Later on, in May 1997, Deep Blue was heavily upgraded and defeated the reigning world champion and won the six-match game. Although Kasparov criticized IBM for cheating.
How Does Deep Blue Algorithm Work?
System Overview
Deep blue is the gigantic parallel system to carry out chess game tree searches – a graphical representation of all the possible moves from the initial stages of the game. The system was developed with 30-node ( 30-processor) IBM RS/6000 SP computer and single-chip chess search engines having 16 chess chips per SP processor. The SP system had 28 nodes with MHz P2SC processors, and 2 nodes with 135 MHz P2SC processors. All nodes communicate with each other using a high-speed switch and contain 1 GB RAM and 4 GB hard disk space. Each chess chip of deep blue is capable of searching 2 to 2.5 million chess positions per second. In order to do that, they communicate with their host via a microchannel bus.
How Does System Works?
The functioning of the SP processors
The Deep Blue algorithm is separated into three layers: out of many SP processors, one acts as a master, and the other two as workers. The master processor’s job is to search the top levels of the chess game tree and hand over the results – often called “leaf positions”- to the workers for further examination. Now, workers carry out additional searches and distribute leaf positions to the chess chips. Finally, chess chips extend the search to the last few levels of the game tree.

While performing all these activities, the speed of the system also varies. For example, tactical positions – when long and forcing moves are required, the deep blue algorithm can explore up to 100 million positions per second. On the other hand, for quieter positions, the search could go up to 200 million positions per second. It is said that in 1997 match with Garry Kasparov, the minimum search speed was 126 million positions per second, and the maximum number of the search speed was 330 million positions per second.
Components of Deep Blue Algorithm
• Move Generation: The Deep Blue algorithm has numbers of other functions like generation of checking, check evasion moves, and developing certain kinds of attacking moves. Besides, chess chips also support several search extensions, which is made possible by the move generator. It’s an 8 X 8 array of combinatorial logic acting as a silicon chessboard. However, the move generator generates a single move at a time but it calculates all the possible moves and selects the most significant one with the help of an arbitration network.
• Evaluation Function: The evaluation function is composed of fast evaluation and slow evaluation. These standard techniques are used to save the system from running an expensive search where a simple approximation is required. The fast evaluation computes the score on the basis of the position of a particular piece in a single clock cycle. Contrary, the slow evaluation scans the chess board’s each column at a time. For example, it computes the values of chess concepts such as square control, king safety, pawn structure, pawn majority, restraint, color complex, trapped pieces, development, etc.
• Search Control: The Deep Blue chess chip contains the null-window alpha-beta search. The best part of the chip is it averts the need for a value stack, thus simplifying the board design. However, there are some disadvantages too like in some cases it requires multiple searches and the lack of transposition table that increases the search efficiency. The search algorithm needs a move stack-a repetition detector to keep track of the previous moves up to the last 32 positions.
• Extendability: The chess chip also supports the use of external Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to give access to the external transpositional table, complex search control, and additional terms for the evaluation function. The main aim of this function is to address the complexity of the mechanism and make it efficient. Null move search is also supported by this system but due to time constraints, this was never used in Deep Blue.
https://www.professional-ai.com/deep-blue-algorithm.html
AI Techniques
Tree Search
The basic model of chess is that of a Tree Search problem, where each state is a particular arrangement of the pieces on the board and the available actions correspond to the legal chess moves for the current player in that arrangement. An example “slice” of such a tree is given in the following figure:

Once we have modeled the game in this way, we can begin applying our algorithms from this course to the problem!
The Evaluation Function
As put forth in Shannon’s paper, the primary ingredient in a chess-playing program is the evaluation function. Since we can’t look forward all the way to the end of the game and see if a particular move will win (especially since we don’t know what the other player will do during their turns!), we must create a function which takes in a state of the game (in our case, a board arrangement) and boils it down to a real-number evaluation of the state. For example, the function could give higher scores to board states in which the player of interest has more of their pieces on the board than the opponent. In particular, we would probably want the function to assign an extremely high score (perhaps even infinity) to the board arrangement in which the opponent’s king is in checkmate, meaning that the player of interest is guaranteed to win the game.

The Minimax Algorithm
Given an evaluation, all that’s left is a way of actually choosing which move to take. Although looking ahead one step and simply choosing the move which leads to the board arrangement with the highest evaluation score would be a good baseline, we can be even smarter and take into account the actions our opponent could take once we’ve moved. This intuition leads to the “Minimax algorithm”, so-called because we choose the action which minimizes our maximum possible “loss” from making a particular move. Specifically, for each move we could make we look ahead as many steps as our computing power will allow and examine all the possible moves our opponent could make in each of their future turns, given that we’ve made our original move. We then take the maximum “loss” (equivalently, the minimum of our evaluation function) that our opponent could induce for us via their moves, and we choose the move we could make which minimizes this maximum.
Heuristics/Optimizations
Equipped with an evaluation function and an implementation of the minimax algorithm, one can already design an incredibly effective chess-playing program. However, the “big time” programs build even further upon these by implementing “heuristics”, simple rules which can cut down on computation time, along with optimizations of the minimax algorithm, given the specific structure of chess. An example heuristic could be that if a move leads to the player’s king being in checkmate, then the algorithm should not look any farther down that path of the game tree, since we know the player will never want to make that move. A popular optimization of minimax is known as Alpha-beta pruning, wherein any move for which another move has already been discovered that is guaranteed to do better than it is eliminated. For example, in the following tree we do not need to explore any of the paths whose edges are crossed-out, since we’ve already found moves we know will perform better:
Decision Trees
start with a root node, which symbolizes the current state of the game. Every possible move we can make at that point will be the children of that node. Then for each child, there is a new set of possible moves for the opponent. The tree branches out until it covers every possible state in the game and the game ends when it reaches a leaf node.
The very first artificial intelligence algorithms were based on making a brute-force search on the decision trees. The search algorithm tries to reach any leaf node that makes the machine win and makes decisions so that it can reach one of these winning nodes. We shall now see one of these algorithms in action.
Minimax Algorithm
Abstract yourself from the game now and assume we have assigned a score to every possible outcome of the game. The scores are assigned to the leaf nodes of the tree. A positive score indicates that the machine wins and a negative score indicates that you win. So, the goal of AI is to maximize the score and yours is to minimize. Green arrows indicate the turn of the AI (maximizer) and red arrows indicate yours (minimizer) in the tree.

The minimax algorithm is very simple and it is a modified version of depth-first search. The AI (green) will always choose the move with the maximum possible outcome, assuming that its opponent (red) will play optimally and choose the minimum possible outcome all the time. It is intelligent to assume that your opponent plays optimally so that you will be prepared for the worst. Now take a while and follow the tree from the bottom to the top to see the moves each opponent made.

You can see that this algorithm pretty much searches all possible scenarios by brute force. If we assume that b is the branching factor and d is the depth of the decision tree, the algorithm works in O(bᵈ) which exponential.
If you are implementing a Tic-Tac-Toe game, this may not be that bad. After all, there are 9 possible moves on the first turn, 8 in the next, 7, and so on, which will make up to 9! scenarios in total. However, if you were making a chess game, the number of possibilities will grow up by an insane amount! It would take millions of years for any computer to calculate all possibilities.
Do I need to say there must be a better way?
Alpha-Beta Pruning
Alpha-beta pruning is the strategy of eliminating the branches that will not be contributing to the solution. I will explain this with an example. The red lines in the tree below mark the current state of our search. The maximizer (AI) has chosen 9 and 5, which are the maximum reachable values on the corresponding subtrees. At this point, the minimizer currently holds the value 5, which is the smaller one among 9 and 5.
There is still one branch left to search and the first value the depth-first search sees is the value 6. Now we know that whatever maximizer chooses will be at least 6. But we also know that minimizer has chosen 5, which is already smaller than 6. At this point, we no longer need to check the remaining children (1 and 7) because we know for sure that the minimizer will select 5.

The reverse could also be true: If the maximizer has already chosen a value bigger than the value minimizer chose, we wouldn’t need to search the rest of the subtrees. In the tree below, the maximizer has already chosen 5 at the root node. Since -2 is smaller than 5 and anything minimizer chooses will be at most -2, we no longer need to search the rest of the subtrees.

So go ahead, apply this strategy to your entire search and prune the c**p out of the decision tree. There is one last subtree you can prune out on the very right side, which I’m leaving you to check why we can skip it. The final result of the alpha-beta pruning algorithm shall be this:

We pruned the tree quite a bit. Alpha-beta pruning can provide performance optimization up to the square root of the performance of the original minimax algorithm. It may also provide no performance improvement at all, depending on how unlucky you are.
Depth-Limited Search
Even though alpha-beta pruning provides a great amount of performance improvement, searching the entire set of possible scenarios still can be overkill. We can employ intelligent strategies to avoid searching the entire tree and still get very good results.
One such strategy is depth-limited search and it is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of searching the entire tree, you search it to a limited depth that you predefined. For example, you can search the next 5 moves in chess. But in order to do that, you need a deterministic way to score the current state of the game, since you no longer know who wins the game when you reach the end of your search. In order to do that, we will use an evaluation function.
Note: There are other alternatives to the depth-limited search, like iterative deepening but I preferred not to include them in order to keep the story short.
How deep is your search? Get it? That was a joke…
Evaluation Functions
So, you decided to limit your search to the next 5 moves you and your opponent will make in the game. Then you realized that most of the time the game still continues after 5 moves and you are now stuck in this intermediary step. How do you feed the numbers into the minimax algorithm? What you need is an evaluation function.
An evaluation function is a way to deterministically score the current state of the game. If you are playing chess, for example, an evaluation function can be the numeric difference between the number of chess pieces you and your opponent have. The bigger the difference is, the better chance you have.
A better evaluation function can use a weighted calculation in which each piece has a weight depending on how important it is. This will probably produce better results than simply counting them. And an even better one may use the locations on the chessboard in addition to their weights.
How you define your evaluation function is entirely depends on you. Beware this will be the most critical part of your algorithm, though. How good your evaluation function determines the state of the game will greatly affect the success of your algorithm. There are two other things you should be careful when you are writing an evaluation function:

1. The function should be deterministic: Given the same state, it should always produce the same result.
2. The function should work fast: You will be making a lot of calls to your evaluation function. If it works slow, then your AI will respond slow.
   https://medium.com/data-science/algorithms-revisited-part-7-decision-trees-alpha-beta-pruning-9b711b6bf109
   https://stanford.edu/~cpiech/cs221/apps/deepBlue.html

Bottom of Form

Classical GOFAI (“Good Old Fashioned AI”) builds on the assumption that intelligence and cognition consist of rule-based manipulations of symbols. In this regard, DeepBlue is a classic AI system par excellence. To calculate the evaluation function of millions of possible positions based on a given starting position (on average more than 100 million positions per second) DeepBlue relied on the expert knowledge of numerous chess grandmasters implemented in the calculation algorithms. As a nonlearning system it was only able to operate within the framework of the given implementation. Such a limitation is typical for a classical GOFAI architecture: DeepBlue was designed for one special purpose, and was therefore unable to perform any other task than playing chess. It is a specialized or „narrow“AI (ANI: artificial narrow intelligence). The more recent AI development almost reverses the original GOFAI doctrine. The ability to self-learn is precisely what opens up the field of flexible general intelligence. In retrospect, it seems hard to understand how the importance of learning could have been downplayed in the early stages of AI. Paradigmatic for this latter view is the position of Noam Chomsky (1980), according to which the human language ability is not otherwise understandable than under the assumption of a presupposed, allegedly innate deep grammar, i.e. a deeply anchored rule competence that is universal to humans. Chomsky considered it out of the question that such an ability could have arisen through imitation or reinforcement learning. Terrence Sejnowski comments on this very clearly:

Thus, for each version of the Alpha series, from AlphaGo to AlphaZero, the respective rules of the games to be learned were unambiguously implemented (Silver et  al. 2017). The machine then develops a functional role semantics about the elements and overall setup of the game limited by these pre-determined rules. The systems of the Alpha series have no further grounding. Google Translate or DeepL, on the other hand, already have a rudimentary form of a socially anchored semantics, because these systems acquire an indirect social grounding in the course of their translation learning. After all, the text corpora on the basis of which the systems learn were generated by socially situated speakers, and are therefore parasitic with regard to their social practices. A future AI that combines, for example, the external performance of Google Duplex with the indirect grounding of world knowledge on the basis of Internet data could ultimately become a real part of our social practice of language and, hence, a real part of the language community. There is no convincing reason to assume that such systems would still lack a proper semantic grounding. To conclude: social grounding is as important as causal grounding. To acquire meaning, intelligent systems must not only be coupled to the world, they must also share social practices. The debate about the ultimate theory of meaning and representation is still open in philosophy of mind and language, but for the time being it seems reasonable to assume both types of grounding as independent dimensions of the AI state space.

  The State Space of AI 5.1  A Simplified Model Space As a first shot and according to the foregoing sections, the AI state space is to be conceived as a three-dimensional space spanned by the dimensions: • Self-learning (from rule-based to learning-based), • Generalization (from narrow to general AI), • Grounding (the degree of semantic world anchoring). 340 H. Lyre 1 3 We already saw in Sect.  4 that the grounding dimension in fact decomposes into three sub-dimensions: functional role grounding, causal grounding and social grounding. Therefore, the full AI space has more than three dimensions. It is nevertheless instructive to look at the simplified three-dimensional model for a first orientation and to locate the systems discussed in this paper in this space: A classic GOFAI system like DeepBlue is close to the origin (see Fig.  1). Such systems are rule-based rather than learn-based, and almost all of them are narrow AI systems (e.g. DeepBlue is confined to chess). At best, a typical GOFAI system has an internal FRS (as DeepBlue captures the functional roles of chess pieces). AlphaGo sits at a much higher position in the self-learning dimension. From there we reach AlphaGoZero and AlphaZero by successive shifts parallel to the generalization axis. But none of the mentioned systems has a semantic grounding beyond FRS. At best, AI assistance systems such as Google Duplex move into this dimension, albeit still weakly at present. It would be desirable to proceed from the state space topology (dimensionality and neighborhood) to a metric space (to determine distances). Human-level AI is a point of orientation (see Sect. 3.1). HAI has values in all dimensions and can therefore be used to calibrate the coordinate axes. In addition, systems that lie on the extended radial connecting line between origin and HAI (or within a suitably chosen spatial angle range) mark the area of superintelligence or superhuman AI (SAI), as roughly outlined in Fig. 2. A detailed determination of the metric goes beyond the scope of this paper and is a task of further investigations. Let us, instead, focus once again on t

dimensionality. As we already saw, the three-dimensional model offers a first orientation only, but is strictly speaking an approximation. It amounts to a simplified dimensionality reduction. While the generalization dimension is already correctly identified, we saw that the grounding dimension in fact decomposes into three further sub-dimensions. It could be dubbed a “main dimension” and actually represents a subspace of the AI state space. Let us first, however, consider self-learning.

Searching State Spaces

1 A General Search Algorithm How do we search for paths in our implicitly-specified graph (state space)? We have some notion of the current state — the one we’re currently looking at. At the start of the search, the current state is the one associated with the start state. We check whether the current state is a goal state (whether it satisfies the goal condition). If it does then, assuming we’re looking for only one solution path, we can stop. If the current state is not a goal state, we expand the current state. What this means is that we apply operators to this state to generate its successor states. While there might be no successor states (a dead-end) or just one successor state, in general there will be multiple successors. The essence of search is to choose one state for further exploration (it becomes the new current state) and to put the others somewhere in case we want to come back to them, e.g. if the chosen one does not lead to a solution. The data structure in which we keep states that have not yet been explored is called an agenda. Given that there are multiple states waiting on the agenda, yet to be explored, the policy which determines which state to explore next is called the search strategy (or control strategy).

Here’s the algorithm in pseudocode: insert start state onto agenda; while agenda is not empty { currentState := remove from front of agenda i

f currentState satisfies goal test { return the path of actions that led to currentState; } else { successors := states that result from expanding currenState; insert successors onto agenda; } } return fail;

Different search strategies result from different implementations of the line that I have underlined. 2 Search Trees One way to think about the search algorithm is that it is making explicit parts of the implicitly-specified state space: the nodes it actually visits and the edges it actually traverses. The parts of the state space that the search algorithms visits can be shown in the form of a tree, called the search tree. It’s important to distinguish the state space from the search tree. The state space is all the states reachable by sequences of actions from the start state. The search tree is different because: 1

 • Some search strategies may leave parts of the state space unexplored. In other words, there may be nodes and edges in the state space that never get visited and so do not appear in the search tree. This, of course, is a ‘good thing’: it improves efficiency, although, if we skimp too much, we may end up missing the solution paths, which, in general, is a ‘bad thing’.

 • Some search strategies may re-explore parts of the state space. This can happen when two or more paths in the state space lead to the same node.

Unless steps are taken to deal with this, then some nodes in the state space may get visited and expanded more than once, and so they appear in the search tree more than once. This is, in general, a ‘bad thing’, although the cost of eliminating it can be high. (A common special case of this is when the state space is cyclic. Unless steps are taken to deal with cycles, the search tree may then be infinite.) Let’s explore the second bullet point in more detail. 3 Avoiding Re-exploration Strictly, we cannot draw search trees unless we know what the search strategy is. But, to illustrate the second bullet point above, without getting too bogged down in wondering what the exact search strategy is (i.e. how to decide what to visit next), in the lecture we will draw possible search trees for the following two state spaces: start node start node A B C D E F A B C

To avoid re-exploration of parts of the state space, we must be more selective about which states we add to the agenda. Some of the successors of the current state should be discarded. There are various ways of deciding which to discard, and they vary in how effective they are in avoiding re-exploration and in how much time & space they cost us. (Sometimes it might be better to allow some re-exploration, rather than pay the price of eliminating it). Three options for avoiding (some or all) re-exploration are common:

 • Discard any successor that is the same as the current node’s parent.

 • Discard any successor that is the same as another node on that path.

• Discard any successor if it is the same as any previously generated node. Class Exercise. How effective at avoiding re-exploration are these three options? What do they cost in time & space? [Advanced point. In fact, I’m oversimplifying this third option. (Ignore this if it makes no sense.) From the above, you might assume that if the newly-generated node is the same as a previously-generated node, we always throw away the new node. But, this is not correct. If the cost of the path to the new node is less than the cost of the path to the previously-visited node, then we should not throw away the new node (because the path to it is cheaper.) To handle all of this properly makes the algorithm so complicated and its costs (both space and time) so much higher that this option is hardly ever implemented. If you want to read a proper description of such an algorithm, consult a textbook such

1.2 State Spaces and Search Problems

In order to create a rational planning agent, we need a way to mathematically express the given environment in which the agent will exist. To do this, we must formally express a search problem – given our agent’s current state (its configuration within its environment), how can we arrive at a new state that satisfies its goals in the best possible way? A search problem consists of the following elements:

• A state space – The set of all possible states that are possible in your given world
• A set of actions available in each state
• A transition model – Outputs the next state when a specific action is taken at current state
• An action cost – Incurred when moving from one state to another after applying an action
• A start state – The state in which an agent exists initially
• A goal test – A function that takes a state as input, and determines whether it is a goal state

Fundamentally, a search problem is solved by first considering the start state, then exploring the state space using the action and transition and cost methods, iteratively computing children of various states until we arrive at a goal state, at which point we will have determined a path from the start state to the goal state (typically called a plan). The order in which states are considered is determined using a predetermined strategy. We’ll cover types of strategies and their usefulness shortly.

Before we continue with how to solve search problems, it’s important to note the difference between a world state, and a search state. A world state contains all information about a given state, whereas a search state contains only the information about the world that’s necessary for planning (primarily for space efficiency reasons). To illustrate these concepts, we’ll introduce the hallmark motivating example of this course – Pacman. The game of Pacman is simple: Pacman must navigate a maze and eat all the (small) food pellets in the maze without being eaten by the malicious patrolling ghosts. If Pacman eats one of the (large) power pellets, he becomes ghost-immune for a set period of time and gains the ability to eat ghosts for points.

Let’s consider a variation of the game in which the maze contains only Pacman and food pellets. We can pose two distinct search problems in this scenario: pathing and eat-all-dots. Pathing attempts to solve the problem of getting from position (x1,y1) to position (x2,y2) in the maze optimally, while eat all dots attempts to solve the problem of consuming all food pellets in the maze in the shortest time possible. Below, the states, actions, transition model, and goal test for both problems are listed:

Pathing

• States: (x,y) locations
• Actions: North, South, East, West
• Transition model (getting the next state): Update location only
• Goal test: Is (x,y)=END?

Eat-all-dots

• States: {(x,y) location, dot booleans}
• Actions: North, South, East, West
• Transition model (getting the next state): Update location and booleans
• Goal test: Are all dot booleans false?

Note that for pathing, states contain less information than states for eat-all-dots, because for eat-all-dots we must maintain an array of booleans corresponding to each food pellet and whether or not it’s been eaten in the given state. A world state may contain more information still, potentially encoding information about things like total distance traveled by Pacman or all positions visited by Pacman on top of its current (x,y) location and dot booleans.

1.2.1 State Space Size

An important question that often comes up while estimating the computational runtime of solving a search problem is the size of the state space. This is done almost exclusively with the fundamental counting principle, which states that if there are n variable objects in a given world which can take on x1, x2, …, xn different values respectively, then the total number of states is x1 · x2 · … · xn. Let’s use Pacman to show this concept by example:

Let’s say that the variable objects and their corresponding number of possibilities are as follows:

• Pacman positions – Pacman can be in 120 distinct (x,y) positions, and there is only one Pacman
• Pacman Direction – this can be North, South, East, or West, for a total of 4 possibilities
• Ghost positions – There are two ghosts, each of which can be in 12 distinct (x,y) positions
• Food pellet configurations – There are 30 food pellets, each of which can be eaten or not eaten

Using the fundamental counting principle, we have 120 positions for Pacman, 4 directions Pacman can be facing, 12⋅12 ghost configurations (12 for each ghost), and 2⋅2⋅…⋅2=230 food pellet configurations (each of 30 food pellets has two possible values – eaten or not eaten). This gives us a total state space size of 120⋅4⋅122⋅230.

1.2.2 State Space Graphs and Search Trees

Now that we’ve established the idea of a state space and the four components necessary to completely define one, we’re almost ready to begin solving search problems. The final piece of the puzzle is that of state space graphs and search trees.

Recall that a graph is defined by a set of nodes and a set of edges connecting various pairs of nodes. These edges may also have weights associated with them. A state space graph is constructed with states representing nodes, with directed edges existing from a state to its children. These edges represent actions, and any associated weights represent the cost of performing the corresponding action. Typically, state space graphs are much too large to store in memory (even our simple Pacman example from above has ≈1013 possible states, yikes!), but they’re good to keep in mind conceptually while solving problems. It’s also important to note that in a state space graph, each state is represented exactly once – there’s simply no need to represent a state multiple times, and knowing this helps quite a bit when trying to reason about search problems.

Unlike state space graphs, our next structure of interest, search trees, have no such restriction on the number of times a state can appear. This is because though search trees are also a class of graph with states as nodes and actions as edges between states, each state/node encodes not just the state itself, but the entire path (or plan) from the start state to the given state in the state space graph. Observe the state space graph and corresponding search tree below:

The highlighted path (S → d → e → r → f → G) in the given state space graph is represented in the corresponding search tree by following the path in the tree from the start state S to the highlighted goal state G. Similarly, each and every path from the start node to any other node is represented in the search tree by a path from the root S to some descendant of the root corresponding to the other node. Since there often exist multiple ways to get from one state to another, states tend to show up multiple times in search trees. As a result, search trees are greater than or equal to their corresponding state space graph in size.

