin and the little people, devout and moral, make their home in the wild mountains. The Genius who attempts to save Vathek and Nouronihar appears to them as a shepherd (also a likely allusion to Christ). Vathek and Nouronihar disrespect the natural wonders they encounter as they travel, “culling flowers” from the places they visit. In return for the disrespect the couple shows to Muslim holy men, bees attack them, being “staunch Mussulmans, thinking it their duty to revenge the insult” (101). Carathis’s disregard for the dangers of nature marks her as “unnatural”; it is an example of her lack of fear. To enter the infernal palace, the characters must remove themselves from the natural world forever, traveling through the portal to a place of stone and darkness and further cementing the connection between nature and religious faith.