We’ve already determined that state space graphs themselves can be enormous in size even for simple problems, and so the question arises – how can we perform useful computation on these structures if they’re too big to represent in memory? The answer lies in how we compute the children of a current state – we only store states we’re immediately working with, and compute new ones on-demand using the corresponding getNextState, getAction, and getActionCost methods. Typically, search problems are solved using search trees, where we very carefully store a select few nodes to observe at a time, iteratively replacing nodes with their children until we arrive at a goal state. There exist various methods by which to decide the order in which to conduct this iterative replacement of search tree nodes, and we’ll present these methods now.

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While the bulk of Hopkins’s reputation rests on her output during a four-year period when she was in her forties, she wrote a musical play Slaves’ Escape; or, The Underground Railroad (later revised as Peculiar Sam; or, The Underground Railroad) that was produced in 1879 when she was twenty years old.  Into the 1880s, Hopkins performed as a vocalist with her family ensemble, the Hopkins Colored Troubadours.  In the 1890s, she undertook work as an orator, even while she supported herself primarily as a stenographer.  And she remained active in the women’s club movement and other civic organizations.  In 1898, she represented the Woman’s Era Club at the Annual Convention of New England Federation of Woman’s Clubs.  And in 1901, Hopkins became a founding member of the Boston Literary and Historical Association.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Hopkins’s association with the founders of the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company provided her with the opportunity to reach a wider audience.  She most prominently achieved this through the Colored American Magazine, which became the widest circulating African American literary publication prior to the rise of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Crisis magazine.  From the start, the Colored American Magazine was politically engaged, and as conflicts arose among black intellectuals (often symbolized by, but by no means reducible to, Booker T. Washington’s compromise versus W.E.B. Du Bois’s agitation), the Colored American Magazine was secretly purchased by Washington’s agent Fred Moore.  The magazine’s operations were moved away from the radicalism of Boston to New York.  Although Hopkins did relocate to New York briefly, Moore’s purchase ended her influence and soon thereafter her career at the magazine.  A testament to Hopkins’s popularity was her immediate hiring by the Voice of the Negro, a national monthly which was similar in scope to the Colored American Magazine though it was much more sharply critical of Washington and his associates.  Hopkins wrote nonfiction articles for the Atlanta-based Voice of the Negro from 1904 to 1905.

Through 1905, Hopkins remained not only active, but visible.  She published a pamphlet entitled “A Primer of Facts Pertaining to the Early Greatness of the African Race and the Possibility of Restoration by Its Descendents” under her own Cambridge, Massachusetts, imprint.  And she addressed the William Lloyd Garrison Centenary in Boston, marking her prominence in the city’s activist-intellectual community. There are fewer known traces of her career during the remaining 25 years of her life.  In 1911, she addressed the Charles Sumner Centenary in Boston which is evidence of her ongoing public profile.  And, in 1916, she and Walter Wallace, the founding publisher of the Colored American Magazine, began a new venture, the New Era Magazine.  The magazine’s only two issues featured a two-part short story by Hopkins as well as two biographical sketches under her byline that closely resemble her nonfiction from the Colored American Magazine.  Her invitation to the Sumner event, the subsequent inclusion of her remarks in a pamphlet commemorating the event, and her ongoing association with Wallace suggest that Hopkins remained active in the decades following the end of her career at the Colored American Magazine.  While fewer details are known about this period in her career, these gaps in her biography should not be presumed to indicate her inactivity.  Rather, these gaps point to the need for additional research.

In August 1930, Pauline Hopkins died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from burns sustained during a fire at her home.

Launched in Boston in 1900 by the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company, The Colored American Magazine was the first illustrated monthly magazine dedicated to African American culture. Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, who had partnered with the company to publish her novel Contending Forces, contributed a short story for the premiere issue. By the second issue, she had joined the staff as editor of the “Women’s Department,” though her role soon expanded to encompass the entire magazine. Under Hopkins’s leadership, the Colored American featured literary works as well as social news, political essays, and articles on historical and cultural topics. In addition to editorials, Hopkins wrote fiction and nonfiction pieces for the magazine, including three serialized novels, several short stories, and biographical sketches of prominent Black men and women.

In 1904, the magazine changed ownership and relocated to New York City. Hopkins clashed with the new publishers, who wanted to steer the magazine away from political issues to make it more palatable to white readers. She was eventually ousted as editor.

The Magazine Novels of Pauline Hopkins  (The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers, Oxford University Press).

The plot: The central character is Reuel Briggs, a poor African American genius who passes for white and has studied medicine. There is also his friend, Aubrey Livingston, who has helped him out financially and whom Reuel reveres. One rainy, desolate night, Reuel has a vision of a beautiful woman’s face. When Aubrey takes him to a concert to hear “Negro music,” Reuel is stunned to see this same woman in the choir. Her name is Dianthe Lusk and she is a Negress from the South with a stunningly beautiful voice. He feels they must be destined for each other. Still, for a while after this, nothing happens — Reuel is not exceedingly handsome (like Aubrey) or rich (like Aubrey’s fiancee’s family), so he does not attract any womanly attention, and he also makes no efforts to go after Dianthe. (This may or may not be because of her race.)

Then it’s Halloween, and while at a party, his hostess and some guests decide they should try to see the lady in white that haunts the house next door. Aubrey and Charlie (Aubrey’s fiancee’s brother) each go, alone, and return after some minutes with nothing to report. Finally, it’s Reuel’s turn, and he sees in the darkness a white figure. As the figure approaches, he recognizes her as Dianthe (in ghostly form). She appears to be in distress, so he offers to help her, but she tells him that the time is not yet and that he will help her the next day.

 The next morning Reuel is called to the hospital to see a new patient who appears dead but has no injuries. Of course Reuel and Aubrey recognize Dianthe immediately, because the mysterious patient is none other than the beautiful singer. However, they decide not to disclose her identity — she can easily pass for white. Several other physicians have already declared her dead, and when he suggests they might be wrong and he might still be able to help her, they point out that rigor mortis has already set in.

Reuel has some tricks up his sleeve: he has been exploring the question of the world beyond, and what happens when we die. He has also been experimenting with bringing dead animals back to life, and while he had not told anyone about his work in that area, he decides this is the moment to share what he has learned. The other physicians don’t take him seriously but let him proceed, and he manages to bring Dianthe back to life, albeit without any memory of her past. Dianthe’s first words are, “Oh, it is you; I dreamed of you while I slept” (470). Reuel explains that Dainthe was not, in fact, dead, but in “suspended animation” due to a mesmeric trance. Mesmerism, it turns out, is another interest of his.

Dianthe and Reuel have a strong psychic connection, and both assume it must be love (fate?) that draws them to one another. When Reuel finally asks for her hand, she consents. He gets cold feet: being poor was tolerable when it was just him, but he cannot bear the idea of Dianthe living in poverty. He turns to his friend Aubrey for help, but instead of money, Aubrey offers him a job that will take him away for two years and pay handsomely: an expedition to Africa. The two lovers are married the same day he leaves for Britain to join the expedition. What neither of them knows is that Aubrey passionately desires Dianthe and will do anything to get her (hence sending Reuel to Africa instead of helping him out). To this end, Aubrey instructs a servant / former slave (who is going with Reuel and Charlie) to kill Reuel within the first 6 months of the journey.

There are more visions, a ghost (Mira) appears, and things get complicated.

While Reuel barely escapes being devoured by a leopard, travels through the desert and helps a scientist look for ancient treasures of an Ethiopian civilization, Dianthe’s memory returns and she realizes she is black. She confides in Aubrey, believing him to be a true friend. Aubrey convinces her that Reuel could never accept her if he knew, but that he (Aubrey) is willing to love her as she is and disregard the shame of her black blood. Dianthe is in shock. Aubrey drowns his fiancee (making it look like an accident) so he can marry Dianthe, whom he convinces that Reuel is likely dead anyway.

In the meantime, Reuel is told (thanks to Aubrey) that his beloved Dianthe has drowned with the other woman. He sees no reason to keep living if he cannot return to her, so he decides to go seek danger in the mysterious ruins they’ve been exploring. He passes out and wakes to find himself in a hidden city where the Ethiopian civilization (which predates all others) has survived. He finds out that the lotus birthmark on his chest proves him to be the prophesied new king who is to lead the Ethiopians back to glory.

Charlie (his friend) and the servant (hitman) find both the treasure of gold and gemstones AND the deadly snakes as they look for Reuel. With his last breath, the servant tells Reuel the truth about Aubrey and that Dianthe is alive. However, he also tells him that he cannot be with Dianthe because she is his sister. Reuel travels back to America to save Dianthe from Aubrey. In the meantime, Dianthe has found out that Aubrey has lied to her about Reuel being dead etc, and she meets her grandmother, an old slave woman in a hut in the forest. She finds out not only that Reuel is her brother, but Aubrey is, too! He was raised as the master’s son (which he was, albeit with the slave Mira) without the master’s knowledge.

By this time, all central characters (except Charlie, if you count him as central) have turned out to be more / different than what they appear, and Hopkins has snuck in several passages from Milton and others, as well as a brief history of the African people. The didactic moves in this novel are more overt than in the others, and maybe more heavy-handed (there’s a song / recitation — quite obviously meant as a lecture for the reader — that stretches over a number of pages and switches between prose and verse, for example). The plot is more sensational, with supernatural elements that are not found in the other two novels.

The last chapters are downright Shakespearean: Dianthe, knowing in her heart she cannot be untrue to her husband — even if he cannot be her husband because he is her brother — and that she cannot stay with her ‘new’ husband, because he is also her brother, decides to poison Aubrey. This decision is guided by another supernatural event — she hears a voice tell her the name of a poison that cannot be detected, something she learned about from Reuel.

Aubrey discovers her plot and makes her drink the poison. He cannot bear to wait around for her to die, so he leaves. Reuel and his companions arrive just in time for the loving brother and sister to embrace one last time. Aubrey, seeing a vision of Dianthe, believes she must have survived, so he returns to the estate and is captured by Reuel’s men. The Ethiopian priest then uses mesmerism to cause Aubrey to commit suicide, since under ancient Ethiopian law, a member of the King’s lineage must be his / her own executioner. Reuel returns to Africa to reign with the beautiful queen (who looks much like Dianthe) and to teach his new-found people about Christianity and the modern world. The end.

Literature Sample

OF ONE BLOOD.
OR, THE HIDDEN SELF.

PAULINE E. HOPKINS.

Copyright, 1902, by Pauline E. Hopkins.

[Pg 29]

CHAPTER I.

The recitations were over for the day. It was the first week in November and it had rained about every day the entire week; now freezing temperature added to the discomforture of the dismal season. The lingering equinoctial whirled the last clinging yellow leaves from the trees on the campus and strewed them over the deserted paths, while from the leaden sky fluttering snow-white flakes gave an unexpected touch of winter to the scene.

The east wind for which Boston and vicinity is celebrated, drove the sleet against the window panes of the room in which Reuel Briggs sat among his books and the apparatus for experiments. The room served for both living and sleeping. Briggs could have told you that the bareness[Pg 30] and desolateness of the apartment were like his life, but he was a reticent man who knew how to suffer in silence. The dreary wet afternoon, the cheerless walk over West Boston bridge through the soaking streets had but served to emphasize the loneliness of his position, and morbid thoughts had haunted him all day: To what use all this persistent hard work for a place in the world—clothes, food, a roof? Is suicide wrong? he asked himself with tormenting persistency. From out the storm, voices and hands seemed beckoning him all day to cut the Gordian knot and solve the riddle of whence and whither for all time.

His place in the world would soon be filled; no vacuum remained empty; the eternal movement of all things onward closed up the gaps, and the wail of the newly-born augmented the great army of mortals pressing the vitals of mother Earth with hurrying tread. So he had tormented himself for months, but the courage was yet wanting for strength to rend the veil. It had grown dark early. Reuel had not stirred from his room since coming from the hospital—had not eaten nor drank, and was in full possession of the solitude he craved. It was now five o’clock. He sat sideways by the bare table, one leg crossed over the other. His fingers kept the book open at the page where he was reading, but his attention wandered beyond the leaden sky, the dripping panes, and the sounds of the driving storm outside.

He was thinking deeply of the words he had just read, and which the darkness had shut from his gaze. The book was called “The Unclassified Residuum,” just published and eagerly sought by students of mysticism, and dealing with the great field of new discoveries in psychology. Briggs was a close student of what might be termed “absurdities” of supernatural phenomena or mysticism, best known to the every-day world as “effects of the imagination,” a phrase of mere dismissal, and which it is impossible to make precise; the book suited the man’s mood. These were the words of haunting significance:

“All the while, however, the phenomena are there, lying broadcast over the surface of history. No matter where you open its pages, you find things recorded under the name of divinations, inspirations, demoniacal possessions, apparitions, trances, ecstasies, miraculous healing and productions of disease, and occult powers possessed by peculiar individuals over persons and things in their neighborhood.

“The mind-curers and Christian scientists, who are beginning to lift up their heads in our communities, unquestionably get remarkable results in certain cases. The ordinary medical man dismisses them from his attention with the cut-and-dried remark that they are ‘only the effects of the imagination.’ But there is a meaning in this vaguest of phrases.

“We know a non-hysterical woman who in her trances knows facts which altogether transcend her possible normal consciousness, facts about the lives of people whom she never saw or heard of before. I am well aware of all the liabilities to which this statement exposes me, and I make it deliberately, having practically no doubt whatever of its truth.”

Presently Briggs threw the book down, and, rising from his chair, began pacing up and down the bare room.

“That is it,” at length he said aloud. “I have the power, I know the truth of every word—of all M. Binet asserts, and could I but complete the necessary experiments, I would astonish the world. O Poverty, Ostracism! have I not drained the bitter cup to the dregs!” he apostrophized, with a harsh, ironical laugh.

[Pg 31]

Mother Nature had blessed Reuel Briggs with superior physical endowments, but as yet he had never had reason to count them blessings. No one could fail to notice the vast breadth of shoulder, the strong throat that upheld a plain face, the long limbs, the sinewy hands. His head was that of an athlete, with close-set ears, and covered with an abundance of black hair, straight and closely cut, thick and smooth; the nose was the aristocratic feature, although nearly spoiled by broad nostrils, of this remarkable young man; his skin was white, but of a tint suggesting olive, an almost sallow color which is a mark of strong, melancholic temperaments. His large mouth concealed powerful long white teeth which gleamed through lips even and narrow, parting generally in a smile at once grave, genial and singularly sweet; indeed Briggs’ smile changed the plain face at once into one that interested and fascinated men and women. True there were lines about the mouth which betrayed a passionate, nervous temperament, but they accorded well with the rest of his strong personality. His eyes were a very bright and piercing gray, courageous, keen and shrewd. Briggs was not a man to be despised—physically or mentally.

None of the students associated together in the hive of men under the fostering care of the “benign mother” knew aught of Reuel Briggs’s origin. It was rumored at first that he was of Italian birth, then they “guessed” he was a Japanese, but whatever land claimed him as a son, all voted him a genius in his scientific studies, and much was expected of him at graduation. He had no money, for he was unsocial and shabby to the point of seediness, and apparently no relatives, for his correspondence was limited to the letters of editors of well known local papers and magazines. Somehow he lived and paid his way in a third-rate lodging-house near Harvard square, at the expense of the dull intellects or the idle rich, with which a great university always teems, to whom Briggs acted as “coach,” and by contributing scientific articles to magazines on the absorbing subject of spiritualistic phenomena. A few of his articles had produced a profound impression. The monotonous pacing continued for a time, finally ending at the mantel, from whence he abstracted a disreputable looking pipe and filled it.

“Well,” he soliloquized, as he reseated himself in his chair, “Fate has done her worst, but she mockingly beckons me on and I accept her challenge. I shall not yet attempt the bourne. If I conquer, it will be by strength of brain and will-power. I shall conquer; I must and will.”

The storm had increased in violence; the early dusk came swiftly down, and at this point in his revery the rattling window panes, as well as the whistle and shriek of gusts of moaning wind, caught his attention. “Phew! a beastly night.” With a shiver, he drew his chair closer to the cylinder stove, whose glowing body was the only cheerful object in the bare room.

As he sat with his back half-turned to catch the grateful warmth, he looked out into the dim twilight across the square and into the broad paths of the campus, watching the skeleton arms of giant trees tossing in the wind, and the dancing snow-flakes that fluttered to earth in their fairy gowns to be quickly transformed into running streams that fairly overflowed the gutters. He fell into a dreamy state as he gazed, for which he could not account. As he sent his earnest, penetrating gaze into the night, gradually the darkness and storm faded into tints of cream and rose and soft moist lips. Silhouetted[Pg 32] against the background of lowering sky and waving branches, he saw distinctly outlined a fair face framed in golden hair, with soft brown eyes, deep and earnest—terribly earnest they seemed just then—rose-tinged baby lips, and an expression of wistful entreaty. O how real, how very real did the passing shadow appear to the gazer!

He tried to move, uneasily conscious that this strange experience was but “the effect of the imagination,” but he was powerless. The unknown countenance grew dimmer and farther off, floating gradually out of sight, while a sense of sadness and foreboding wrapped him about as with a pall.

A wilder gust of wind shook the window sashes. Reuel stared about him in a bewildered way like a man awakening from a heavy sleep. He listened to the wail of the blast and glanced at the fire and rubbed his eyes. The vision was gone; he was alone in the room; all was silence and darkness. The ticking of the cheap clock on the mantel kept time with his heart-beats. The light of his own life seemed suddenly eclipsed with the passing of the lovely vision of Venus. Conscious of an odd murmur in his head, which seemed to control his movements, he rose and went toward the window to open it; there came a loud knock at the door.

Briggs did not answer at once. He wanted no company. Perhaps the knocker would go away. But he was persistent. Again came the knock ending in a double rat-tat accompanied by the words:

“I know you are there; open, open, you son of Erebus! You inhospitable Turk!”

Thus admonished Briggs turned the key and threw wide open the door.

“It’s you, is it? Confound you, you’re always here when you’re not wanted,” he growled.

The visitor entered and closed the door behind him. With a laugh he stood his dripping umbrella back of the stove against the chimney-piece, and immediately a small stream began trickling over the uncarpeted floor; he then relieved himself of his damp outer garments.

“Son of Erebus, indeed, you ungrateful man. It’s as black as Hades in this room; a light, a light! Why did you keep me waiting out there like a drowned rat?”

The voice was soft and musical. Briggs lighted the student lamp. The light revealed a tall man with the beautiful face of a Greek God; but the sculptured features did not inspire confidence. There was that in the countenance of Aubrey Livingston that engendered doubt. But he had been kind to Briggs, was, in fact, his only friend in the college, or, indeed, in the world for that matter.

By an act of generosity he had helped the forlorn youth, then in his freshman year, over obstacles which bade fair to end his college days. Although the pecuniary obligation was long since paid, the affection and worship Reuel had conceived for his deliverer was dog-like in its devotion.

“Beastly night,” he continued, as he stretched his full length luxuriously in the only easy chair the room afforded. “What are you mooning about all alone in the darkness?”

“Same old thing,” replied Briggs briefly.

“No wonder the men say that you have a twist, Reuel.”

“Ah, man! but the problem of whence and whither! To solve it is my life; I live for that alone; let’m talk.”

“You ought to be re-named the ‘Science of Trance-States,’ Reuel. How a man can grind day and night beats me.” Livingston handed him a cigar and for a time they smoked in silence.[Pg 33] At length Reuel said:

“Shake hands with Poverty once, Aubrey, and you will solve the secret of many a student’s success in life.”

“Doubtless it would do me good,” replied Livingston with a laugh, “but just at present, it’s the ladies, bless their sweet faces who disturb me, and not delving in books nor weeping over ways and means. Shades of my fathers, forbid that I should ever have to work!”

“Lucky dog!” growled Reuel, enviously, as he gazed admiringly at the handsome face turned up to the ceiling and gazing with soft caressing eyes at the ugly whitewashed wall through rings of curling smoke. “Yet you have a greater gift of duality than I,” he added dreamily. “Say what you will; ridicule me, torment me, but you know as well as I that the wonders of a material world cannot approach those of the undiscovered country within ourselves—the hidden self lying quiescent in every human soul.”

“True, Reuel, and I often wonder what becomes of the mind and morals, distinctive entities grouped in the republic known as man, when death comes. Good and evil in me contend; which will gain the mastery? Which will accompany me into the silent land?”

“Good and evil, God and the devil,” suggested Reuel. “Yes, sinner or saint, body or soul, which wins in the life struggle? I am not sure that it matters which,” he concluded with a shrug of his handsome shoulders. “I should know if I never saw you again until the struggle was over. Your face will tell its own tale in another five years. Now listen to this:” He caught up the book he had been reading and rapidly turning the leaves read over the various passages that had impressed him.

“A curious accumulation of data; the writer evidently takes himself seriously,” Livingston commented.

“And why not?” demanded Reuel. “You and I know enough to credit the author with honest intentions.”

“Yes; but are we prepared to go so far?”

“This man is himself a mystic. He gives his evidence clearly enough.”

“And do you credit it?”

“Every word! Could I but get the necessary subject, I would convince you; I would go farther than M. Binet in unveiling the vast scheme of compensation and retribution carried about in the vast recesses of the human soul.”

“Find the subject and I will find the money,” laughed Aubrey.

“Do you mean it, Aubrey? Will you join me in carrying forward a search for more light on the mysteries of existence?”

“I mean it. And now, Reuel, come down from the clouds, and come with me to a concert.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, ‘tonight,’” mimicked the other. “The blacker the night, the greater the need of amusement. You go out too little.”

“Who gives the concert?”

“Well, it’s a new departure in the musical world; something Northerners know nothing of; but I who am a Southerner, born and bred, or as the vulgar have it, ‘dyed in the wool,’ know and understand Negro music. It is a jubilee concert given by a party of Southern colored people at Tremont Temple. I have the tickets. Redpath has them in charge.”

“Well, if you say so, I suppose I must.” Briggs did not seem greatly impressed.

“Coming down to the practical, Reuel, what do you think of the Negro problem? Come to think of it, I have never heard you express an opinion about it. I believe it is the only burning question in the whole category of live issues and ologies about which you are silent.”

[Pg 34]

“I have a horror of discussing the woes of unfortunates, tramps, stray dogs and cats and Negroes—probably because I am an unfortunate myself.”

They smoked in silence.

CHAPTER II.

The passing of slavery from the land marked a new era in the life of the nation. The war, too, had passed like a dream of horrors, and over the resumption of normal conditions in business and living, the whole country, as one man, rejoiced and heaved a deep sigh of absolute content.

Under the spur of the excitement occasioned by the Proclamation of Freedom, and the great need of schools for the blacks, thousands of dollars were contributed at the North, and agents were sent to Great Britain, where generosity towards the Negroes was boundless. Money came from all directions, pouring into the hands of philanthropists, who were anxious to prove that the country was able, not only to free the slave, but to pay the great debt it owed him,—protection as he embraced freedom, and a share in the great Government he had aided to found by sweat and toil and blood. It was soon discovered that the Negro possessed a phenomenal gift of music, and it was determined to utilize this gift in helping to support educational institutions of color in the Southland.

A band of students from Fisk University were touring the country, and those who had been fortunate enough to listen once to their matchless untrained voices singing their heartbreaking minor music with its grand and impossible intervals and sound combinations, were eager to listen again and yet again.

Wealthy and exclusive society women everywhere vied in showering benefits and patronage upon the new prodigies who had suddenly become the pets of the musical world. The Temple was a blaze of light, and crowded from pit to dome. It was the first appearance of the troupe in New England, therefore it was a gala night, and Boston culture was out in force.

The two friends easily found their seats in the first balcony, and from that position idly scanned the vast audience to beguile the tedious waiting. Reuel’s thoughts were disturbed; he read over the program, but it carried no meaning to his pre-occupied mind; he was uneasy; the face he had seen outlined in the twilight haunted him. A great nervous dread of he knew not what possessed him, and he actually suffered as he sat there answering at random the running fire of comments made by Livingston on the audience, and replying none too cordially to the greetings of fellow-students, drawn to the affair, like himself, by curiosity.

“Great crowd for such a night,” observed one. “The weather matches your face, Briggs; why didn’t you leave it outside? Why do you look so down?”

Reuel shrugged his shoulders.

“They say there are some pretty girls in the troupe; one or two as white as we,” continued the speaker unabashed by Reuel’s surliness.

“They range at home from alabaster to ebony,” replied Livingston. “The results of amalgamation are worthy the careful attention of all medical experts.”

“Don’t talk shop, Livingston,” said Briggs peevishly.

“You are really more disagreeable than usual,” replied Livingston, pleasantly. “Do try to be like the other fellows, for once, Reuel.”

Silence ensued for a time, and then the irrepressible one of the party remarked: “The soprano soloist is great; heard her in New York.” At this there was a general laugh among the men. Good natured Charlie Vance was[Pg 35] generally “stuck” once a month with the “loveliest girl, by jove, you know.”

“That explains your presence here, Vance; what’s her name?”

“Dianthe Lusk.”

“Great name. I hope she comes up to it,—the flower of Jove.”

“Flower of Jove, indeed! You’ll say so when you see her,” cried Charlie with his usual enthusiasm.

“What! again, my son? ‘Like Dian’s kiss, unmasked, unsought, Love gives itself,’” quoted Livingston, with a smile on his handsome face.

“Oh, stow it! Aubrey, even your cold blood will be stirred at sight of her exquisite face; of her voice I will not speak; I cannot do it justice.”

“If this is to be the result of emancipation, I for one vote that we ask Congress to annul the Proclamation,” said Reuel, drily.

Now conversation ceased; a famous local organist began a concert on the organ to occupy the moments of waiting. The music soothed Reuel’s restlessness. He noticed that the platform usually occupied by the speaker’s desk, now held a number of chairs and a piano. Certainly, the assiduous advertising had brought large patronage for the new venture, he thought as he idly calculated the financial result from the number in the audience.

Soon the hot air, the glare of lights, the mingling of choice perfumes emanating from the dainty forms of elegantly attired women, acted upon him as an intoxicant. He began to feel the pervading excitement—the flutter of expectation, and presently the haunting face left him.

The prelude drew to a close; the last chord fell from the fingers of the artist; a line of figures—men and women—dark in hue, and neatly dressed in quiet evening clothes, filed noiselessly from the anterooms and filled the chairs upon the platform. The silence in the house was painful. These were representatives of the people for whom God had sent the terrible scourge of blood upon the land to free from bondage. The old abolitionists in the vast audience felt the blood leave their faces beneath the stress of emotion.

The opening number was “The Lord’s Prayer.” Stealing, rising, swelling, gathering, as it thrilled the ear, all the delights of harmony in a grand minor cadence that told of deliverance from bondage and homage to God for his wonderful aid, sweeping the awed heart with an ecstasy that was almost pain; breathing, hovering, soaring, they held the vast multitude in speechless wonder.

Thunders of applause greeted the close of the hymn. Scarcely waiting for a silence, a female figure rose and came slowly to the edge of the platform and stood in the blaze of lights with hands modestly clasped before her. She was not in any way the preconceived idea of a Negro. Fair as the fairest woman in the hall, with wavy bands of chestnut hair, and great, melting eyes of brown, soft as those of childhood; a willowy figure of exquisite mould, clad in a sombre gown of black. There fell a voice upon the listening ear, in celestial showers of silver that passed all conceptions, all comparisons, all dreams; a voice beyond belief—a great soprano of unimaginable beauty, soaring heavenward in mighty intervals.

“Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell ol’ Pharaoh, let my people go.”

sang the woman in tones that awakened ringing harmonies in the heart of every listener.

“By Jove!” Reuel heard Livingston exclaim. For himself he was dazed, thrilled; never save among the great artists of the earth, was such a voice heard alive with the divine fire.

[Pg 36]

Some of the women in the audience wept; there was the distinct echo of a sob in the deathly quiet which gave tribute to the power of genius. Spellbound they sat beneath the outpoured anguish of a suffering soul. All the horror, the degradation from which a race had been delivered were in the pleading strains of the singer’s voice. It strained the senses almost beyond endurance. It pictured to that self-possessed, highly-cultured New England assemblage as nothing else ever had, the awfulness of the hell from which a people had been happily plucked.

Reuel was carried out of himself; he leaned forward in eager contemplation of the artist; he grew cold with terror and fear. Surely it could not be—he must be dreaming! It was incredible! Even as he whispered the words to himself the hall seemed to grow dim and shadowy; the sea of faces melted away; there before him in the blaze of light—like a lovely phantom—stood a woman wearing the face of his vision of the afternoon!

CHAPTER III.

It was Hallow-eve.

The north wind blew a cutting blast over the stately Charles, and broke the waves into a miniature flood; it swept the streets of the University city, and danced on into the outlying suburbs tossing the last leaves about in gay disorder, not even sparing the quiet precincts of Mount Auburn cemetery. A deep, clear, moonless sky stretched overhead, from which hung myriads of sparkling stars.

In Mount Auburn, where the residences of the rich lay far apart, darkness and quietness had early settled down. The main street seemed given over to the duskiness of the evening, and with one exception, there seemed no light on earth or in heaven save the cold gleam of the stars.

The one exception was in the home of Charlie Vance, or “Adonis,” as he was called by his familiars. The Vance estate was a spacious house with rambling ells, tortuous chimney-stacks, and corners, eaves and ledges; the grounds were extensive and well kept telling silently of the opulence of its owner. Its windows sent forth a cheering light. Dinner was just over.

Within, on an old-fashioned hearth, blazed a glorious wood fire, which gave a rich coloring to the oak-panelled walls, and fell warmly on a group of young people seated and standing, chatting about the fire. At one side of it, in a chair of the Elizabethan period, sat the hostess, Molly Vance, only daughter of James Vance, Esq., and sister of “Adonis,” a beautiful girl of eighteen.

At the opposite side, leaning with folded arms against the high carved mantel, stood Aubrey Livingston; the beauty of his fair hair and blue eyes was never more marked as he stood there in the gleam of the fire and the soft candle light. He was talking vivaciously, his eyes turning from speaker to speaker, as he ran on, but resting chiefly with pride on his beautiful betrothed, Molly Vance.

The group was completed by two or three other men, among them Reuel Briggs, and three pretty girls. Suddenly a clock struck the hour.

“Only nine,” exclaimed Molly. “Good people, what shall we do to wile the tedium of waiting for the witching hour? Have any one of you enough wisdom to make a suggestion?”

“Music,” said Livingston.

“We don’t want anything so commonplace.”

“Blind Man’s Buff,” suggested “Adonis.”

“Oh! please not that, the men are so rough!”

“Let us,” broke in Cora Scott, “tell ghost stories.”

[Pg 37]

“Good, Cora! yes, yes, yes.”

“No, no!” exclaimed a chorus of voices.

“Yes, yes,” laughed Molly, gaily, clapping her hands. “It is the very thing. Cora, you are the wise woman of the party. It is the very time, tonight is the new moon, and we can try our projects in the Hyde house.”

“The moon should be full to account for such madness,” said Livingston.

“Don’t be disagreeable, Aubrey,” replied Molly. “The ‘ayes’ have it. You’re with me, Mr. Briggs?”

“Of course, Miss Vance,” answered Reuel, “to go to the North Pole or Hades—only please tell us where is ‘Hyde house.’”

“Have you never heard? Why it’s the adjoining estate. It is reputed to be haunted, and a lady in white haunts the avenue in the most approved ghostly style.”

“Bosh!” said Livingston.

“Possibly,” remarked the laughing Molly, “but it is the ‘bosh’ of a century.”

“Go on, Miss Vance; don’t mind Aubrey. Who has seen the lady?”

“She is not easily seen,” proceeded Molly, “she only appears on Hallow-eve, when the moon is new, as it will be tonight. I had forgotten that fact when I invited you here. If anyone stands, tonight, in the avenue leading to the house, he will surely see the tall veiled figure gliding among the old hemlock trees.”

One or two shivered.

“If, however, the watcher remain, the lady will pause, and utter some sentence of prophecy of his future.”

“Has any one done this?” queried Reuel.

“My old nurse says she remembers that the lady was seen once.”

“Then, we’ll test it again tonight!” exclaimed Reuel, greatly excited over the chance to prove his pet theories.

“Well, Molly, you’ve started Reuel off on his greatest hobby; I wash my hands of both of you.”

“Let us go any way!” chorused the venturesome party.

“But there are conditions,” exclaimed Molly. “Only one person must go at a time.”

Aubrey laughed as he noticed the consternation in one or two faces.

“So,” continued Molly, “as we cannot go together, I propose that each shall stay a quarter of an hour, then whether successful or not, return and let another take his or her place. I will go first.”

“No—” it was Charlie who spoke—“I put my veto on that, Molly. If you are mad enough to risk colds in this mad freak, it shall be done fairly. We will draw lots.

“And I add to that, not a girl leave the house; we men will try the charm for the sake of your curiosity, but not a girl goes. You can try the ordinary Hallow-eve projects while we are away.”

With many protests, but concealed relief, this plan was reluctantly adopted by the female element. The lots were prepared and placed in a hat, and amid much merriment, drawn.

“You are third, Mr. Briggs,” exclaimed Molly who held the hat and watched the checks.

“I’m first,” said Livingston, “and Charlie second.”

“While we wait for twelve, tell us the story of the house, Molly,” cried Cora.

Thus adjured, Molly settled herself comfortably in her chair and began: “Hyde House is nearly opposite the cemetery, and its land joins that of this house; it is indebted for its ill-repute to one of its owners, John Hyde. It has been known for years as a haunted house, and avoided as such by the superstitious. It is low-roofed, rambling, and almost entirely concealed by hemlocks, having an air of desolation and decay in keeping with its ill-repute. In its dozen rooms[Pg 38] were enacted the dark deeds which gave the place the name of the ‘haunted house.’

“The story is told of an unfaithful husband, a wronged wife and a beautiful governess forming a combination which led to the murder of a guest for his money. The master of the house died from remorse, under peculiar circumstances. These materials give us the plot for a thrilling ghost story.”

“Well, where does the lady come in?” interrupted “Adonis.”

There was a general laugh.

“This world is all a blank without the ladies for Charlie,” remarked Aubrey. “Molly, go on with your story, my child.”

“You may all laugh as much as you please, but what I am telling you is believed in this section by every one. A local magazine speaks of it as follows, as near as I can remember:

“‘A most interesting story is told by a woman who occupied the house for a short time. She relates that she had no sooner crossed the threshold than she was met by a beautiful woman in flowing robes of black, who begged permission to speak through her to her friends. The friends were thereupon bidden to be present at a certain time. When all were assembled they were directed by invisible powers to kneel. Then the spirit told the tale of the tragedy through the woman. The spirit was the niece of the murderer, and she was in the house when the crime was committed. She discovered blood stains on the door of the woodshed, and told her uncle that she suspected him of murdering the guest, who had mysteriously disappeared. He secured her promise not to betray him. She had always kept the secret. Although both had been dead for many years, they were chained to the scene of the crime, as was the governess, who was the man’s partner in guilt. The final release of the niece from the place was conditional on her making a public confession. This done she would never be heard from again. And she never was, except on Hallow-eve, when the moon is new.’”

“Bring your science and philosophy to bear on this, Reuel. Come, come, man, give us your opinion,” exclaimed Aubrey.

“Reuel doesn’t believe such stuff; he’s too sensible,” added Charlie.

“If these are facts, they are only for those who have a mental affinity with them. I believe that if we could but strengthen our mental sight, we could discover the broad highway between this and the other world on which both good and evil travel to earth,” replied Reuel.

“And that first highway was beaten out of chaos by Satan, as Milton has it, eh, Briggs?”

“Have it as you like, Smith. No matter. For my own part, I have never believed that the whole mental world is governed by the faculties we understand, and can reduce to reason or definite feeling. But I will keep my ideas to myself: one does not care to be laughed at.”

The conversation was kept up for another hour about indifferent subjects, but all felt the excitement underlying the frivolous chatter. At quarter before twelve, Aubrey put on his ulster with the words: “Well, here goes for my lady.” The great doors were thrown open, and the company grouped about him to see him depart.

“Mind, honor bright, you go,” laughed Charlie.

“Honor bright,” he called back.

Then he went on beyond the flood of light into the gloom of the night. Muffled in wraps and ulsters they lingered on the piazzas waiting his return.

“Would he see anything?”

[Pg 39]

“Of course not!” laughed Charlie and Bert Smith. “Still, we bet he’ll be sharp to his time.”

They were right. Aubrey returned at five minutes past twelve, a failure.

Charlie ran down the steps briskly, but in ten minutes came hastening back.

“Well,” was the chorus, “did you see it?”

“I saw something—a figure in the trees!”

“And you did not wait?” said Molly, scornfully.

“No, I dared not; I own it.”

“It’s my turn; I’m third,” said Reuel.

“Luck to you, old man,” they called as he disappeared in the darkness.

Reuel Briggs was a brave man. He knew his own great physical strength and felt no fear as he traversed the patch of woods lying between the two estates. As he reached the avenue of hemlocks he was not thinking of his mission, but of the bright home scene he had just left—of love and home and rest—such a life as was unfolding before Aubrey Livingston and sweet Molly Vance.

“I suppose there are plenty of men in the world as lonely as I am,” he mused; “but I suppose it is my own fault. A man though plain and poor can generally manage to marry; and I am both. But I don’t regard a wife as one regards bread—better sour bread than starvation; better an uncongenial life-companion than none! What a frightful mistake! No! The woman I marry must be to me a necessity, because I love her; because so loving her, ‘all the current of my being flows to her,’ and I feel she is my supreme need.”

Just now he felt strangely happy as he moved in the gloom of the hemlocks, and he wondered many times after that whether the spirit is sometimes mysteriously conscious of the nearness of its kindred spirit; and feels, in anticipation, the “sweet unrest” of the master-passion that rules the world.

The mental restlessness of three weeks before seemed to have possession of him again. Suddenly the “restless, unsatisfied longing,” rose again in his heart. He turned his head and saw a female figure just ahead of him in the path, coming toward him. He could not see her features distinctly, only the eyes—large, bright and dark. But their expression! Sorrowful, wistful—almost imploring—gazing straight forward, as if they saw nothing—like the eyes of a person entirely absorbed and not distinguishing one object from another.

She was close to him now, and there was a perceptible pause in her step. Suddenly she covered her face with her clasped hands, as if in uncontrollable grief. Moved by a mighty emotion, Briggs addressed the lonely figure:

“You are in trouble, madam; may I help you?”

Briggs never knew how he survived the next shock. Slowly the hands were removed from the face and the moon gave a distinct view of the lovely features of the jubilee singer—Dianthe Lusk.

She did not seem to look at Briggs, but straight before her, as she said in a low, clear, passionless voice:

“You can help me, but not now; tomorrow.”

Reuel’s most prominent feeling was one of delight. The way was open to become fully acquainted with the woman who had haunted him sleeping and waking, for weeks past.

“Not now! Yet you are suffering. Shall I see you soon? Forgive me—but oh! tell me—”

He was interrupted. The lady moved or floated away from him, with her face toward him and gazing steadily at him.

He felt that his whole heart was in his[Pg 40] eyes, yet hers did not drop, nor did her cheek color.

“The time is not yet,” she said in the same, clear, calm, measured tones, in which she had spoken before. Reuel made a quick movement toward her, but she raised her hand, and the gesture forbade him to follow her. He paused involuntarily, and she turned away, and disappeared among the gloomy hemlock trees.

He parried the questions of the merry crowd when he returned to the house, with indifferent replies. How they would have laughed at him—slave of a passion as sudden and romantic as that of Romeo for Juliet; with no more foundation than the “presentments” in books which treat of the “occult.” He dropped asleep at last, in the early morning hours, and lived over his experience in his dreams.

CHAPTER IV.

Although not yet a practitioner, Reuel Briggs was a recognized power in the medical profession. In brain diseases he was an authority.

Early the next morning he was aroused from sleep by imperative knocking at his door. It was a messenger from the hospital. There had been a train accident on the Old Colony road, would he come immediately?

Scarcely giving himself time for a cup of coffee, he arrived at the hospital almost as soon as the messenger.

The usual silence of the hospital was broken; all was bustle and movement, without confusion. It was a great call upon the resources of the officials, but they were equal to it. The doctors passed from sufferer to sufferer, dressing their injuries; then they were borne to beds from which some would never rise again.

“Come with me to the women’s ward, Doctor Briggs,” said a nurse. “There is a woman there who was taken from the wreck. She shows no sign of injury, but the doctors cannot restore her to consciousness. Doctor Livingston pronounces her dead, but it doesn’t seem possible. So young, so beautiful. Do something for her, Doctor.”

The men about a cot made way for Reuel, as he entered the ward. “It’s no use Briggs,” said Livingston to him in reply to his question. “Your science won’t save her. The poor girl is already cold and stiff.”

He moved aside disclosing to Reuel’s gaze the lovely face of Dianthe Lusk!

[Pg 102]

The most marvellous thing to watch is the death of a person. At that moment the opposite takes place to that which took place when life entered the first unit, after nature had prepared it for the inception of life. How the vigorous life watches the passage of the liberated life out of its earthly environment! What a change is this! How important the knowledge of whither life tends! Here is shown the setting free of a disciplined spirit giving up its mortality for immortality,—the condition necessary to know God. Death! There is no death. Life is everlasting, and from its reality can have no end. Life is real and never changes, but preserves its identity eternally as the angels, and the immortal spirit of man, which are the only realities and continuities in the universe, God being over all, Supreme Ruler and Divine Essence from whom comes all life. Somewhat in this train ran Reuel’s thoughts as he stood beside the seeming dead girl, the cynosure of all the medical faculty there assembled.

To the majority of those men, the case was an ordinary death, and that was all there was to it. What did this young upstart expect to make of it? Of his skill and wonderful theories they had heard strange tales, but they viewed him coldly as we are apt to view those who dare to leave the beaten track of conventionality.

Outwardly cool and stolid, showing no sign of recognition, he stood for some seconds gazing down on Dianthe: every nerve quivered, every pulse of his body throbbed. Her face held for him a wonderful charm, an extraordinary fascination. As he gazed he knew that once more he beheld what he had vaguely sought and yearned for all his forlorn life. His whole heart went out to her; destiny, not chance, had brought him to her. He saw, too, that no one knew her, none had a clue to her identity; he determined to remain silent for the present, and immediately he sought to impress Livingston to do likewise.

His keen glance swept the faces of the surrounding physicians. “No, not one,” he told himself, “holds the key to unlock this seeming sleep of death.” He alone could do it. Advancing far afield in the mysterious regions of science, he had stumbled upon the solution of one of life’s problems: the reanimation of the body after seeming death.

He had hesitated to tell of his discovery to any one; not even to Livingston had he hinted of the daring possibility, fearing ridicule in case of a miscarriage in his calculations. But for the sake of this girl he would make what he felt to be a premature disclosure of the results of his experiments. Meantime, Livingston, from his place at the foot of the cot, watched his friend with fascinated eyes. He, too, had resolved, contrary to his first intention, not to speak of his knowledge of the beautiful patient’s identity. Curiosity was on tiptoe; expectancy was in the air. All felt that something unusual was about to happen.

Now Reuel, with gentle fingers, touched rapidly the clammy brow, the icy, livid hands, the region of the pulseless heart. No breath came from between the parted lips; the life-giving organ was motionless. As he concluded his examination, he turned to the assembled doctors:

“As I diagnose this case, it is one of suspended animation. This woman has been long and persistently subjected to[Pg 103] mesmeric influences, and the nervous shock induced by the excitement of the accident has thrown her into a cataleptic sleep.”

“But, man!” broke from the head physician in tones of exasperation, “rigor mortis in unmistakable form is here. The woman is dead!”

At these words there was a perceptible smile on the faces of some of the students—associates who resented his genius as a personal affront, and who considered these words as good as a reprimand for the daring student, and a settler of his pretensions. Malice and envy, from Adam’s time until today, have loved a shining mark.

But the reproof was unheeded. Reuel was not listening. Absorbed in thoughts of the combat before him, he was oblivious to all else as he bent over the lifeless figure on the cot. He was full of an earnest purpose. He was strung up to a high tension of force and energy. As he looked down upon the unconscious girl whom none but he could save from the awful fate of a death by post-mortem, and who by some mysterious mesmeric affinity existing between them, had drawn him to her rescue, he felt no fear that he should fail.

Suddenly he bent down and took both cold hands into his left and passed his right hand firmly over her arms from shoulder to wrist. He repeated the movements several times; there was no response to the passes. He straightened up, and again stood silently gazing upon the patient. Then, like a man just aroused from sleep, he looked across the bed at Livingston and said abruptly:

“Dr. Livingston, will you go over to my room and bring me the case of vials in my medicine cabinet? I cannot leave the patient at this point.”

Livingston started in surprise as he replied: “Certainly, Briggs, if it will help you any.”

“The patient does not respond to any of the ordinary methods of awakening. She would probably lie in this sleep for months, and death ensue from exhaustion, if stronger remedies are not used to restore the vital force to a normal condition.”

Livingston left the hospital; he could not return under an hour; Reuel took up his station by the bed whereon was stretched an apparently lifeless body, and the other doctors went the rounds of the wards attending to their regular routine of duty. The nurses gazed at him curiously; the head doctor, upon whom the young student’s earnestness and sincerity had evidently made an impression, came a number of times to the bare little room to gaze upon its silent occupants, but there was nothing new. When Livingston returned, the group again gathered about the iron cot where lay the patient.

“Gentlemen,” said Reuel, with quiet dignity, when they were once more assembled, “will you individually examine the patient once more and give your verdicts?”

Once more doctors and students carefully examined the inanimate figure in which the characteristics of death were still more pronounced. On the outskirts of the group hovered the house-surgeon’s assistants ready to transport the body to the operating room for the post-mortem. Again the head physician spoke, this time impatiently.

“We are wasting our time, Dr. Briggs; I pronounce the woman dead. She was past medical aid when brought here.”

“There is no physical damage, apparent or hidden, that you can see, Doctor?” questioned Reuel, respectfully.

“No; it is a perfectly healthful organism, though delicate. I agree entirely with your assertion that death was induced by the shock.”

“Not death, Doctor,” protested Briggs.

“Well, well, call it what you like—call it what you like, it amounts to the same in the end,” replied the doctor testily.

[Pg 104]

“Do you all concur in Doctor Hamilton’s diagnosis?” Briggs included all the physicians in his sweeping glance. There was a general assent.

“I am prepared to show you that in some cases of seeming death—or even death in reality—consciousness may be restored or the dead brought back to life. I have numberless times in the past six months restored consciousness to dogs and cats after rigor mortis had set in,” he declared calmly.

“Bosh!” broke from a leading surgeon. In this manner the astounding statement, made in all seriousness, was received by the group of scientists mingled with an astonishment that resembled stupidity. But in spite of their scoffs, the young student’s confident manner made a decided impression upon his listeners, unwilling as they were to be convinced.

Reuel went on rapidly; his eyes kindled; his whole person took on the majesty of conscious power, and pride in the knowledge he possessed. “I have found by research that life is not dependent upon organic function as a principle. It may be infused into organized bodies even after the organs have ceased to perform their legitimate offices. Where death has been due to causes which have not impaired or injured or destroyed tissue formation or torn down the structure of vital organs, life may be recalled when it has become entirely extinct, which is not so in the present case. This I have discovered by my experiments in animal magnetism.”

The medical staff was fairly bewildered. Again Dr. Hamilton spoke:

“You make the assertion that the dead can be brought to life, if I understand your drift, Dr. Briggs, and you expect us to believe such utter nonsense.” He added significantly, “My colleagues and I are here to be convinced.”

“If you will be patient for a short time longer, Doctor, I will support my assertion by action. The secret of life lies in what we call volatile magnetism—it exists in the free atmosphere. You, Dr. Livingston, understand my meaning; do you see the possibility in my words?” he questioned, appealing to Aubrey for the first time.

“I have a faint conception of your meaning, certainly,” replied his friend.

“This subtle magnetic agent is constantly drawn into the body through the lungs, absorbed and held in bounds until chemical combination has occurred through the medium of mineral agents always present in normal animal tissue. When respiration ceases this magnetism cannot be drawn into the lungs. It must be artificially supplied. This, gentlemen, is my discovery. I supply this magnetism. I have it here in the case Dr. Livingston has kindly brought me.” He held up to their gaze a small phial wherein reposed a powder. Physicians and students, now eager listeners, gazed spell-bound upon him, straining their ears to catch every tone of the low voice and every change of the luminous eyes; they pressed forward to examine the contents of the bottle. It passed from eager hand to eager hand, then back to the owner.

“This compound, gentlemen, is an exact reproduction of the conditions existing in the human body. It has common salt for its basis. This salt is saturated with oleo resin and then exposed for several hours in an atmosphere of free ammonia. The product becomes a powder, and that brings back the seeming dead to life.”

“Establish your theory by practical demonstration, Dr. Briggs, and the dreams of many eminent practitioners will be realized,” said Dr. Hamilton, greatly agitated by his words.

“Your theory smacks of the supernatural, Dr. Briggs, charlatanism, or dreams of lunacy,” said the surgeon. “We leave such assertions to quacks, generally, for the time of miracles is past.”

“The supernatural presides over man’s[Pg 105] formation always,” returned Reuel, quietly. “Life is that evidence of supernatural endowment which originally entered nature during the formation of the units for the evolution of man. Perhaps the superstitious masses came nearer to solving the mysteries of creation than the favored elect will ever come. Be that as it may, I will not contend. I will proceed with the demonstration.”

There radiated from the speaker the potent presence of a truthful mind, a pure, unselfish nature, and that inborn dignity which repels the shafts of lower minds as ocean’s waves absorb the drops of rain. Something like respect mingled with awe hushed the sneers, changing them into admiration as he calmly proceeded to administer the so-called life-giving powder. Each man’s watch was in his hand; one minute passed—another—and still another. The body remained inanimate.

A cold smile of triumph began to dawn on the faces of the older members of the profession, but it vanished in its incipiency, for a tremor plainly passed over the rigid form before them. Another second—another convulsive movement of the chest!

“She moves!” cried Aubrey at last, carried out of himself by the strain on his nerves. “Look, gentlemen, she breathes! She is alive; Briggs is right! Wonderful! Wonderful!”

“We said there could not be another miracle, and here it is!” exclaimed Dr. Hamilton with strong emotion.

Five minutes more and the startled doctors fell back from the bedside at a motion of Reuel’s hand. A wondering nurse, with dilated eyes, unfolded a screen, placed it in position and came and stood beside the bed opposite Reuel. Holding Dianthe’s hands, he said in a low voice: “Are you awake?” Her eyes unclosed in a cold, indifferent stare which gradually changed to one of recognition. She looked at him—she smiled, and said in a weak voice, “Oh, it is you; I dreamed of you while I slept.”

She was like a child—so trusting that it went straight to the young man’s heart, and for an instant a great lump seemed to rise in his throat and choke him. He held her hands and chafed them, but spoke with his eyes only. The nurse said in a low voice: “Dr. Briggs, a few spoonfuls of broth will help her?”

“Yes, thank you, nurse; that will be just right.” He drew a chair close beside the bed, bathed her face with water and pushed back the tangle of bright hair. He felt a great relief and quiet joy that his experiment had been successful.

“Have I been ill? Where am I?” she asked after a pause, as her face grew troubled and puzzled.

“No, but you have been asleep a long time; we grew anxious about you. You must not talk until you are stronger.”

The nurse returned with the broth; Dianthe drank it eagerly and called for water, then with her hand still clasped in Reuel’s she sank into a deep sleep, breathing softly like a tired child. It was plain to the man of science that hope for the complete restoration of her faculties would depend upon time, nature and constitution. Her effort to collect her thoughts was unmistakable. In her sleep, presently, from her lips fell incoherent words and phrases; but through it all she clung to Reuel’s hand, seeming to recognize in him a friend.

A little later the doctors filed in noiselessly and stood about the bed gazing down upon the sleeper with awe, listening to her breathing, feeling lightly the fluttering pulse. Then they left the quiet house of suffering, marvelling at the miracle just accomplished in their presence. Livingston lingered with Briggs after the other physicians were gone.

“This is a great day for you, Reuel,” he said, as he laid a light caressing hand upon the other’s shoulder.

Reuel seized the hand in a quick convulsive[Pg 106] clasp. “True and tried friend, do not credit me more than I deserve. No praise is due me. I am an instrument—how I know not—a child of circumstances. Do you not perceive something strange in this case? Can you not deduce conclusions from your own intimate knowledge of this science?”

“What can you mean, Reuel?”

“I mean—it is a dual mesmeric trance! The girl is only partly normal now. Binet speaks at length of this possibility in his treatise. We have stumbled upon an extraordinary case. It will take a year to restore her to perfect health.”

“In the meantime we ought to search out her friends.”

“Is there any hurry, Aubrey?” pleaded Reuel, anxiously.

“Why not wait until her memory returns; it will not be long, I believe, although she may still be liable to the trances.”

“We’ll put off the evil day to any date you may name, Briggs; for my part, I would preserve her incognito indefinitely.”

Reuel made no reply. Livingston was not sure that he heard him.

CHAPTER V.

The world scarcely estimates the service rendered by those who have unlocked the gates of sensation by the revelations of science; and yet it is to the clear perception of things which we obtain by the study of nature’s laws that we are enabled to appreciate her varied gifts. The scientific journals of the next month contained wonderful and wondering (?) accounts of the now celebrated case,—re-animation after seeming death. Reuel’s lucky star was in the ascendant; fame and fortune awaited him; he had but to grasp them. Classmates who had once ignored him now sought familiar association, or else gazed upon him with awe and reverence. “How did he do it?” was the query in each man’s mind, and then came a stampede for all scientific matter bearing upon animal magnetism.

How often do we look in wonder at the course of other men’s lives, whose paths have diverged so widely from the beaten track of our own, that, unable to comprehend the one spring upon which, perhaps, the whole secret of the diversity hinged, we have been fain to content ourselves with summing up our judgment in the common phrase, “Well, it’s very strange; what odd people there are in the world, to be sure!”

Many times this trite sentence was uttered during the next few months, generally terminating every debate among medical students in various colleges.

Unmindful of his growing popularity, Reuel devoted every moment of his spare time to close study of his patient. Although but a youth, the scientist might have passed for any age under fifty, and life for him seemed to have taken on a purely mechanical aspect since he had become first in this great cause. Under pretended indifference to public criticism, throbbed a heart of gold, sensitive to a fault; desiring above all else the well-being of all humanity; his faithfulness to those who suffered amounted to complete self-sacrifice. Absolutely free from the vices which beset most young men of his age and profession, his daily life was a white, unsullied page to the friend admitted to unrestricted intercourse, and gave an irresistible impetus to that friendship, for Livingston could not but admire the newly developed depths of nobility which he now saw unfolding day by day in Reuel’s character. Nor was Livingston far behind the latter in his interest in all that affected Dianthe. Enthused by its scientific aspect, he vied with Reuel in close attention to the medical side of the case, and being more worldly did not neglect the material side.

He secretly sought out and obtained the address of the manager of the jubilee[Pg 107] singers and to his surprise received the information that Miss Lusk had left the troupe to enter the service of a traveling magnetic physician—a woman—for a large salary. They (the troupe) were now in Europe and had heard nothing of Miss Lusk since.

After receiving this information by cable, Livingston sat a long time smoking and thinking: people often disappeared in a great city, and the police would undoubtedly find the magnetic physician if he applied to them. Of course that was the sensible thing to do, but then the publicity, and he hated that for the girl’s sake. Finally he decided to compromise the matter by employing a detective. With him to decide that it was expedient to do a certain thing was the same as to act; before night the case was in the hands of an expert detective who received a goodly retainer. Two weeks from that day—it was December twenty-fourth—before he left his boarding place, the detective was announced. He had found the woman in a small town near Chicago. She said that she had no knowledge of Miss Lusk’s whereabouts. Dianthe had remained with her three weeks, and at the end of that time had mysteriously disappeared; she had not heard of her since.

Livingston secured the woman’s name and address, gave the man a second check together with an admonition to keep silence concerning Miss Lusk. That closed the episode. But of his observations and discoveries, Aubrey said nothing, noting every phase of this strange happening in silence.

Strangely enough, none of the men that had admired the colored artist who had enthralled their senses by her wonderful singing a few weeks before, recognized her in the hospital waif consecrated to the service of science. Her incognito was complete.

The patient was now allowed the freedom of the corridors for exercise, and was about her room during the day. The returns of the trance-state were growing less regular, although she frequently fell into convulsions, thereby enduring much suffering, sometimes lying for hours in a torpid state. Livingston had never happened to be present on these occasions, but he had heard of them from eye-witnesses. One day he entered the room while one was occurring. His entrance was unnoticed as he approached lightly over the uncarpeted floor, and stood transfixed by the scene before him.

Dianthe stood upright, with closed eyes, in the middle of the room. Only the movement of her bosom betrayed breath. The other occupants of the room preserved a solemn silence. She addressed Reuel, whose outstretched arms were extended as if in blessing over her head.

“Oh! Dearest friend! hasten to cure me of my sufferings. Did you not promise at that last meeting? You said to me, ‘You are in trouble and I can help you.’ And I answered, ‘The time is not yet.’ Is it not so?”

“Yes,” replied Reuel. “Patience a while longer; all will be well with you.”

“Give me the benefit of your powerful will,” she continued. “I know much but as yet have not the power to express it: I see much clearly, much dimly, of the powers and influences behind the Veil, and yet I cannot name them. Some time the full power will be mine; and mine shall be thine. In seven months the sick will be restored—she will awake to worldly cares once more.” Her voice ceased; she sank upon the cot in a recumbent position. Her face was pale; she appeared to sleep. Fifteen minutes passed in death-like stillness, then she extended her arms, stretched, yawned, rubbed her eyes—awoke.

Livingston listened and looked in a trance of delight, his keen artistic sense fully aroused and appreciative, feeling the glamour of her presence and ethereal beauty like a man poring over a poem[Pg 108] that he has unexpectedly stumbled upon, losing himself in it, until it becomes, as it were, a part of himself. He felt as he watched her that he was doing a foolish thing in thus exposing himself to temptation while his honor and faith were pledged to another. But then, foolishness is so much better than wisdom, particularly to a man in certain stages of life. And then he fell to questioning if there could be temptation for him through this girl—he laughed at the thought and the next instant dismay covered him with confusion, for like a flash he realized that the mischief was already done.

As we have already hinted, Aubrey was no saint; he knew that fickleness was in his blood; he had never denied himself anything that he wanted very much in his whole life. Would he grow to want this beautiful woman very much? Time would tell.

It was Christmas-time—a good, sensible seasonable day before Christmas, with frost and ice in abundance, and a clear, bright, wintry sky above. Boston was very full of people—mostly suburban visitors—who were rushing here and there bent on emptying their purses on the least provocation. Good-nature prevailed among the pedestrians; one poor wretch stood shivering, with blue, wan face, on the edge of the sidewalk, his sightless eyes staring straight before him, trying to draw a tune from a consumptive violin—the embodiment of despair. He was, after all, in the minority, to judge by the hundreds of comfortably-clad forms that hurried past him, breathing an atmosphere of peace and prosperity.

Tomorrow the church bells would ring out tidings that another Christmas was born, bidding all rejoice.

This evening, at six o’clock, the two friends went to dine in a hotel in a fashionable quarter. They were due to spend the night and Christmas day at the Vance house. As they walked swiftly along with the elastic tread of youth, they simultaneously halted before the blind musician and pressed into his trembling hand a bountiful gift; then they hurried away to escape his thanks.

At the hotel Livingston called for a private dining room, and after the coffee was served, he said:

“Tell me, Briggs, what is the link between you and your patient? There is a link, I am sure. Her words while in the trance made a great impression upon me.”

There was a pause before Reuel replied in a low tone, as he rested his arm on the opposite side of the table and propped his head up on his hand:

“Forgive me, Aubrey!”

“For what?”

“This playing with your confidence. I have not been entirely frank with you.”

“Oh, well! you are not bound to tell me everything you know. You surely have the right to silence about your affairs, if you think best.”

“Listen, Aubrey. I should like to tell you all about it. I would feel better. What you say is true; there is a link; but I never saw her in the flesh before that night at the Temple. With all our knowledge, Aubrey, we are but barbarians in our ideas of the beginning, interim and end of our creation. Why were we created? for whose benefit? can anyone answer that satisfactorily?”

“‘Few things are hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and seriously to the solution of a mystery,’ Hawthorne tells us,” replied Aubrey. “Have not you proved this, Reuel?”

“Well, yes—or, we prove rather, that our solution but deepens the mystery or mysteries. I have surely proved the last. Aubrey, I look natural, don’t I? There is nothing about me that seems wrong?”

“Wrong! No.”

“Well, if I tell you the truth you will call me a lunatic. You have heard of people being haunted by hallucinations?”[Pg 109] Aubrey nodded. “I am one of those persons. Seven weeks ago I saw Dianthe first, but not in the flesh. Hallow-eve I spoke to her in the garden of the haunted house, but not in the flesh. I thought it strange to be sure, that this face should lurk in my mind so much of the time; but I never dreamed what a crisis it was leading up to. The French and German schools of philosophy have taught us that going to places and familiar passages in books, of which we have had no previous knowledge, is but a proof of Plato’s doctrine—the soul’s transmigration, and reflections from the invisible world surrounding us.

“Finally a mad desire seized me to find that face a living reality that I might love and worship it. Then I saw her at the Temple—I found her at the hospital—in the flesh! My desire was realized.”

“And having found her, what then?” He waited breathlessly for the reply.

“I am mightily pleased and satisfied. I will cure her. She is charming; and if it is insanity to be in love with her, I don’t care to be sane.”

Livingston did not reply at once. His face was like marble in its impassiveness. The other’s soft tremulous tones, fearless yet moist eyes and broken sentences, appeared to awaken no response in his breast. Instead, a far-off gleam came into his blue eyes. At last he broke the silence with the words:

“You name it well; it is insanity indeed, for you to love this woman.”

“Why?” asked his friend, constrainedly.

“Because it is not for the best.”

“For her or me?”

“Oh, for her——!” he finished the sentence with an expressive gesture.

“I understand you, Aubrey. I should not have believed it of you. If it were one of the other fellows; but you are generally so charitable.”

“You forget your own words: ‘Tramps, stray dogs and Negroes——,’” he quoted significantly. “Then there is your professional career to be considered,—you mean honorable, do you not?——How can you succeed if it be hinted abroad that you are married to a Negress?”

“I have thought of all that. I am determined. I will marry her in spite of hell itself! Marry her before she awakens to consciousness of her identity. I’m not unselfish; I don’t pretend to be. There is no sin in taking her out of the sphere where she was born. God and science helping me, I will give her life and love and wifehood and maternity and perfect health. God, Aubrey! you, with all you have had of life’s sweetness, petted idol of a beautiful world, you who will soon feel the heart-beats of your wife against your breast when lovely Molly is eternally bound to you, what do you know of a lonely, darkened life like mine? I have not the manner nor the charm which wins women. Men like me get love from them which is half akin to pity, when they get anything at all. It is but the shadow. This is my opportunity for happiness; I seize it. Fate has linked us together and no man and no man’s laws shall part us.”

Livingston sipped his wine quietly, intently watching Reuel’s face. Now he leaned across the table and stretched out his hand to Briggs; his eyes looked full into his. As their hands met in a close clasp, he whispered a sentence across the board. Reuel started, uttered an exclamation and flushed slowly a dark, dull red.

“How—where—how did you know it?” he stammered.

“I have known it since first we met; but the secret is safe with me.”

The post Write up on The Magazine Novels of Pauline Hopkins  appeared first on DayDreamin’ Comics.

Machine learning usually refers to the changes in systems that perform tasks associated with artificial intelligence (AI). Such tasks involve recognition, diagnosis, planning, robot control, prediction, etc. The “changes” might be either enhancements to already performing systems or ab initio synthesis of new systems. To be slightly more specific, we show the architecture of a typical AI

“Why should machines have to learn? Why not design machines to perform as desired in the first place?” There are several reasons why machine learning is important. Of course, we have already mentioned that the achievement of learning in machines might help us understand how animals and humans learn. But there are important engineering reasons as well. Some of these are:

• Some tasks cannot be defined well except by example; that is, we might be able to specify input/output pairs but not a concise relationship between inputs and desired outputs. We would like machines to be able to adjust their internal structure to produce correct outputs for a large number of sample inputs and thus suitably constrain their input/output function to approximate the relationship implicit in the examples.

• It is possible that hidden among large piles of data are important relationships and correlations. Machine learning methods can often be used to extract these relationships (data mining).

 Machine Learning is, undoubtedly, one of the most exciting subsets of Artificial Intelligence. It completes the task of learning from data with specific inputs to the machine. It’s important to understand what makes Machine Learning work and, thus, how it can be used in the future. The Machine Learning process starts with inputting training data into the selected algorithm. Training data being known or unknown is used to develop the final Machine Learning algorithm. The type of training data input does impact the algorithm, and that concept will be covered further momentarily. New input data is fed into the machine learning algorithm to test whether the algorithm works correctly. The prediction and results are then checked against each other. If the prediction and results don’t match, the algorithm is re-trained multiple times until the data scientist gets the desired outcome. This enables the machine learning algorithm to continually learn on its own and produce the optimal answer, gradually increasing in accuracy over time

We trace the origin and short history of machine learning and its most important milestones. 18th century —statistical methods: Several vital concepts in machine learning derive from probability theory and statistics, and they root back to the 18th century. In 1763, English statistician Thomas Bayes set out a mathematical theorem for probability, which came to be known as Bayes Theorem that a central concept of machine learning. 1950 — The Turing Test: mathematician Alan Turing’s papers in the 1940s were full of ideas on machine intelligence. “Can machines think?”, paving way for automata theory. In 1950, he suggested a test for machine intelligence, later known as the Turing Test, in which a machine is said to be “intelligent” if it could convince a human. 1952 — Game of Checkers: In 1952, researcher Arthur Samuel created an early learning machine, capable of learning to play checkers. It is an annotated guides to learn to distinguish right moves from bad. 1956 — The Dartmouth Workshop: The term ‘artificial intelligence’ was born during the Dartmouth Workshop in 1956, The workshop scientists, including computer scientist John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. 1957 — The Perceptron: Noted American psychologist Frank Rosenblatt’s Perceptron was an early attempt to create a neural network with the use of a rotary resistor (potentiometer) driven by an electric motor. The machine could create an output. 1967 — Nearest neighbor algorithm: The Nearest Neighbor (NN) rule in pattern recognition, which enabled article written by T. Cover and P. Hart in 1967. The algorithm gave an idea of solution to traveling sales problem. 1973 — The Light hill report and the AI winter: James Light hill in 1973, presented a very pessimistic forecast in the development of core aspects in AI research”. 1979 — Stanford Cart: The students at Stanford University invented a robot called the Cart, radio-linked to a large mainframe computer, which can navigate obstacles in a room on its own. The invention was state of the art at the time. 1981 — Explanation Based Learning (EBL): Gerald Dejong introduced the concept of Explanation Based Learning (EBL), which analyses data and creates a general rule it can follow by discarding unimportant data. 1985 — Net Talk: Francis Crick Professor Terry Sejnowski invented NetTalk, NETtalk, a program that learns to pronounce written English text by being shown text as input and matching phonetic transcriptions for comparison. This has shed light on human learning. 1986 — Parallel Distributed Processing and neural network models: David Rumelhart and James McClelland published Parallel Distributed Processing, which advanced the use of neural network models for machine learning

1992 — playing backgammon: Researcher Gerald Tesauro created a program based on an artificial neural network, which was capable of playing backgammon with abilities that matched top human players. 1997 — deep Blue: IBM’s Deep Blue became the first computer chess-playing system to beat a reigning world chess champion. Deep Blue used the computing power in the 1990s to perform large-scale searches of potential moves and select the best move. 2006 — Deep Learning: Geoffrey Hinton created the term “deep learning” to explain new algorithms that help computers distinguish objects and text in images and videos. 2010 — Kinect: Microsoft developed the motion-sensing input device named Kinect that can track 20 human characteristics at a rate of 30 times per second. It allowed people to interact with the computer through movements and gestures. 2011 — Watson and Google Brain: IBM’s Watson won a game of the US quiz show Jeopardy against two of its champions. In the same year, Google Brain was developed its deep neural network which could discover and categorize objects in the way a cat does. 2012 — ImageNet Classification and computer vision: The year saw the publication of an influential research paper by Alex Krizhevsky, Geoffrey Hinton, and Ilya Sutskever, describing a model that can dramatically reduce the error rate in image recognition systems. Meanwhile, Google’s X Lab developed a machine learning algorithm capable of autonomously browsing YouTube videos to identify the videos that contain cats. 2014 — Deep Face: Facebook developed a software algorithm Deep Face, which can recognize and verify individuals on photos with an accuracy of a human. 2015 — Amazon Machine Learning: AWS’s Andy Jassy launched their Machine Learning managed services that analyze users’ historical data to look for patterns and deploy predictive models. In the same year, Microsoft created the Distributed Machine Learning Toolkit, which enables the efficient distribution of machine learning problems across multiple computers. 2016 — AlphaGo: AlphaGo, created by researchers at Google Deep Mind to play the ancient Chinese game of Go, won four out of five matches against Lee Sedol, who has been the world’s top Go player for over a decade. 2017 — Libratus and Deepstack: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon

https://www.ijfmr.com/papers/2023/1/1367.pdf

CONCEPT LEARNING AS SEARCH

 Concept learning can be viewed as the task of searching through a large space of hypotheses implicitly defined by the hypothesis representation. The goal of this search is to find the hypothesis that best fits the training examples. It is important to note that by selecting a hypothesis representation, the designer of the learning algorithm implicitly defines the space of all hypotheses that the program can ever represent and therefore can ever learn.

Consider, for example, the instances X and hypotheses H in the EnjoySport learning task. Given that the attribute Sky has three possible values, and that AirTemp, Humidity, Wind, Water, and Forecast each have two possible values, the instance space X contains exactly 3 .2 2 .2 2 .2 = 96 distinct instances.

A similar calculation shows that there are 5.4-4 -4 -4.4 = 5 120 syntactically distinct hypotheses within H. Notice, however, that every hypothesis containing one or more “IZI” symbols represents the empty set of instances; that is, it classifies every instance as negative. Therefore, the number of semantically distinct hypotheses is only 1 + (4.3.3.3.3.3) = 973.

Our EnjoySport example is a very simple learning task, with a relatively small, finite hypothesis space. Most practical learning tasks involve much larger, sometimes infinite, hypothesis spaces. If we view learning as a search problem, then it is natural that our study of learning algorithms will exa~the different strategies for searching the hypothesis space. We will be particula ly interested in algorithms capable of efficiently searching very large or infinite hypothesis spaces, to find the hypotheses that best fit the training data.

Lycos (Mauldin & Leavitt 1994), Alta Vista, and similar Web search engines have become essential as tools for locating information on the ever-growing World Wide Web. Underlying these systems are statistical methods for indexing plain text documents. However, the bulk of the Web consists of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents, which exhibit two kinds of structure not present in general text documents: 1. They have an internal structure consisting

ning bold and italic text. Others have richer semantic import, such as headlines and anchors, the text segments which serve as hyperlinks to other documents.
nes a set of roles to which text in a document can be assigned. Some of these roles relate to formatting, such as those de

The primary focus of the field since the 1950s has been on text and text documents. Web pages, email, scholarly papers, books, and news stories are just a few of the many examples of documents. All of these documents have some amount of structure, such as the title, author, date, and abstract information associated with the content of papers that appear in scientific journals. The elements of this structure are called attributes, or fields, when referring to database records. The important distinction between a document and a typical database record, such as a bank account record or a flight reservation, is that most of the information in the document is in the form of text, which is relatively unstructured

Enterprise search involves finding the required information in the huge variety of computer files scattered across a corporate intranet. Web pages are certainly a part of that distributed information store, but most information will be found in sources such as email, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, and structured data in corporate databases. Desktop search is the personal version of enterprise search, where the information sources are the files stored on an individual computer, including email messages and web pages that have recently been browsed. Peer-to-peer search involves finding information in networks of nodes or computers without any centralized control. This type of search began as a file sharing tool for music but can be used in any community based on shared interests, or even shared locality in the case of mobile devices. Search and related information retrieval techniques are used for advertising, for intelligence analysis, for scientific discovery, for health care, for customer support, for real estate, and so on. Any application that involves acollection3 of text or other unstructured information will need to organize and search that information

Search based on a user query (sometimes called ad hoc search because the range of possible queries is huge and not prespecified) is not the only text-based task that is studied in information retrieval. Other tasks include filtering, classification, and question answering. Filtering or tracking involves detecting stories of interest based on a person’s interests and providing an alert using email or some other mechanism. Classification or categorization uses a defined set of labels or classes

of typed text segments marked by meta-linguistic tags (markup). HTML

Significance of the Study

MACHINE LEARNING IN SEARCH ENGINES

. Introduction to Search Engines Search Engine[1] is a service that allows internet users to search for contents via the world wide web(www). Search engine is a software program that searches for sites based on the words that you designate as search terms. They look through their own databases of information in order to find what it is that you are looking for. There are mainly three components for search engines. They are:

• web crawler

• database

• search interfaces Web crawlers are also known as spiders or bots.

It is a software component that traverses the web to gather information. All the information on the web are stored in a database. It consists of huge web resources. Search interface acts as an interface between user and the database. It helps the users to search through the database. B Classification of Search Engines There are many search engines on web based on the usage and features, users can use them. Every search engine has many web pages stored on their database but search engines with large number of pages on web are not top search engines. Search engines which will provide accurate information based on requested keyword will be the top search engines. Search engines are classified as follows:

• Crawler based search engines[3]

• Human powered directories

• Meta search engines[4]

 • Hybrid search engines

• Specialty search engines

B.1 Crawler based Search Engines Crawler based search engines[3] such as Google create their listings automatically. They crawl or spider the web, then people search through what they have found. If you change your webpages, crawler based search engine will find these changes and that can affect how you are listed.

Three elements in crawler based search engines are:

 • Crawler or spider

• index or catalog

• search engine software Crawler or spider visits webpages and reads it and index or catalog is like a giant book containing a copy of every webpage that crawler or spider finds.

 If a webpage changes, then this book is updated with a new one.

 Human Powered Directories

 A human powered directory such as the open directory depends on humans for its listings. In this type of search engine, site owner submits a short description of the site to the directory along with category it is to be listed. Submitted site is then manually reviewed and added in the appropriate category or rejected for listing. Keywords entered in a search box will be matched with the description of the sites. This means the changes made to the content of web pages are not taken into consideration as it is only the description that matters. A good site with good content is more likely to be reviewed for free compared to a site with poor content. B.3 Meta Search Engines Meta search engines[4] gives results based on a combination of results from other search engine databases. It uses complex algorithms and virtual databases. A search engine that queries other search engines and then combines the results that are received from all. In effect, the user is not using just one search engine but a combination of many search engines at once to optimize web searching. For example, Dog pile is a meta search engine.

Directories as secondary mechanism. For example, google may take the description of a webpage from human powered directories and show in the search results. As human powered directories are disappearing, hybrid types are becoming more and more crawler based search engines. But still there are manual filtering of search result happens to remove the copied and spammy sites. When a site is being identified for spammy activities, the website owner needs to take corrective action and resubmit the site to search engines. The experts do manual review of the submitted site before including it again in the search results. In this manner though the crawlers control the processes, the control is manual to monitor and show the search results naturally. B.5 Speciality Search Engines Speciality search engines search a specially created database which is limited to a particular subject. A speciality search engine, sometimes called a topican or vertical search engine, searches a specially-created database limited to a particular subject. Specialty search engines fall into two main categories: service

• subject-specific Specialty service search engines provide services that are often not available from larger general search engines. Subject-specific search engines search a database tailored to a particular subject. Depending on your area of interest and the type of information you are seeking, specialty search engines can provide more relevant results more quickly than a general purpose search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

Specialty search engines are also an excellent source for typical research. Because of this it would be wise to also submit your blog or website to some of the speciality search engines that cater for your niche. C Search Engine Working While you should always create website content geared to your customers rather than search engines, it is important to understand how a search engine works. Most search engines build an index based on crawling, which is the process through which engines like Google, Yahoo and others find new pages to index. Mechanisms known as bots or spiders crawl the web looking for new pages. The bots typically start with a list of website. URL’s determined from previous crawls. When they detects new links on these pages, through tags like HREF and SRC, they add theses to the list of sites to index. Then, search engine use their algorithms to provide you with a ranked list from their index of what pages you should be most interested in based on the search terms you used. Then, the engine will return a list of web results ranked using its specific algorithm. On Google, other elements like personalized and universal results may also change your page ranking. In personalized results, the search engine utilizes additional information it knows about the user to return results that are directly catered to their interests. Universal search results combine video, images and Google news to create a bigger picture result, which can mean greater competition from other websites for the same keywords. Search engine optimization is a set of rules that can be followed by website owners to optimize their websites for search engines and thus improve their search engine ranking. In addition, it is a great way to increase the quality of your website by making it userfriendly, faster and easier to navigate. Steps in search engine optimization are as follows:

• Website analysis

• Client requirements

 • Keyword research

• Content writing

• Website optimization

 • SEO submission

 • Link building

• Reporting

Introduction to Machine Learning

 Machine Learning is a branch of artificial intelligence(AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Some applications of machine learning are: email spam and filtering, online fraud detection, product recommendations. There are mainly three types of learning. They are as follows:

• supervised learning

• unsupervised learning

• reinforcement learning

E Applications of Machine Learning in Search Engines Machine Learning can be applied in various areas realted to search engines.

 They are:

 • Pattern Detection

• Identifying new signals

• Custom signals based on specific query

• Image search to understand photos

• Identifying similarities between words in a search query

• Improve ad quality

 • Query understanding

• URL/Document understanding

• Search features[2]

 • Crawling[1]

 • User classification

 • Search Ranking

 • Synonyms Identification/Query Expansion

 • Intent Disambiguation Image search to understand photos: Users can upload photos on google image search and get information about the image, similar looking images, etc. There is a lot of data in the form of images on the internet. Hence, search engines can use machine learning on the huge number of images and power their feature of image searching.

 Query Understanding:

 Machine Learning is used for understanding the search queries typed by the users. Query classification is one of the problem that is solved by using machine learning. Search engines run different classifiers on the search query. They are: • Navigational search queries • Informational search queries • Transactional search queries URL/Document Understanding: This includes everything that is done to understand a URL(Uniform Resource Locator).

For example, spam detection, page classification, etc. Intent Disambiguation: Consider an example, when you search for eagles, is it eagles the band or Philadelphia eagles or the bird or all of them together. Machine Learning is applied in these types of scenarios. Improve Ad quality: A lot of revenue of the search engines comes from the advertisements that they display on their websites. Suggesting the advertisements that are relevant to the users increases the chance of the user actually purchasing the advertised product or service, which would, in turn be beneficial for the company providing the product or service and the search engine that advertised the product. Both will take money. Machine Learning is used by the search engines to identify the correct target audience for the showing of the various advertisements. Depending on the queries the user asks on the search engine, relevant advertisements are shown to him/her. Identifying the meaning of words based on their usage: The number of words in the English language is constantly growing. Around ten years back, no one knew words and phrases like “selfie”, “it’s lit”, “muggle”, etc. When a word or phrase is very n

There are some who regard data mining as synonymous with machine learning. There is no question that some data mining appropriately uses algorithms from machine learning. Machine-learning practitioners use the data as a training set, to train an algorithm of one of the many types used by machine-learning practitioners, such as Bayes nets, support-vector machines, decision trees, hidden Markov models, and many others. There are situations where using data in this way makes sense. The typical case where machine learning is a good approach is when we have little idea of what we are looking for in the data.

 For example, it is rather unclear what it is about movies that makes certain movie-goers like or dislike it. Thus, in answering the “Netflix challenge” to devise an algorithm that predicts the ratings of movies by users, based on a sample of their responses, machine learning algorithms have proved quite successful. We shall discuss a simple form of this type of algorithm in

 On the other hand, machine learning has not proved successful in situations where we can describe the goals of the mining more directly. An interesting case in point is the attempt by WhizBang! Labs1 to use machine learning to locate people’s resumes on the Web. It was not able to do better than algorithms designed by hand to look for some of the obvious words and phrases that appear in the typical resume. Since everyone who has looked at or written a resume has a pretty good idea of what resumes contain, there was no mystery about what makes a Web page a resume. Thus, there was no advantage to

In several applications of data mining, we shall be faced with the problem of categorizing documents (sequences of words) by their topic. Typically, topics are identified by finding the special words that characterize documents about that topic. For instance, articles about baseball would tend to have many occurrences of words like “ball,” “bat,” “pitch,”, “run,” and so on. Once we have classified documents to determine they are about baseball, it is not hard to notice that words such as these appear unusually frequently. However, until we have made the classification, it is not possible to identify these words as characteristic.

Importance of Words in Documents In several applications of data mining, we shall be faced with the problem of categorizing documents (sequences of words) by their topic. Typically, topics are identified by finding the special words that characterize documents about that topic. For instance, articles about baseball would tend to have many occurrences of words like “ball,” “bat,” “pitch,”, “run,” and so on. Once we have classified documents to determine they are about baseball, it is not hard to notice that words such as these appear unusually frequently. However, until we have made the classification, it is not possible to identify these words as characteristic. Thus, classification often starts by looking at documents, and finding the significant words in those documents. Our first guess might be that the words appearing most frequently in a document are the most significant.

 However, that intuition is exactly opposite of the truth. The most frequent words will most surely be the common words such as “the” or “and,” which help build ideas but do not carry any significance themselves. In fact, the several hundred most common words in English (called stop words) are often removed from documents before any attempt to classify them. In fact, the indicators of the topic are relatively rare words. However, not all rare words are equally useful as indicators.

There are certain words, for example “notwithstanding” or “albeit,” that appear rarely in a collection of documents, yet do not tell us anything useful. On the other hand, a word like “chukker” is probably equally rare, but tips us off that the document is about the sport of polo. The difference between rare words that tell us something and those that do not has to do with the concentration of the useful words in just a few documents. That is, the presence of a word like “albeit” in a document does not make it terribly more likely that it will appear multiple times. However, if an article mentions “chukker” once, it is likely to tell us what happened in the “first chukker,” then the “second chukker,” and so on. That is, the word is likely to be repeated if it appears at all. The formal measure of how concentrated into relatively few documents are the occurrences of a given word is called TF.IDF (Term Frequency times Inverse Document Frequency). It is normally computed as follows. Suppose we have a collection of N documents. Define fij to be the frequency (number of occurrences) of term (word) i in document j. Then, define the term frequency TFij to be: TFij = fij maxk fkj

 That is, the term frequency of term i in document j is fij normalized by dividing it by the maximum number of occurrences of any term (perhaps excluding stop words) in the same document. Thus, the most frequent term in document j gets a TF of 1, and other terms get fractions as their term frequency for this document.

Thus, classification often starts by looking at documents and finding the significant words in those documents. Our first guess might be that the words appearing most frequently in a document are the most significant. However, that intuition is exactly opposite of the truth. The most frequent words will most surely be the common words such as “the” or “and,” which help build ideas but do not carry any significance themselves. In fact, the several hundred most common words in English (called stop words) are often removed from documents before any attempt to classify them. In fact, the indicators of the topic are relatively rare words. However, not all rare words are equally useful as indicators. There are certain words, for example “notwithstanding” or “albeit,” that appear rarely in a collection of documents, yet do not tell us anything useful. On the other hand, a word like “chukker” is probably equally rare, but tips us off that the document is about the sport of polo. The difference between rare words that tell us something and those that do not has to do with the concentration of the useful words in just a few documents.

That is, the presence of a word like “albeit” in a document does not make it terribly more likely that it will appear multiple times. However, if an article mentions “chukker” once, it is likely to tell us what happened in the “first chukker,” then the “second chukker,” and so on. That is, the word is likely to be repeated if it appears at all. The formal measure of how concentrated into relatively few documents are the occurrences of a given word is called TF.IDF (Term Frequency times Inverse Document Frequency). It is normally computed as follows. Suppose we have a collection of N documents. Define fij to be the frequency (number of occurrences) of term (word) i in document j.

 Then, define the term frequency TFij to be: TFij = fij maxk fkj That is, the term frequency of term i in document j is fij normalized by dividing it by the maximum number of occurrences of any term (perhaps excluding stop words) in the same document. Thus, the most frequent term in document j gets a TF of 1, and other terms get fractions as their term frequency for this document. The IDF for a term is defined as follows. Suppose term i appears in ni

1.3.3

Indexes

An index is a data structure that makes it efficient to retrieve objects given the value of one or more elements of those objects. The most common situation is one where the objects are records, and the index is on one of the fields of that record. Given a value v for that field, the index lets us retrieve all the records with value v in that field. For example, we could have a file of (name, address, phone) triples, and an index on the phone field. Given a phone number, the index allows us to find quickly the record or records with that phone number.

Until the mid-1990s, metadata was a term used primarily by communities involved with the management and interoperability of geospatial data and with data management and systems design and maintenance in general. For these communities, metadata referred to a suite of industry or disciplinary standards as well as additional internal and external documentation and other data necessary for the identification, representation, interoperability, technical management, performance, and use of data contained in an information system.

Background: Text Mining and Information Extraction “Text mining” is used to describe the application of data mining techniques to automated discovery of useful or interesting knowledge from unstructured text [20]. Several techniques have been proposed for text mining including conceptual structure, association rule mining, episode rule mining, decision trees, and rule induction methods. In addition, Information Retrieval (IR) techniques have widely used the “bag-of-words” model [2] for tasks such as document matching, ranking, and clustering. The related task of information extraction aims to find specific data in natural-language text. DARPA’s Message Understanding Conferences (MUC) have concentrated on IE by evaluating the performance of participating IE systems based on blind test sets of text documents [13]. The data to be extracted is typically given by a template which specifies a list of slots to be filled with substrings taken from the document. Figure 2 shows a (shortened) document and its filled template for an information extraction task in the job-posting domain. This template includes slots that are filled by strings taken directly from the document. Several slots may have multiple fillers for the job-posting domain as in programming languages, platforms, applications, and areas. We have developed machine learning techniques to automatically construct information extractors for job postings, such as those listed in the USENET newsgroup misc.jobs.offered [6]. By extracting information from a corpus of such textual job postings, a structured, searchable database of jobs can be automatically constructed; thus making the data in online text more easily accessible. IE has been shown to be useful in a variety of other applications, e.g. seminar announcements, restaurant guides, university web pages, apartment rental ads, and news articles on corporate acquisitions [5, 9, 23].

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~ml/papers/discotex-melm-03.pdf

Text mining is a burgeoning new field that attempts to glean meaningful information from natural language text. It may be loosely characterized as the process of analyzing text to extract information that is useful for particular purposes. Compared with the kind of data stored in databases, text is unstructured, amorphous, and difficult to deal with algorithmically. Nevertheless, in modern culture, text is the most common vehicle for the formal exchange of information. The field of text mining usually deals with texts whose function is the communication of factual information or opinions, and the motivation for trying to extract information from such text automatically is compelling—even if success is only partial. Four years ago, Hearst [Hearst, 1999] wrote that the nascent field of “text data mining” had “a name and a fair amount of hype, but as yet almost no practitioners.” It seems that even the name is unclear: the phrase “text mining” appears 17 times as often as “text data mining” on the Web, according to a popular search engine (and “data mining” occurs 500 times as often). Moreover, the meaning of either phrase is by no means clear: Hearst defines data mining, information access, and corpus-based computational linguistics and discusses the relationship of these to text data mining—but does not define that term. The literature on data mining is far more extensive, and also more focused: there are numerous textbooks and critical reviews that trace its development from roots in machine learning and statistics. Text mining emerged at an unfortunate time in history. Data mining was able to ride the back of the high technology extravaganza throughout the 1990s, and became firmly established as a widely-used practical technology—though the dot com crash may have hit it harder than other areas [Franklin, 2002]. Text mining, in contrast, emerged just before the market crash—the first workshops were held at the International Machine Learning Conference in July 1999 and the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in August 1999—and missed the opportunity to gain a solid foothold during the boom years. The phrase “text mining” is generally used to denote any system that analyzes large quantities of natural language text and detects lexical or linguistic usage patterns in an attempt to extract probably useful (although only probably correct) information [Sebastiani, 2002]. In discussing a topic that lacks a generally accepted definition in a practical Handbook such as this, I have chosen to cast the net widely and take a liberal viewpoint of what should be included, rather than attempting a clear-cut characterization that will inevitably restrict the scope of what is covered. The remainder of this section discusses the relationship between text mining and data mining, and between text mining and natural language processing, to air important issues concerning the meaning of the term. The article’s major section follows: an introduction to the great variety of tasks that involve mining plain text. We then examine the additional leverage that can be obtained when mining semi-structured text such as pages of the World-Wide Web, which opens up a range

Text mining and natural language processing Text mining appears to embrace the whole of automatic natural language processing and, arguably, far more besides—for example, analysis of linkage structures such as citations in the academic literature and hyperlinks in the Web literature, both useful sources of information that lie outside the traditional domain of natural language processing. But, in fact, most text mining efforts consciously shun the deeper, cognitive, aspects of classic natural language processing in favor of shallower techniques more akin to those used in practical information retrieval. The reason is best understood in the context of the historical development of the subject of natural language processing. The field’s roots lie in automatic translation projects in the late 1940s and early 1950s, whose aficionados assumed that strategies based on word-for-word translation would provide decent and useful rough translations that could easily be honed into something more accurate using techniques based on elementary syntactic analysis. But the sole outcome of these 3 high-profile, heavily-funded projects was the sobering realization that natural language, even at an illiterate child’s level, is an astonishingly sophisticated medium that does not succumb to simplistic techniques. It depends crucially on what we regard as “common-sense” knowledge, which despite—or, more likely, because of—its everyday nature is exceptionally hard to encode and utilize in algorithmic form [Lenat, 1995]. As a result of these embarrassing and much-publicized failures, researchers withdrew into “toy worlds”—notably the “blocks world” of geometric objects, shapes, colors, and stacking operations—whose semantics are clear and possible to encode explicitly. But it gradually became apparent that success in toy worlds, though initially impressive, does not translate into success on realistic pieces of text. Toy-world techniques deal well with artificially-constructed sentences of what one might call the “Dick and Jane” variety after the well-known series of eponymous children’s stories. But they fail dismally when confronted with real text, whether painstakingly constructed and edited (like this article) or produced under real-time constraints (like informal conversation). Meanwhile, researchers in other areas simply had to deal with real text, with all its vagaries, idiosyncrasies, and errors. Compression schemes, for example, must work well with all documents, whatever their contents, and avoid catastrophic failure even when processing outrageously deviant files (such as binary files, or completely random input). Information retrieval systems must index documents of all types and allow them to be located effectively whatever their subject matter or linguistic correctness. Key-phrase extraction and text summarization algorithms have to do a decent job on any text file.

 Practical, working systems in these areas are topic independent, and most are language-independent. They operate by treating the input as though it were data, not language. Text mining is an outgrowth of this “real text” mindset. Accepting that it is probably not much, what can be done with unrestricted input? Can the ability to process huge amounts of text compensate for relatively simple techniques? Natural language processing, dominated in its infancy by unrealistic ambitions and swinging in childhood to the other extreme of unrealistically artificial worlds and trivial amounts of text, has matured and now embraces both viewpoints: relatively shallow processing of unrestricted text and relatively deep processing of domain-specific material. It is interesting that data mining also evolved out of a history of difficult relations between disciplines, in this case machine learning—rooted in experimental computer science, with ad hoc evaluation methodologies—and statistics—well-grounded theoretically, but based on a tradition of testing explicitly-stated hypotheses rather than seeking new information. Early machine learning researchers knew or cared little of statistics; early researchers on structured statistical hypotheses remained ignorant of parallel work in machine learning. The result was that similar techniques (for example, decision-tree building and nearest-neighbor learners) arose in parallel from the two disciplines, and only later did a balanced rapprochement emerge.

Document retrieval

 Given a corpus of documents and a user’s information need expressed as some sort of query, document retrieval is the task of identifying and returning the most relevant documents. Traditional libraries provide catalogues (whether physical card catalogues or computerized information systems) that allow users to identify documents based on surrogates consisting of metadata—salient features of the document such as author, title, subject classification, subject headings, keywords. Metadata is a kind of highly structured (and therefore actionable) document summary, and successful methodologies have been developed for manually extracting metadata and for identifying relevant documents based on it, methodologies that are widely taught in library school (e.g. [Mann, 1993]). Automatic extraction of metadata (e.g. subjects, language, author, key-phrases; see below) is a prime application of text mining techniques. However, contemporary automatic document retrieval techniques bypass the metadata creation stage and work on the full text of the documents directly [Salton and McGill, 1983].

The basic idea is to index every individual word in the document collection. Effectively, documents are represented as a “bag of words”—that is, the set of words that they contain, along with a count of how often each one appears in the document.

 Despite the fact that this representation discards the sequential information given by the word order, it underlies many remarkably effective and popular document retrieval techniques. There are some practical problems: how to define a “word,” what to do with numbers; these are invariably solved by simple ad hoc heuristics. Many practical systems discard common words or “stop words”, primarily for efficiency reasons, although suitable compression techniques obviate the need for this [Witten et al., 1999]. A query is expressed as a set, or perhaps a Boolean combination, of words and phrases, and the index is consulted for each word in the query to determine which documents satisfy the query. A well-developed technology of relevance ranking allows the salience of each term to be assessed relative to the document collection as a whole, and also relative to each document that contains it. These measures are combined to give an overall ranking of the relevance of each document to the query, and documents are presented in relevance order. Web search engines are no doubt the most widely-used of document retrieval systems. However, search queries are typically restricted to just a few words or phrases—usually one or two.

In contrast, queries made by professionals to advanced document retrieval systems are often far more complex and specific.

Information retrieval Information retrieval might be regarded as an extension to document retrieval where the documents that are returned are processed to condense or extract the particular information sought by the user. Thus document retrieval could be followed by a text summarization stage that focuses on the query posed by the user, or an information extraction stage using techniques described below. In practice, however, standard textbooks (e.g. [Baeza-Yates and Ribiero-Neto, 1999]) use the term simply for plain document retrieval. Of course, the granularity of documents may be adjusted so that each individual subsection or paragraph comprises a unit in its own right, in an attempt to focus results on individual nuggets of information rather than lengthy documents.

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Chapter 1:

Morgan le Fay: Origins and Evolution

Of the various women found in the Arthurian legend, Morgan le Fay is perhaps the most interesting and definitely the most complex. At times, she is benevolent to Arthur and his knights, and she uses her supernatural powers to heal. In other instances, she is the main threat to Arthur and the Round Table and utilizes her powers in negative ways. She is a woman portrayed quite inconsistently throughout medieval texts, which calls into question what her origin may have consisted of. We must first examine and understand Celtic mythology and Celtic religious beliefs in order to account for Morgan’s possible origination. After exploring Morgan’s possible origin, it is important to observe how her character was portrayed in medieval texts by various authors, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chretien de Troyes, and Sir Thomas Malory.

Celtic History

The Celtic people probably were composed of numerous ethnic groups who resided in much of central and western Europe. The Celtic language is thought to be akin to “the family of Indo-European languages” and was similar to the Italic languages (Cunliffe 21). The Celts created a “rich oral history in cycles of epic narrative,” which served as a means of Celtic identity (Cunliffe 25). They were superstitious people who possessed a rich, elaborate religious system. The Greek and Roman authors have provided us with a view of the Celts that continues even today. The Celts were considered brutal and fearless warriors who were “unpredictable and unreliable” and who were “easily aroused to battle fury” (Cunliffe 5-6). Essentially, the Celts were considered to be barbarians: “people of alien behavior, cruel, and prone to such savagery as human sacrifice and even cannibalism” (Cunliffe 6). However, some of these views regarding the Celts could have been greatly exaggerated by the authors.

What we know today regarding the Celtic people remains questionable. All of our evidence for Celtic myth and religion is for the most part indirect; therefore, we cannot rely on this evidence as our sole means of depicting the Celtic people and their beliefs system. Because the Celts were “virtually non-literate” people, they did not establish their beliefs in writing (Green 8). As a result, much of the Celtic belief that is associated with the Celts comes from other people, such as the Greeks and Romans, and is often skewed in some manner. Moreover, many of the vernacular sources cannot affirm the beliefs and attitudes of the Celts because they are written later and “compiled within a Christian milieu” (Green 9). In addition, there are also problems with surviving archaeological evidence when trying to interpret the beliefs of the Celts (Green 12).

While much of the evidence surrounding the Celts remains indecisive and indirect, three particular types of evidence exists today and are our only means of studying the Celtic people: the “chronicles of contemporary commentators from the Classical world,” the “later vernacular documents of Ireland and Wales,” and archaeological evidence (Green 8). The chronicles of the Greeks and Romans commented on the beliefs and manner of the Celtic people (Green 8). Because their views of the Celts contain “bias, distortion, misunderstanding and omission,” we cannot take these attitudes toward the Celts at face value (Green 8). While writing about the Celts, both the Greeks and the Romans were attempting to portray a certain image of history (Cunliffe 6). Their representation of the Celts was altered because they sought to illustrate that their culture and beliefs could triumph over those from the outside (Cunliffe 6). Cunliffe describes this approach as “the rational, civilised order of state control contrasted with the wild, savage, chaos of the primitive barbarians” (6). Basically, the Greeks and Romans wanted to show that their civilization remained prominent and superior to any other culture. As a result, it is the direct opposite to the principles of the Greek and Roman civilizations that were highlighted in the accounts of the Celts (Cunliffe 6). Unlike the Celts, the Greek and Roman cultures emphasized the importance of cities and these cities were significant to their civilization (Green 8). In addition, Green states that “Mediterranean culture possessed an organised state religious system, based upon these urban centres” (8). As a result of this emphasis placed on cities and religion, these Classical commentators were observers of a tradition that they were not familiar with and a religion that seemed less refined (Green 8). Overall, the texts written by these Classical commentators are “at best anecdotal, offered largely as colourful background by writers whose prime intention was to communicate other messages” (Cunliffe 183).

The early stories written in Irish and Welsh incorporate a large part of information regarding the Celtic tradition. However, like the Classical commentators, we cannot rely solely on these vernacular sources because the sources are “late in their extant form” and “compiled within a Christian milieu” (Green 9). In addition, these stories relate only to the areas that bordered the Celtic world, namely Wales and Ireland (Green 9). Because these sources do not come directly from the interior of the Celtic world, we cannot make the statement that these were the precise ways or beliefs of the Celts.

While the first Irish sources began to be kept in writing during the sixth century AD, most of the remaining manuscripts “date from no earlier than the twelfth century” (Green 9). The value of these sources is that they refer to an earlier time in history, possibly during the pagan period or before the fifth century AD (Green 9). There are three particular groups of Irish prose tales that involve various supernatural elements of Celtic belief: the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, and the Fionn Cycle (Green 9-10). The Mythological Cycle includes the tales called Book of Invasions and History of Places, which both originate in the twelfth century AD (Green 9). The Book of Invasions “has its origins in much earlier compilations of monastic scholars construction a ‘History of Ireland’ in the sixth and seventh centuries AD” (Green 9). The intention in writing this tale was to possibly come up with an account of Ireland’s creation and the presence of the Celtic people (Green 9). The History of Places remains less important; however, it encompasses “a collection of topographical lore, in which the names of places are explained in terms of myth” (Green 9).

Furthermore, the Ulster Cycle includes the most influential collection of stories, which are known as the Tain Bo Cuailnge or the Cattle Raid of Cooley, and is limited to only the region of Ulster (Green 9-10). These particular stories incorporate many supernatural elements: superhuman heroes, druids, queen-goddesses, and “the destiny of the two kingdoms rests in the hands of the great war- and death-goddesses, the Morrigan and the Badbh” (Green 10). The oldest manuscript that contains an incomplete and imperfect text and includes the Cattle Raid of Cooley is called the Book of the Dun Cow, which originates from the twelfth century (Green 10). The date of the Cattle Raid of Cooley is thought to be much earlier than this manuscript. Moreover, the language of the Cattle Raid of Cooley seems to point out that it belongs to the eighth century; however, some scholars believe that certain portions of the text are much earlier than this (Green 10). Compiled in the twelfth century, the Fionn Cycle contains less material of myth and “chronicles the activities of the hero Finn and his heroic war-band, the Fianna, all of whom are of supernatural status” (Green 10). Green states, “The interest of these stories lies in their close affinity with the natural world and in the supernatural creatures which inhabit it” (10).

Because these Irish sources were arranged in the medieval era and within a Christian context, a wealth of controversy regarding their contribution to Celtic myth surrounds these texts (Green 10). In addition, the language employed in these texts indicate an origination date no earlier than the eighth century (Green 10). While the time and space gap between the Celtic Europe of the later first millennium BC and the early historical era of Ireland remains vast, there is evidence that some of these sources incorporate accounts of a pre-Christian Celtic tradition (Green 10). Green states the overall problem with the Irish sources is that “redactors who were either ignorant of or hostile to Irish paganism may have deliberately redefined or restructured the world of the supernatural in order to neutralize it” (11).

The early Welsh sources disclose many elements of a great mythological background; however, in comparison to the Irish sources they are crudely documented and illustrate even greater alterations (Green 11). God constantly appears in these stories and pagan divinities are absent from them. They contain international story-motifs and there are links between the mythological elements of Wales and the medieval Arthurian romance (Green 11). There is a limited connection between the early Welsh myths and the pagan Celtic religion because the surviving Welsh manuscripts are not early enough to make this immediate connection (Green 11). The myths in these sources are not easily recognizable because they have been shaped within a Christian context (Green 11). The most relevant material is contained within the Four Branches of the Mabinogi or the Mabinogion, the Tale of Culhwch and Olwen, The Dream of Rhonabwy, and Peredur (Green 11-12). The earliest of these stories is Culhwch and Olwen, which dates to the tenth century in its present form, but relates to traditions that were centuries earlier than this (Green 12). The Mabinogion is a compilation of the eleventh century, but like Culhwch and Olwen there are indications that it conforms to an earlier era (Green 12). Overall, there is a definite residue of pre-Christian Celtic myth; however, reconstructing these myths becomes the main problem.

While we must question the reliability of the Classical commentators and the vernacular sources, archaeological evidence seems to be directly pertinent to the pagan Celtic era. Much of this evidence is the material culture of the Celtic people, which includes sanctuaries, sacred places, burial customs, rituals, epigraphy, and iconography (Green 12). However, this group of evidence can be a problem because archaeologists can only examine what still exists (Green 12). Also, interpreting the beliefs of people who lived thousands of years ago solely on what exists in the form of material objects can become a complicated, extensive problem (Green 12). In addition, another major problem with this evidence is that the existing iconography was created around the same time the Romans held authority in Celtic areas, which means that Roman and Celtic traditions could have been intertwined (Green 12). The interweaving of the Roman and Celtic traditions does pose a problem; however, there is archaeological evidence that comes from a pre-Roman period: Celtic religious space (Green 13). These sacred spaces included “open-air enclosures, holy lakes, woods and springs,” and deep pits served as a way to communicate with the Underworld (Green 13). Before Greek and Roman influence of Celtic lands, evidence of the Celtic belief system remains indecisive (Green 13).

Because Celtic art was more of a “production of abstract design,” religious imagery was not prominent (Green 13-14). However, a few examples of Celtic stone iconography exists in the form of reliefs and statues and can be traced to two main areas: the Lower Rhone Valley and central Europe (Green 14). One particular piece of Celtic religious iconography, that possibly dates to the second or first century BC, is the “gilt-silver cult-cauldron from Gundestrup in Jutland” (Green 14). The imagery depicted on the cauldron are definitely Celtic: “the torc-bearing antlered god and the ram-horned serpent belong to the religious repertoire of Gaul � and the soldiers depicted bear Celtic Iron Age arms” (Green 14). While the images are clearly Celtic, the controversial issue that surrounds this piece is where it was originally manufactured (Green 14). There is speculation that the cauldron may have been crafted by foreign silversmiths that heard of these unusual images and decided to incorporate them in their art (Green 14). Another definite problem that exists is that artifacts are context-less unless some sort of caption exists, which is not usually the case. We cannot truly know what we are looking at with these pieces of evidence.

Of these three groups of evidence, archaeology and the vernacular sources prove most valuable in helping to shape what Celtic myth may be comprised of. While these two groups of evidence cannot be considered “part of the same continuum of evidence” due to differences in the time periods and locations, there are clear connections that exist (Green 14). These links include “the sanctity of ‘three’; the symbolism of cauldrons; the supernatural power of the human head; beliefs in an Otherworld similar to earthly life” (Green 14). Overall, we must consider what each group of evidence provides us regarding Celtic religion and myth. By analyzing the specific evidence of these three groups, we can obtain a general view of what the Celts may have believed in and what their world was possibly like.

General Features of Celtic Myth

While they must undoubtedly be questioned in some respects, the Classical commentators provide much evidence of Celtic beliefs. One of the sources that alluded to Celtic religion was Posidonius, a Greek philosopher whose writings are lost but “whose observations were quarried by a number of later commentators” (Green 8). Other main sources include Caesar, Strabo, Diodorus, Siculus, Lucan, and Dio Cassius (Green 8). These commentators furnish a great deal of evidence that relates to Celtic sacramental practices, such as “druidism, divination, human sacrifice and head-hunting,” and they comment on death, the Celtic Otherworld, and rebirth (Green 8).

The druids played an integral role in the religion of the Celts. Many Classical writers mention the druids, but Caesar provides the fullest account of the druids. According to Caesar’s comments, there were essentially two prominent classes of people within Celtic society: the druids and the knights (Cunliffe 107). The druids were mediators that “had control over all sacrifices, both public and private” and who ruled on religious type cases and criminal cases (Cunliffe 190). The Druidic class in Gaul selected one man as supreme among the druids and this particular man held this position for life (Cunliffe 190). Their training was rigorous and could take many years to complete because it involved “committing to memory oral traditions passed on through the generations” (Green 64). Various benefits came along with being a druid: “they were exempt from tax and were not required to offer military service” (Cunliffe 191). Because of these benefits, many people sought to become a part of the druidic class.

Furthermore, the vernacular sources also refer to the presence of the druids. In the Book of Invasions there are several references to druids. The central characters of the story, called the Tuatha De Danann, are said to be “skilled in magic and in druid lore” (Green 15). Also, a previous invader of Ireland, Partholon “came from Greece with his family and a large retinue, including three druids” (Green 15). Moreover, the central character of the Fionn Cycle, named Finn mac Cumhaill, is “reared by a druidess” (Green 20). In the Ulster Cycle, King Conchobar “had a druid, Cathbadh, who enjoyed great influence” (Green 65). The Irish bull-myths seem to show the prominence of druids in ritual practices (Green 62). The druids were supervisors of the tarbhfhess, which was “a divinatory rite involving a bull sacrifice” or a kingship ritual (Green 62). Irish mythology indeed mentions the druids in several instances; however, the druids must have inevitably lost much of their power under Christian doctrine (Green 65). After the adoption of Christianity in Ireland, the religious class called the filidh or the seers basically took over the job of the druids (Green 66). Green states that active druidism probably deteriorated under Roman influence, and while some emperors put up with the presence of the druids, other sought to completely exterminate them (65).

While the presence of druids is evident in comments of the Classical writers and in the Irish vernacular sources, there is really no archaeological evidence that denotes a druidic presence (Green 65). Green states that “the excavators of the Celtic sanctuary of Gournay in northern Gaul suggest the presence of a permanent staff of religious functionaries to maintain the ritual activity evidenced there;” however, these people cannot be absolutely identified as druids (Green 65). One of the earliest surviving pieces that depicts the written Celtic language, the first-century-BC Gaulish Coligny Calendar is thought to have been “drawn up by the druids in order to calculate propitious times for important religious and secular activities” (Green 64-65). The assumption is that because the druids had the task of attending supernatural matters, they created the calendar in order to be able to keep track of these auspicious days. Indeed this may have been true, but because there is a general absence of archaeological evidence, we can only rely upon what others have written down and hope that this information is reliable enough to accurately portray the druids.

On the other hand, we do know that one of the druid’s duties was “to officiate during sacrifices to the gods” (Cunliffe 191). Most Graeco-Roman sources state that the main concern of the druids was “the control of supernatural forces by means of divination,” which involved some sort of sacrifice; sometimes human sacrifice (Green 64). Human sacrifice took the form of “stabbing, strangulation or other means, and the examination of the death struggles or the victim’s innards in order to foretell the future” (Green 64). Diodorus Siculus writes, “They devote to death a human being and stab him with a dagger in the region of the diaphragm and when he has fallen they foretell the future from his fall and from the convulsions of his limbs” (Cunliffe 192). Similarly, Strabo states, “that Druid augurs read the omens by killing a human victim with a sword stroke in the back and noting the way he fell, the nature of the convulsions, and the flow of blood” (Sharkey 15). This prediction of the future aided the Celts in deciding when to plan certain events, such as “going to war, sowing or reaping, election of a new king and so forth” (Green 64).

It is important to note that two types of human sacrifice were prevalent. According to Classical writings, human sacrifice was performed in order to predict the future or for divination (Cunliffe 192). Also, human sacrifice could have been a means of appeasing the gods. Because the Celts were supposed to offer the gods something of value, humans occasionally became this precious offering (Green 67). Green states, “The more valuable the offering, the more powerful the act of propitiation” (67). As a result, human sacrifice was not an everyday ritual rather it became an act that occurred in times of need or to express gratefulness to the gods (Green 68).

Human sacrifice can be found in many of the Classical writer’s commentary. As mentioned above, Classical writers such as Diodorus Siculus and Strabo mentioned human sacrifice and its connection to forecasting of the future. Lucan’s writings suggest that different gods preferred different modes of death: “the victims of Taranis were burnt, those of Teutates were drowned, while those of Esus were hanged” (Cunliffe 191). These modes of death were also reported by other writers, such as Poseidonius and Strabo, but did not specifically name the preference of the gods that performed the deed. In addition, Caesar remarks that burning victims alive was a ritual among the Gauls, which probably originates from the early comments of Poseidonius (Cunliffe 192).

Unlike the Classical sources, the vernacular sources provide limited evidence for human sacrifice. Green states that one Irish tradition “involved the ritual triple killing of a king, by burning, wounding and drowning, at the feast of Samhain” (69). Irish vernacular literature does mention the threefold death; however, there is no evidence that this had anything to do with human sacrifice. For the most part human sacrifice was not predominant in the vernacular sources.

Like the vernacular sources, there is very little archaeological evidence that proves the ritual of human sacrifice did occur. The problem with examining this type of evidence is that some bodies were “subjected to ritual after natural death,” which means that they were not sacrificed at all (Green 68). On the other hand, a few instances do seem to indicate that this type of death did possibly occur. A noteworthy example is Lindow Man, “a young male of Iron Age date (first century AD), who suffered blows to his head, was garotted and has his throat cut before being thrust face-down in a shallow pool in Lindow Moss, Cheshire” (Green 68-69). Green explains that before this man died, he may have eaten what was considered a ritual meal of “wholemeal bread made of many different species of cereal grain and seed” (69). While this man’s death holds some certainty of ritual death, other cases are not as promising because it’s difficult to distinguish whether the sacrifice occurred before or after the actual death.

Moreover, some Celts emphasized the importance of the human head. The Classical sources definitely allude to the significance of the human head. Livy, Diodorus, and Strabo mention the “decapitation of war victims, whose heads were either kept as trophies or offered in shrines” (Green 71). Diodorus Siculus’ comment illustrates a typical disapproving view of this aspect of Celtic tradition when he states,

They cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. These blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and carry off as booty, while striking up a paean and singing a song of victory, and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses just as do those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar-oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies and preserve them carefully in a chest and display them with pride to strangers (Cunliffe 209).

The basic belief was that by owning and displaying the head of a distinguished enemy, the Celts could “retain and control power of the dead person” (Cunliffe 210). The significance of the head was that it illustrated that person’s power, and the Celts may have believed that parting with the enemy’s head could result in the head doing them some sort of harm or “working against them” (Cunliffe 210).

Likewise, the prominence of heads is also found in the vernacular sources. In the Ulster Cycle, the hero Cu Chulainn “collected the heads of his enemies and placed them on stones” (Green 71). As illustrated in a tale of the Ulster Cycle, the head also possessed magical qualities. The heads of superhuman heroes were particularly enchanted (Green 71). Green states, “In was prophesied that the Ulstermen, smitten by Macha’s curse of weakness, would regain their strength if they drank milk from the huge severed head of Conall Cernach,” one of the Ulster heroes (71). In addition, in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi the head also takes on magical powers (Green 32). In the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, the central character named Bendigeidfran is wounded and commands his men to decapitate him (Green 32). The magical qualities of his head are apparent when the head talks and assures his men, and essentially becomes their good luck piece on the journey from Harlech to London (Green 71).

Furthermore, the significance of the human head is apparent in Celtic iconography. Most of the iconography that deals with human heads are found in sanctuaries. The Celto-Ligurian sanctuaries of southern Gaul affirm illustrate the ritual practice of head-hunting (Cunliffe 200). This particular type of sanctuary is known from two particular sites: Roquepertuse and Entremont (Cunliffe 200). At Roquepertuse there are “the famous Janus-heads, a stone bird of prey, a frieze carved with simply delineated horse heads, and stone pillars carved with niches to take several human heads” (Cunliffe 200). At Entremont, where some of the same elements are found, heads are incorporated in architectural characteristics (Cunliffe 202). These features include “a vertical pillar carved with severed heads” and “a carved severed head flanked by niches for real severed heads … some still bearing nail holes for attachment” (Cunliffe 202). Moreover, heads were sometimes seen as protectors in Britain (Green 71). At hillforts such as Bredon Hill, the heads were “mounted on poles” in order to protect the entrances of the forts (Green 71). Strange rites concerning the head took place in some areas where “the bodies of old women were beheaded and the lower jaws removed” and certain individuals were decapitated after death, but prior to entombment (Green 71). The constant emphasis of the head in Celtic iconography clearly represents its importance in the Celtic world.

Another prominent feature of Celtic religion is the sacredness of ‘three’. Triplism is most prevalent in the Irish vernacular sources that mention goddesses such as Macha, Badbh, and the Morrigan. In the Ulster Cycle, these three particular goddesses are deemed the “battle-furies” and often take on triple forms (Green 27-28). Macha can take on three different personality types and identities (Green 28). One Macha is “a prophetess who foresees the destruction of the country wrought by the Tain conflict” (Green 28). A second Macha appears in the form of a “warrior-ruler of Ireland” (Green 28). Her third form is “a divine bride, the wife of a human, Crunnchu” (Green 28). Basically, Macha takes on very distinct roles as “prophet, warrior, ruler and goddess of sovereignty and fertility” (Green 28). The second goddess of the group of three is the Badbh, which appears to be more of a battle goddess (Green 28). While she can appear as both a single and triple goddess, Badbh seems to be more of a single goddess because she adheres mostly to one particular identity: goddess of battle and death (Green 28). She seems to be the goddess of all destruction, such as in death and war (Green 28). The third goddess, the Morrigan, appears in several distinct forms. She is the beautiful girl that appears before the hero Cu Chulainn (Green 28). When Cu Chulainn “spurns her advances,” the Morrigan instantly turns into more of an evil goddess and seeks revenge (Green 28). In other instances, the Morrigan becomes an “old woman,” a “death-crow, prophesying death on the battlefield,” or a “fertility-goddess” (Green 28). Like the Morrigan, most divinities of Celtic Europe functioned as “providers of fertility” (Green 54). The Celtic concept of divinity in nature helped to produce these myths associated with fertility (Green 50). The mother goddess was to fulfill the role of “provider of abundance,” and several Irish and Welsh goddesses, such as Macha and Modron, performed this role (Green 54). The divine mother was “depicted most frequently as a triad … referring to the goddesses as the Deae Matres or Deae Matronae” (Green 54).

As with the triple aspect of the goddesses, the vernacular sources provide most of the information regarding the Celtic Otherworld. There are two main classes of Otherworld legends (Wentz 353). One is the beautiful and peaceful place across the seas where “its fairy inhabitants are principally women who lure away noble men and youths through love for them” (Wentz 353). The other class consists of a “Hades world … in which great heroes go on some mysterious quest” (Wentz 353). Green tends to agree with this general perception of the Otherworld. The perception of the Celtic Otherworld is very ambiguous. It is sometimes seen as the “Happy Otherworld” where the dead are able to live again and “here there is neither pain, disease, ageing nor decay; it is a world full of music, feasting and beauty” (Green 72). On the other hand, the Otherworld can also be seen as “a sombre place and full of danger, especially if visited by humans before death” (Green 72). The location of the Otherworld is also unclear. In Irish tradition, it could be located “on islands in the western ocean, beneath the sea or underground” (Green 73). The Otherworld could be reached in various ways: “by boat across the sea” or “by a lake or a cave” (Green 73). Earthly time is not relevant in the Otherworld; as a result, visiting humans remain young during their stay (Green 73). The Otherworld was also seen as a place of feasting and regeneration (Green 73). The prominence of the Otherworld feasting ritual is mainly connected with the Celtic perception of death.

Both literary and archaeological evidence acknowledge that the Celts had an involved and positive disposition toward death. Several of the classical writers comment on the Celtic belief of death. The Celts basically believed in some sort of rebirth. Caesar remarks that the druids promoted the idea of the soul passing after death from one person to another in order that “Gaulish warriors would not be afraid of death” (Green 72). Similarly, the Roman poet Lucan explains that “the Celts regarded death merely as an interruption in a long life, as a stage between one life and another” (Green 72). Moreover, Diodorus Siculus comments that the Celts believed that men’s souls were immortal and after many years people lived again, “their souls inhabiting a new body” (Green 72). The general idea was that the soul would re-emerge at some point in another form, which was usually another person’s body.

Furthermore, archaeological findings provide us with evidence that the Celtic people adhered to this idea of death and the afterlife. Cunliffe states “the burial tradition most widely practised in continental Europe from the seventh to the first centuries BC was inhumation” (208). This basically means that the dead people were provided with the goods that were suitable to their status as discerned by the “lineage responsible for burial” (Cunliffe 208). Goods found in graves could indicate a ritual that suggested the anticipation of an afterlife. The Celts may have believed that these “grave-goods” would assist the person in the next life (Green 74). In the seventh to sixth centuries BC, the type of goods placed in a grave often hinted at that person’s status (Green 74). People of high status were buried with large, luxurious objects, which was the case when in the sixth century BC a German prince was “laid on a bronze couch, accompanied by his cart, a vessel capable of holding 704 pints (400 litres) of mead and several drinking-horns” (Green 74). Many graves indicate the perception of the funerary or Otherworld feast and include such objects as wine cups and meat (Green 74). Basically, the Celtic belief of the Otherworld and death includes the idea of rebirth and regeneration. While certain aspects of the Celtic Otherworld remain very ambiguous, the idea regarding death seems to be that the soul will re-emerge in a different form at some point in time.

Chapter 2 : Speculation on Morgan’s Origin

As has been pointed out in discussing certain aspects of Celtic religion and mythology, there are gaps in the information we have on-hand; as a result, the origin of Morgan cannot be clearly defined. However, Paton and Loomis propose that Morgan’s character is closely connected with certain characteristics of two Celtic goddesses. Paton claims that Morgan is linked to the Irish battle-goddess, the Morrigan. Basically, Paton’s theory is that Morgan and the Morrigan are connected because they share similar attributes and take part in similar incidents in Irish mythology. Like Morgan, the Morrigan is connected with strife of some sort. Paton claims that the Morrigan retains certain magical powers, such as “knowledge of the future” and “versatility in shape-shifting” (12). Also, both the Morrigan and Morgan live in some sort of fairy dwelling (Paton 150). Adding to Paton’s list of similarities, Loomis points out that Morgan was both Arthur’s enemy and healer in Avalon; similarly, the Morrigan is “at times Cuchulainn’s watchful protectress; at others she is his enemy, seeking to destroy him” (Loomis, Wales, 123).

Paton also suggests that “minor incidents, too, here and there in Morgain’s life faintly reproduce episodes told of the Morrigan” (148). An episode in the Tain Bo Cuailgne with the Morrigan clearly parallels an episode in the Suite du Merlin with Morgan. In the Tain, when the Morrigan meets up with the mythical warrior hero Cuchulinn, she demonstrates her shape-shifting abilities. In this scene, Cuchulinn hastens from his sleep to find a woman driving away a cow that does not belong to her, but that Cuchulinn says belongs to him. As a result, Cuchulinn voices his disapproval and attempts to threaten the woman with his spear, but is met with resistance from the woman. Instantly, she disappears and Cuchulinn “perceived that she had been transformed into a blackbird on a branch close by him” (Paton 24). Finally, when Cuchulinn realizes that the woman is actually the Morrigan, she quickly threatens to prevent his victory in combat and states that she can “transform herself at her pleasure” (Paton 24). An incident in the Suite du Merlin with Morgan and Arthur resembles this particular scene. Wanting to avenge Accolon’s death, Morgan steals Arthur’s scabbard and flees into the countryside. After rising from his sleep, Arthur chases Morgan, and just as he is about to overtake her, she throws the scabbard into the lake and changes into a stone. It is then that Morgan tells Arthur that while she can transform herself, she will not fear him.

Structurally, the episode with the Morrigan bears a resemblance to the story of Morgan and Arthur. Both women steal property of the men because they seek revenge for some reason. Also, both Cuchulinn and Arthur “rise from their sleep to hasten out in pursuit” (Paton 24). When they seem to be in danger, both the Morrigan and Morgan change their shape and threaten their opponents with future destruction. While these incidents seem to parallel each other, Paton also suggests that “the differences in detail are too great for much importance to be attached to the parallel” (24).

Loomis, in his structuring of Morgan’s origin, agrees with Paton’s theory; however, he also believes that Morgan is connected in some manner to the Welsh mother-goddess, Modron (Loomis, Wales, 119). One similarity between the two women is that their fathers nearly share an identical name (Darrah 79). Morgan is said to be the daughter of Avallo or Avalloc; likewise, Modron is said to be the daughter of Avallach, (Darrah 79). In addition, both Morgan and Modron are identified as the mother of Owein (Darrah 78). Foster explains that a tradition in the early thirteenth century Welsh mythological story called Rhonabwy’s Dream parallels a certain tradition related to Morgan in the Suite du Merlin. This particular story brings in a tradition common to both the Irish and Welsh: “of the wife or mistress or mother, with her companions, bringing timely assistance in the shape of birds in the stress of conflict” (Foster 43). Rhonabwy’s Dream “embodies the tradition that Owain was the son of Urien by Modron daughter of Avallach” (Foster 42). Similarly, in the Suite du Merlin, Morgan was said to be the daughter of Avallo or Avalloc and the mother of Yvain by Urien (Foster 42). Moreover, like with the Morrigan, Modron and Morgan are similar in that they both take on a dual nature: they are seen as beautiful women in one instance and frightful women who foretell death in another (Loomis, Wales, 123).

Paton’s case for Morgan’s origin seems to reveal the strongest connection to the goddess and seems more plausible. Paton basically makes four arguments for the connection of Morgan’s origin and the Morrigan. She believes that “both were supernatural women with powers of shapeshifting” and “both displayed discordant attitudes toward the hero” (Paton 281). While these arguments are not totally convincing, they offer us the best possible explanation for Morgan’s origin after considering the very little information we have today. Despite these similarities between Morgan and the Morrigan, the remaining problem is that we really do not know about Morgan’s true origin because Celtic mythology and religion are sketchy and questionable. There are definite holes in the information and evidence we have today; as a result, we cannot make any definite arguments for or even against Morgan’s beginnings in the Celtic era.

Chapter 3 : Morgan le Fay in Medieval Texts

Many Arthurian scholars agree that the earliest reference to Morgan le Fay occurs in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini, written around 1148. Geoffrey is thought to have been born at Monmouth, which is in southeast Wales (Lacy 36). He was of Celtic ancestry and greatly interested in Brittany and Breton affairs (Lacy 36). As a cleric, between 1129 and 1151 Geoffrey taught at Oxford and “was consecrated bishop of St. Asaph in Wales but probably never went there” (Lacy 36). His first work to emerge was a Latin series called Prophetiae Merlini or Prophecies of Merlin, which were attributed to an “obscure wanderer mentioned in Welsh legend as an inspired madman” (Lacy 36).

Geoffrey later incorporated the Prophecies of Merlin into his major work called the Historia Regum Britanniae or the History of the Kings of Britain (Lacy 36). In this influential book of the Middle Ages, Geoffrey “traces the imagined British monarchy through a long series of kings, and a queen or two” through the beginning of the Roman invasions (Lacy 36). He traces the history of the Britons through the course of nineteen hundred years, starting with the mythical Brutus and ending with Cadwallader, who “finally abandoned Britain to the Saxons in the seventh century” (Monmouth, History, 9). In the History there are three particular personalities that dominate: “Brutus himself, the imaginary founder of the nation …; Belinus, who, with his brother Brennius, is supposed to have captured and sacked Rome; and Arthur of Britain, with his beautiful wife Guinevere, Mordred who betrayed him, and his four brave knights” (Monmouth, History, 19-20). The most influential section of this particular work was the Arthurian portion, which constituted about one-quarter of the entire text (Lacy 39). Also, Arthur is included in over a fifth of the History himself (Monmouth, History, 20).

While Geoffrey’s works are deemed very influential, they cannot be considered true facts of history. Much of his historical information does not match up with known history, especially the Roman period (Lacy 39). However, Geoffrey cannot be labeled a total fantasist because this same checking against known history “shows that he uses history, exaggerating, inflating, contorting, inverting, but seldom fabricating at any length out of nothing at all” (Lacy 39). It is thought that he utilized the Historia Brittonum and the possibly the Annales Cambriae and drew upon Roman authors and on Gildas and Bede (Lacy 39-40). Another possible source that Geoffrey mentions came from Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford (Chambers 53). Walter was “a learned rhetorician and student of foreign history” and gave Geoffrey an ancient book written in the British language that told of the matters of kings “from Brutus down to Cadwallader” (Chambers 53). It is this particular book that Geoffrey claims to have translated to come up with his History (Lacy 40). However, the essential problem is that we do not possess this book, and as John Lloyd states, “no Welsh composition exists which can be reasonably looked upon as the original” (Monmouth, History, 15).

In his Vita Merlini, Geoffrey mentions several details of the land Morgan inhabits and of Morgan herself. The island of Avalon, which is later distinctly connected to Morgan, is not explicitly mentioned in this work; however, Monmouth does refer to Morgan’s paradise as the “Island of Apples” or “The Fortunate Island,” which takes on acutely similar characteristics of the actual Avalon seen in later works (Monmouth 101). This land “produces all manner of plants spontaneously. It needs no farmers to plough the fields. There is no cultivation of the land at all beyond that which is Nature’s work” (Monmouth 101). In this land “men live a hundred years or more” and women inhabit this island (Monmouth 101).

It is directly after the description of this prospering, mystical land that Monmouth refers directly to Morgan as one of the rulers of the land and mentions her healing abilities. Monmouth claims that “The one who is first among them has greater skill in healing, as her beauty surpasses that of her sisters. Her name is Morgen, and she has learned the uses of all plants in curing the ills of the body” (Monmouth 101). Not only is Morgan capable of healing, but she also takes on the trait of shape-shifter. Morgan “knows, too, the art of changing her shape, of flying through the air, like Daedalus, on strange wings. At will, she is now at Brest, now at Chartres, now at Pavia; and at will she glides down from the sky on to your shores” (Monmouth 101). In addition, Morgan becomes a teacher to her sisters on “The Fortunate Isle” when she is said to have “taught astrology to her sisters” (Monmouth 101).

In the Vita Merlini, Monmouth’s portrayal of Morgan as a generous, magical healer remains prominent in the scene directly following her description where Arthur is taken to the island after being wounded in the battle of Camlan (Monmouth 103). Morgan “received us with due honor. She put the king in her chamber on a golden bed, uncovered his wound with her noble hand and looked long at it” (Monmouth 103). Morgan tells the knight who bore Arthur to “The Fortunate Isle” that “he could be cured if only he stayed with her a long while and accepted her treatment” (Monmouth 103). It is important to note that not only is Morgan capable of healing Arthur, but she is entirely trusted to do so and Arthur’s safety is never questioned. Monmouth states, “We therefore happily committed the king to her care and spread our sails to favourable winds on our return journey” (Monmouth 103). Monmouth’s portrayal of Morgan in the Vita Merlini clearly illustrates a shape-shifter, a wise woman, and an untainted, trustworthy healer that desires to heal Arthur’s wounds. It seems that Monmouth was adhering to Celtic tradition, rather than creating a character entirely distant from her possible origin.

Morgan’s second appearance occurs within Chretien de Troyes’ Erec and Enide, written around 1150. Chretien is said to have taken “most of his characters and incidents from the oral Celtic Arthurian tradition” (Wright 5). As a result, like in Monmouth’s Vita Merlini, positive characteristics of Morgan are employed in Chretien’s work. Chretien de Troyes, during the period of French verse romances, “stresses her remarkable healing powers” (Spivack 18). In this particular work, Morgan’s healing powers are mentioned when Erec arrives near the tent of King Arthur and is in desperate need of healing ointments (Chretien, Arthurian Romances, 89). In Erec and Enide, Erec has endured many hardships in his journey with his wife Enide, and, when King Arthur notices Erec’s wounds, he suggests using Morgan’s healing ointment (Chretien, Arthurian Romances, 89). Chretien states that,

The king sighed deeply, then had an ointment brought which his sister Morgan had made. The ointment that Morgan had given Arthur was so wonderfully effective that the wound to which it was applied, whether on nerve or joint, could not fail to be completely cured and healed within a week, provided it was treated with the ointment once a day. They brought the ointment to the king and it brought great relief to Erec (Arthurian Romances 89).

From this passage, it remains evident that Morgan’s healing powers are limitless in their abilities to heal. Chretien points out that the amount of time it takes for the ointment to cure is about a week if applied daily, which when compared with the long-term healing process needed in the Vita Merlini seems like a fairly short time. This shorter healing time mainly illustrates Morgan’s remarkable healing abilities. In addition, not only does Chretien view Morgan as a positive figure, but Arthur also seems to respect and turn to Morgan for her ability to heal or cure the wounded. Morgan’s healing powers are not limited to Arthur, rather her powers have been extended to other knights in need.

The relationship between Arthur and Morgan remains positive and unblemished in Erec and Enide. More importantly, the relationship between Arthur and Morgan is one of kinship in Chretien’s work: Morgan is said to be Arthur’s sister. The reasoning behind generating the kinship between Morgan and Arthur is unknown, and “we find nothing before Chretien that gives any trace of her mundane kinship” (Paton 136). However, Lucy Paton suggests that Morgan’s connection with Arthur is “primarily romantic and mythical” (136). Their relationship may have been the result of “some scrupulous narrator” that transformed Arthur’s journey to Avalon and stay with a “beautiful fay” into a visit with his sister who tended his wounds, which created an unsatisfactory depiction of Arthur as a king (Paton 137). On the other hand, the creation of kinship between Morgan and Arthur may have been merely an invention of Chretien himself.

In Chretien’s Yvain, Morgan also appears as a healing figure of Yvain’s madness. In this particular work, a maid finds Yvain laying naked in the forest, as if he has gone mad, and reports this news to her lady (Chretien, Arthurian Romances, 331-332). The lady recalls the ointment of Morgan and says,

Now don’t worry, because if he doesn’t run away I feel sure that with God’s help we can drive all the madness and turmoil from his head. But we must set off at once, for I recall an ointment given me by Morgan the Wise; she told me that it could drive from the head any madness, however great (Chretien, Arthurian Romances, 332).

Again, we see that Morgan’s healing powers are limitless. The healing tradition of Morgan has grown since her portrayal in the Vita Merlini. Her power can cure anything, including Yvain’s insanity. Not only does Morgan possess healing powers, but she is portrayed as a considerate woman in Yvain. When the lady and the damsel arrive in Morgan’s town, Morgan generously furnishes them with the ointment, offers them directions on how to use it, and “sent along a bright-coloured gown, a coat, and a mantle of red-dyed silk” (Chretien, Arthurian Romances, 332). In both Erec and Enide and Yvain, then, Morgan possesses the power of healing ointments and uses them to cure knights other than Arthur. The healing tradition is “by now firmly established and will remain one of the most integral parts of her character down to the time of Malory” (Morgan 20).

Furthermore, written between the 12^th and 13^th century and the first English treatment of the Arthurian legend, Layamon’s Brut includes a character that closely resembles that of Morgan. Layamon’s Brut was based on a French translation of Geoffrey’s History of the Kings of Britain by Wace and called the Brut (Weiss XIII). Essentially, Layamon seems to borrow from Wace’s Brut the idea of Arthur going to Avalon to be healed and of Arthur’s eventual return sometime in the future (Weiss 333). Layamon also probably could have borrowed from Geoffrey the idea of Arthur being taken to “the Isle of Avalon, so that his wounds might be attended to” (Monmouth, History, 261). However, we cannot tell whether Layamon borrowed the name Queen Argante from Geoffrey or Wace; therefore, it may be considered Layamon’s contribution. Even though Layamon’s character, named Argante, is not kin to Arthur in any way, various other similarities to the figure of Morgan remain evident. Argante, like Morgan, is said to be the ruler of the Island of Avalon and nurtures Arthur with her healing powers (Layamon 215). Arthur, after being gravely wounded in battle, explains to his successor Constantine that he will “go to Avalon, to the fairest of maidens, the beautiful elf Queen Argante. She will make my wounds whole, heal me completely with a potion to drink, and afterwards I will return to my kingdom to dwell in joy with the Britons” (Layamon 254). In addition, Argante is introduced as “the beautiful elf Queen,” which emphasizes her ties with the fairy world (Layamon 254). This link to the fairy world undoubtedly seems to connect her even more with the character of Morgan.

Layamon, like Chretien, introduces something unique to the traditions of Morgan le Fay. In his Brut, Layamon creates the motif of the barge of women bearing Arthur to Avalon (254). After Arthur’s statement that he will journey to Avalon and be healed, “two beautiful women approached in a small boat floating on the waves. They took Arthur, placed him gently in the boat, and went forth” (Layamon 254). It is this addition to Morgan’s tradition that appears in later works and that is commonly associated with the figure of Morgan.

The fundamental traditions correlated with Morgen le Fay were primarily entrenched by the end of the twelfth century. Morgan is considered a fay and lives in an Otherworld called Avalon. She is Arthur’s sister, retains a mystical healing power, and possesses great beauty. Of the traditions associated with Morgan, except the idea of kinship with Arthur, all can be connected to the Celtic fairy queen (Morgan 22).

The development that occurred after 1200 can possibly explain Morgan’s transformation in character. Henry Grady Morgan explains that this development,

systematically attempted to humanize the character of Morgan le Fay by making her an integral part of the society and by supplementing her traditional Celtic fairy characteristics with more human characteristics and motivations (23).

The most significant works written after 1200 of this development came from the group of prose romances that are collectively called the French Vulgate cycle. The Vulgate cycle dates around 1215-1235 and “consists of five distinct but interrelated works:” Lancelot, La Queste del saint Graal, La Mort Artu, Estoire del saint Graal, and Merlin (Lacy 82). While the authorship of the Vulgate cycle is unknown, the technique of interlacement utilized throughout provides evidence that each work of the Vulgate cycle was composed by a single author, rather than by multiple authors (Lacy 82). The Vulgate cycle “incorporates an elaborate web of connections, extending backward and forward and tying together numerous characters and stories” (Lacy 82).

In the Vulgate cycle, Morgan loses some of the Celtic fairy traditions that once were integral to her character; as a result, her character “degenerates both in her purposes and in her powers, becoming a malicious master of the black arts, using her magic both to harm others and, somewhat pathetically, to conceal her own advancing age” (Spivack 18). The Celtic fairy traditions that were once connected with Morgan, such as her link to the mystic island of Avalon and the positive use of her healing power, no longer appear in the depiction of her character in the Vulgate cycle. Morgan now lives in a castle, instead of the Otherworld of Avalon. Her magical powers suddenly become tools that are used for evil or manipulative purposes, rather than healing which is seen in earlier works. From this point forward, Morgan also plays more of an integral role in the sequence of events. She is not merely alluded to by characters, but she becomes more active in the plots of the stories.

Part of the Vulgate cycle is the work Lancelot, which “tells at great length and with many divagations the story of his [Lancelot’s] early years and of his passion for Guenevere” (Loomis, The Development, 93). According to Loomis, the Lancelot “is a frank glorification of idealized adultery” (The Development 92). While Morgan’s beauty is commended, she also is portrayed as “ugly, hot (the bodily quality medievals associated with sexuality) and lecherous” (Fries, “Female Heroes,” 69). Fries explains that “Since physical beauty is a coefficient of moral goodness in medieval literature, her darkness emerges as spiritual as well as corporeal;” however, this depends on the context of the work (“Female Heroes,” 69). As Morgan’s beauty diminishes her intents become more and more evil. This particular work portrays Morgan as a character that seeks to unveil the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere through the manipulation of evil measures.

In the Lancelot, it remains evident that Morgan hates both Arthur and Guinevere and intends to make revenge on Queen Guinevere in some manner. Morgan’s hatred toward Guinevere primarily arrives from the fact that Guinevere separates Morgan from her lover Guiomar, whom is the cousin of Guinevere (Paton 13). Before the Lancelot, Morgan and Guiomar are never brought together in any single occasion. However, the love between Morgan and Guiomar and the trouble that this love affair brings about remains evident from a passage in the Lancelot which illustrates Morgan’s situation and what happens as a result of this love affair.

Morgain is Arthur’s half-sister, lady in waiting upon Guinevere. She cherishes a secret passion for Guiamor de Camelide, a fair and valiant knight, the nephew of Arthur. One day they have a quarrel, and thus attract the queen’s attention. She succeeds in surprising them together, and wishing to turn Morgain from folly, and to avert shame from the lovers and from Arthur, she warns Guiamor that his life is in danger, if Arthur learns of his love for Morgain. He readily renounces the maiden, but she, seeing that he had deserted her for love of the queen, is greatly distressed. Knowing that Merlin can aid her, she goes in search of him, and since he loves her, he teaches her many enchantments. By Guiamor Morgain has a son who becomes a knight of great prowess. Thus begins Morgain’s hatred of the queen (Paton 61).

Because Guinevere has separated Morgan from Guiomar and Arthur would definitely disapprove of his sister’s love affair, on numerous occasions the embittered Morgan seeks to harm Guinevere. Guinevere clearly becomes Morgan’s target of vengeance in many instances.

Morgan imprisons Lancelot numerous times in the Lancelot; however, it is during one of these imprisonments that Morgan seeks to shame both Lancelot and Guinevere by exposing their secret faithlessness. Basically, Morgan performs the act that Guinevere threatened to do to her. During one of his imprisonments, Lancelot “paints pictures of himself and Guinevere on the walls of Morgan’s palace” (Wright 9). Because Morgan thinks that this will unmistakably reveal the secret of Lancelot’s love for Guinevere, Morgan shows Arthur the painting of adulterous love on the palace walls, which makes Arthur aware of Guinevere’s infidelity (Wright 9).

Another such instance where Morgan seeks to reveal Guinevere’s infidelity is seen when Morgan takes a ring from Lancelot (Morgan 31). While imprisoned, Morgan notices a ring that Lancelot wears, which was given to him by the queen, Guinevere (Morgan 31). Morgan asks for the ring, but Lancelot refuses to hand it over to Morgan (Morgan 31). As a result, Morgan waits until Lancelot is asleep, steals the ring, and “sends it to Arthur’s court by a damsel who is instructed to give the ring to Guinevere when all the court is present” (Morgan 31). Moreover, the damsel carries out her duties and “tells Arthur and the court that she has come at the request of Lancelot, who is dead, but who repented of his adultery with the queen, Guinevere” (Morgan 31). When the ring is thrown at Guinevere, she then “admits that it is true that she has given her love to Lancelot,” but claims that her love for Lancelot is solely because of his renown as a knight (Morgan 32). The na�ve Arthur believes Guinevere’s justification, and Morgan’s deceitful act remains unsuccessful.

Many times, as in both cases described, Morgan’s acts of revenge against Guinevere tend to be unsuccessful. Her plans are fruitless in that each plan does not achieve exactly what Morgan wants to accomplish. However, Morgan does succeed, as a whole, in exposing the relationship that remains present between Guinevere and Lancelot. While Morgan does not succeed in getting rid of Guinevere, she does seem to delineate the character of Guinevere in a way that produces a more deceitful, dishonest queen.

Moreover, Morgan makes yet another appearance in the Lancelot when she and two other enchantresses conspire to take Lancelot as a prisoner in order to win his love. Morgan decides to use her enchanted powers to imprison Lancelot; on the other hand, her intention is not to hurt Lancelot, but to almost force him to become her lover. This scheme against Lancelot probably resulted from the fact that Morgan abhorred Guinevere. Morgan’s plans with Lancelot were another way for her to get back at Guinevere. In the prose Lancelot,

Lancelot lies sleeping beneath an apple-tree. The queen of Sorestan, Morgain la fee, and Sebile l’enchanteresse come riding past in state. Morgain, though she is not attended with so much pomp as the queen of Sorestan, is apparently the leading spirit of the trio. Their eyes are keen enough to espy the sleeping knight, and when they detect his beauty, each desires him for her love, and disputes her chances with the others. At Morgain’s suggestion they cast him into an enchanted sleep, and have him carried on a litter to the Chateau de la Charrette which belongs to the queen of Sorestan. There they confine him in a strong and beautiful chamber, where he wakes from the spell. In the morning they bid him choose one of them for his love, or remain a prisoner. Lancelot without embarrassment or gallantry declines to obey. In a rage they leave him. He makes his escape through the agency of a damsel of the castle (Paton 51-52).

From this passage, it remains evident that Morgan is the leader of the enchantresses or “the leading spirit of the trio,” which relates back to the triple goddess aspect of Celtic mythology (Paton 51). Morgan does suggest that they use an enchantment on Lancelot; however, she does not perform the act alone, rather two other women accompany her. Even though Morgan does not specifically harm Lancelot, her actions still seem rather manipulative and removed from the role she once played as a healer.

Similarly, in another part of the prose Lancelot, called the Livre d’ Agravain, Morgan attempts to imprison Lancelot to make him her lover. Once again, she uses some sort of magic to confuse Lancelot and seeks to win his love. Lancelot turns her down again, but leaves her a message that reveals his true feelings about Morgan. In this scene, Lancelot is lured to her castle, she uses a magic potion to put him to sleep, and keeps him prisoner while hoping to win his love. Lancelot refuses all her advances and escapes from prison, “leaving for his would-be love the message that Lancelot du Lac greets the most disloyal woman in the world” (Paton 54). Again, we see that Morgan uses her powers to beguile Lancelot and her success seems to be unavailing. We don’t have to look any farther than the text to find out Lancelot’s feelings towards Morgan: he can’t stand Morgan’s disloyalty.

Other works in the Vulgate cycle that mention Morgan include the prose Merlin and the La Mort Artu. In the prose Merlin, Morgan appears as the prime incarcerator of knights and is portrayed as extremely sexual. She is “the moste hotest woman of all Breteigne, and moste luxuriouse” (Goodrich 97-98). It is also in the prose Merlin that the love affair between Morgan and Guiomar begins to develop. Moreover, in the La Mort Artu Morgan is portrayed as the captor of men and is determined to reveal the love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere by showing Arthur the paintings that Lancelot made while in prison (Frappier 296). She is also one of the ladies on the barge that emerges to bear Arthur away to be healed (Frappier 308).

Furthermore, this same pattern of impeded love appears in the prose Tristan, written around 1230. The Tristan cycle is “to all intents and purposes, a sequel to, and an elaboration of, the French Vulgate cycle” (Vinaver, “Prose Tristan,” 339). Vinaver claims that “The similarities of style and manner are such that, but for the subject-matter, considerable sections of either work could have been incorporated in the other” (“Prose Tristan,” 339). The Vulgate and Tristan cycles also remain comparable in their depiction of Morgan. In the main story of the prose Tristan, “Morgan’s revenge pursues the hero [Tristan] … for having slain her lover Huneson” (Friedman 268). Barton explains that the actions Morgan takes remains the “first time in the romantic tradition where Morgan bears explicit ill will against the hero, and desires to inflict actual harm upon him; and even in this case she is motivated by thwarted love rather than sheer malevolence” (Barton 22).

In the prose Tristan, Morgan employs her magical powers in order to manipulate Alisander Orphelin, a young hero of Cornwall (Paton 55). Like in the Vulgate cycle, Morgan takes on the role of a detainer of men. In the supplementary story of Alisander Orphelin, Morgan seeks to acquire the love of Alisander; however, she must resort to manipulation of him by utilizing her supernatural powers.

After a maiden tells Morgan about Alisander’s “valor and beauty,” Morgan decides that Alisander must be her lover (Paton 55). Morgan proceeds with her plan after Mark “asks Morgain’s aid against him [Alisander]” (Paton 56). Morgan travels to the castle where Alisander has been a victor of a tourney, and she tries to prevent the potential marriage of Alisander to a certain maiden (Paton 56).

Morgan arrives at the castle only to find that Malagrin has lost his head and Alisander has “sixteen great wounds” (Paton 56). Morgan volunteers to heal Alisander’s wounds, but “when she bandages them she applies an irritating salve” (Paton 56). This salve “causes him a night of such torture that … he gladly promises to do all her will provided she will heal him” (Paton 56). Morgan heals Alisander, forbids him to marry the maiden, and after persuading him to follow her she “takes him to a litter before the door, gives him a draught of drugged wine, and within three days brings him safely to Bele Garde, a former castle of her mother’s” (Paton 56-57).

While Morgan “completes his cure” at this castle, she also is fooled by one of her maidens (Paton 57). Morgan’s maiden “promises for his love to betray the castle by night to her uncle who will destroy it by fire; thus Alisander shall be freed” (Paton 57). Alisander promises to defend the castle if the maiden remains true to her word, and when the events work out as predicted, Alisander is freed and “proceeds with his defence of the site of Bele Garde” (Paton 57). Finally, Morgan finds out about the devastation of the castle and “disappears from the story enraged at the tidings of her loss” (Paton 57).

Like in the Vulgate cycle, Morgan has been integrated into a human society, rather than a mystical, fantastic Otherworld. She does not miraculously capture Alisander and win his love instantaneously, but she forces him to accept her love through inflicting pain upon him. Also, Morgan does not transport Alisander by some sort of unknown enchanted means, but she drugs him and takes him away. Furthermore, Alisander’s escape is the result of the help from an ordinary maiden of Morgan’s, not through any sort of supernatural means. Morgan seems to become more human when her supernatural powers are limited. One trait that Morgan displays in the prose Tristan that is not typical of the Vulgate cycle is the characteristic of a healer; however, she uses her healing abilities in order to gain the benefit of Alisander’s love, which is not typical of her role as a traditional healer.

Following the French Vulgate cycle and written around 1215, the Suite du Merlin illustrates more clearly Morgan’s destructive actions against Arthur (Morgan 33). The Suite du Merlin was often referred to as the Huth Merlin, because of its origination in the Huth manuscript (Bogdanow 325). It was “composed to fit into a larger whole”: it refers to the Estoire del Saint Graal and forecasts several events in the Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu (Bogdanow 328-329). The Suite was also a continuation of the prose Merlin, and it “recounts such events as Arthur’s acquisition of Excalibur, Mordred’s birth, and the enchantment of Merlin by Niniane” (Lacy 79). The Suite du Merlin “repeatedly claims Robert de Borron as its author;” however, the author of the Suite is actually anonymous (Bogdanow 326 and 334).

With the character of Morgan, the Suite du Merlin creates a new tradition: Morgan’s embittered, unmerciful hostility toward Arthur. In this particular work, Morgan not only works against Arthur, but aspires to take his life. Her motives for harming Arthur appears to come from the events that unfold in the prose Merlin. When the love affair between Morgan and Guiomar becomes known to Arthur and Guinevere, they demand that Morgan and Guiomar dispel the love affair; as a result, Morgan becomes extremely violent and vengeful. Basically, the Suite reiterates the conflict in the prose Merlin, and this hostility is the main reason why Morgan now seeks to kill Arthur. Morgan’s maliciousness reaches its highest level in the Suite du Merlin. In addition, the Suite goes into more detail on the already established tradition of Morgan’s shape-shifting capabilities.

In the Suite, Morgan not only endangers Arthur’s life, but she causes the death of her lover, Accolon. The events leading up to the battle scene illustrate Morgan’s powers of enchantment. In her summarization of a scene of the Suite, Paton says,

In the course of a stag-hunt, Arthur, Urien (Morgains’s husband), and Accalon of Gaul, her lover, are separated from their companions. Toward nightfall they find the wounded stag on the bank of a river, an easy victim for the king’s blow. Suddenly they espy a beautiful vessel, silken-hung, speeding toward them down the stream. As soon as it touches shore they go aboard, and are gladly welcomed by twelve damsels, who lead them to luxurious couches for the night (14).

When the three men awake in the morning, they find themselves separated in three different places: Urien remains in Camelot with Morgan, Accolon remains in “a meadow near a sparkling fountain not far from a great tower,” and Arthur is imprisoned in a tower with other knights (Paton 14). Accolon is given the authentic Excalibur by one of Morgan’s dwarfs and is told to “use it in a certain battle that she appoints for him on the following day” (Paton 14). Meanwhile, Arthur is given a replica of Excalibur, which Morgan manufactured herself (Paton 14). Arthur offers to fight for the lord of the tower in which he is imprisoned and does not realize that the plan has been devised by Morgan (Paton 14).

On the morning of the battle, Arthur and Accolon do not seem to recognize each other and begin to fight. As a result of obtaining the true Excalibur, Accolon attains the upper hand and almost slays Arthur, but the Dame du Lac intervenes and “casts an enchantment upon Excalibur” which causes the true Excalibur to fall out of Accolon’s hands (Paton 14). After retrieving his sword, Arthur begins to overcome Accolon, but eventually “learns his opponent’s name and the part that Morgain has played in the affair” (Paton 14). While both Arthur and Accolon have their wounds cared for, Accolon ultimately dies and Arthur “sends his body to Morgain, with the message that he has Excalibur in his own possession” (Paton 15).

Wanting revenge on Arthur, Morgan “hastens to the convent where Arthur is staying; she makes her way to his chamber, and finds him sleeping sword in hand” and steals Arthur’s scabbard because she knows that while he possesses the scabbard he can lose no blood (Paton 15). Morgan’s knowledge of this scabbard comes from the fact that she made this scabbard in Avalon and knows what kind of power it holds. When Arthur eventually realizes what Morgan has done, he chases Morgan across the country to retrieve the scabbard (Paton 15). Knowing that she is being tracked by Arthur, Morgan “flings the scabbard far into the depths of a lake near at hand” (Paton 15). Likewise, Morgan’s shape-shifting abilities become apparent when she then turns herself and the maidens with her into stone to escape Arthur (Paton 15). Arthur “recognizes her in her altered form and looks with horror on the fate that has overtaken her” and “When he has passed by, she breaks the spell and goes on her way” (Paton 15). Later, Morgan sends Arthur a letter that says “she is a shapeshifter and would have done something worse to him but for the protection that the Dame du Lac exercises over him” (Paton 15).

These particular scenes of the Suite du Merlin clearly show Morgan’s manipulative, evil intents. Morgan uses her powers to lure Arthur, Urien, and Accolon to the enchanted barge and persuades them to stay aboard by the enticement of beautiful damsels. Morgan’s intent on killing Arthur seems evident when Arthur awakes to find himself in prison and when she provides Accolon with the genuine Excalibur and leaves Arthur with an imitation Excalibur. Even though Morgan fails to harm Arthur in the battle scene, she does succeed later in seizing and discarding Arthur’s scabbard, which serves as his protection from being killed.

Moreover, the Suite du Merlin also emphasizes a third tradition connected with Morgan: prophecy. Before the Suite du Merlin, no other work assigns the power of prophecy to Morgan, with the slight exception of her predicting Arthur’s restoration in the Vita Merlini. Henry Grady Morgan speculates on the reason Morgan assumes the powers of prophecy in the Vita Merlini and the Suite du Merlin by saying,

Perhaps, the presence of the prophetic power of Morgan in these two works can be attributed to the fact that both works, as their titles suggest, are devoted to Merlin, the chief prophet in all the Arthurian works, and that the prophetic power was hence at the front of the minds of the writers of these two works (35-36). Because there are no surviving works that explain the reasoning for allowing Morgan to take on prophetic powers, a definite answer cannot be conveyed for this problem. Morgan’s prophetic powers become evident in one particular scene in the Suite du Merlin. After Arthur’s pursuit of Morgan, “Morgan turns herself back into her former shape and returns to Gore. There she places a book which foretells the manner of the deaths of Gawain and Arthur into a tomb” (Morgan 35). Prophecy becomes part of the tradition that is associated with Morgan’s character but it is not as prominent as other traditions that are connected to her. Basically, the Suite du Merlin contributes two particular aspects to Morgan’s tradition: the love affair with Accolon and her overwhelming hostility toward Arthur, which causes the death of Accolon.

In the English romance called Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Morgan’s intentions are not as evil as in the Suite du Merlin; however, the malevolence of her character that emerged in the French romances obviously exists within the poem. In the poem, Morgan is the instigator of the trouble in King Arthur’s court and part of her goal is to frighten Guinevere to death through the image of the fantastic Green Knight (Friedman 260). It is important to note that in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Morgan wishes to shame Arthur and his court, not to entirely destroy them. While Morgan is certainly hostile to Arthur and his court, the hatred that Morgan had for Arthur in the Suite du Merlin does not seem to exist in the poem. However, Morgan does intend to frighten Guinevere to death, which illustrates the bitterness that Morgan still has for Guinevere.

The opening lines of the poem do not reveal the vindictive scheme that has been created or even who is behind the events occurring. During the festive Christmas time, a Green Knight appears in Arthur’s court and essentially states that he wants to challenge a knight of the Round Table in a beheading game (Sir Gawain 27-28). When the Green Knight says “there is no man here to match me � their might is so feeble,” Arthur instantly jumps to defend his court, but Gawain then implores that he should take on the challenge (Sir Gawain 27-29). Gawain succeeds in beheading the Green Knight and is then told by the severed head to “go as thou vowedst, and as faithfully seek till thou find me, good sir, as thou hast promised in this place in the presence of these knights” (Sir Gawain 32-33). From this point on, Gawain finds himself endlessly searching for the Green Knight. Finally, Gawain reaches the point where he pleads for some sort of lodging and instantly a castle appears before him (Sir Gawain 41-42). Gawain’s quest is then interrupted when he stays at Sir Bertilak’s castle to rest, and it is at this castle that Gawain’s honesty, courage, and piety are tested.

After Gawain fails these tests, he finds out that the Green Knight is actually Sir Bertilak, the lord of the castle, under an enchantment by none other than Morgan le Fay (Sir Gawain 95). Sir Bertilak says “Bertilak de Hautdesert hereabouts I am called, [who thus have been enchanted and changed in my hue] by the might of Morgan le Fay that in my mansion dwelleth, and by cunning of lore and crafts well learned” (Sir Gawain 95). Bertilak then explains the origin of Morgan’s powers when he says, “The magic arts of Merlin she many hath mastered; for deeply in dear love she dealt on a time with that accomplished clerk, as at Camelot runs the fame; and Morgan the Goddess is therefore now her name” (Sir Gawain 95). Likewise, Bertilak also claims that Morgan’s powers cannot be challenged by stating that “None power and pride possess too high for her to tame” (Sir Gawain 95). Morgan’s grand scheme is then revealed with Sir Bertilak’s words to Gawain:

She made me go in this guise to your goodly court to put its pride to the proof, if the report were true that runs of the great renown of the Round Table. She put this magic upon me to deprive you of your wits, in hope Guinevere to hurt, that she in horror might die aghast at that glamoury that gruesomely spake with its head in its hand before the high table. She it is that is at home, that ancient lady; she is indeed thine own aunt, Arthur’s half-sister, daughter of the Duchess of Tintagel on whom doughty Sir Uther after beget Arthur, who in honour is now (Sir Gawain 95).

This scene clearly exposes the intent of Morgan le Fay; however, there are other instances where her character emerges without the reader actually being informed. When Gawain first enters the castle, he is treated to a feast and meets a fair lady and “leading her by the left hand another lady was there who was older than she, indeed ancient she seemed, and held in high honour by all men about her” (Sir Gawain 48). When describing the old lady, the Gawain poet attempts to illustrate the profound difference that she displays from the younger lady. He states, “But unlike in their looks those ladies appeared, for if the younger was youthful, yellow was the elder” (Sir Gawain 48). The older lady had “rough wrinkled cheeks rolled on the other” and “was clad with a cloth that enclosed all her neck” (Sir Gawain 48). Moreover, he asserts that “enveloped was her black chin with chalk-white veils, her forehead folded in silk, and so fumbled all up” (Sir Gawain 48). In addition, the lady was “so topped up and trinketed and with trifles bedecked that naught was bare of that beldame but her brows all black, her two eyes and her nose and her naked lips, and those were hideous to behold and horribly bleared” (Sir Gawain 48). Also, the old lady’s status is disclosed when the poet says, “the old ancient woman was highest at table, meetly to her side the master he took him” (Sir Gawain 49).

The older lady described in these particular scenes is later introduced as Morgan le Fay. The Gawain poet clearly emphasizes that the woman is old, yet stately. Being highest at the table and adorned with trinkets, it seems that Morgan clearly takes on a high status among the people of the castle. While this description of Morgan seems to make clear her old age, we also can detect that the Gawain poet is highlighting her dark qualities somewhat. The Gawain poet states, “but her brows all black, her two eyes and her nose and her naked lips, and those were hideous to behold and horribly bleared” (Sir Gawain 48). We do not necessarily see that Morgan’s intentions are destructive and manipulative at this point, and the Gawain poet does not point out that her appearance affects her actions; however, it is important to note that the Gawain poet is more concerned with deceptive appearances.

Some scholars have suggested that Morgan’s actual role in the structure and development of the story is not essential to the poem. Many argue that Morgan appears too late in the story and her lack of appearance within the story takes away from the fact that the whole plot is attributed to her. Such critics include Albert Friedman, G.L. Kittredge, and many older commentators. In other words, because she hides behind the scenes, some scholars believe that she plays much more of a minor part in the story.

Yet, in the end Sir Bertilak reveals that Morgan is the grand conspirator behind the scenes. Therefore, Morgan’s role is integral to the entire story. Though Morgan is not actually seen throughout the story, her presence seems to be enduring because she does arrange the events that take place. A possible reason for the Gawain poet not making Morgan mentioned more in the story could be that Morgan’s continual physical appearance within the story was not needed. Fisher claims that the Gawain poet “deliberately leaves Morgan aside, positioning her at the end of the narrative when she is, in fact, its means: the agent of Gawain’s testing” (78). The poem, by merely mentioning Morgan as the instigator, did not need more of an explanation for the ending. Possibly the Gawain poet believed that Morgan’s reputation would be enough to warrant the ending of the poem when she is attributed with being the sole agitator of the problems of King Arthur’s court. However, it is important to remember that there are several instances in the poem where Gawain sets eyes on Morgan and does not recognize her, even though she is his aunt. Keeping this in mind, it seems that the Gawain poet sought to play upon the deceptive element in the poem, which is also seen with the disguise of Sir Bertilak. Morgan’s traditional reputation was well-known by this point, so the Gawain poet did not need to improve upon this already established view of her character. Her integrity had been indicated in previous texts and the Gawain poet sought to play on tradition.

There are several traditions that the Gawain poet adhered to in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We know by Bertilak’s statement to Gawain that Morgan is the half-sister of Arthur. Bertilak states, “she is indeed thine own aunt, Arthur’s half-sister” (Sir Gawain 95). That Morgan is related to Arthur is no surprise because previous texts, such as Chretien’s Erec and Enide and the Vulgate Lancelot, alluded to some sort of relationship also. Moreover, Morgan is cast in the testing role in the poem, which is also seen in the prose Tristan when Morgan attempts to send the magic drinking horn to Arthur’s court. Her purpose in sending the Green Knight to Arthur’s court is to test the prestige of the Round Table. Bertilak’s statement clearly proves this claim true when he says that Morgan wanted to “put its pride to the proof, if the report were true that runs of the great renown of the Round Table” (Sir Gawain 95). Thirdly, Morgan’s hatred for Guinevere is apparent. Bertilak unveils Morgan’s goal when he states, “She put this magic upon me to deprive you of your wits, in hope Guinevere to hurt, that she in horror might die aghast at that glamoury that gruesomely spake with its head in its hand” (Sir Gawain 95).

Lastly, we see that the Gawain poet acknowledged that Morgan had powers to heal and change the shape of people. Morgan’s healing powers are seen in previous texts, such as Monmouth’s Vita Merlini, Chretien’s Yvain, and the prose Tristan. Also, Morgan’s shape-shifting abilities are previously seen in the Suite du Merlin. When Bertilak is disguised as the Green Knight and Gawain decapitates him, Morgan’s powers allow Bertilak to conveniently recover. Morgan’s ability to change the shape of people is obvious with Bertilak’s changing from “this great man guised all in green” and “the largest man alive” into a courteous, loving, mortal host who accepts Gawain into his castle (Sir Gawain 23-24). Because all of these traditions were firmly attached to Morgan before the emergence of the Gawain poet, Morgan’s role and motivation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight would have been self-explanatory to most readers.

Written around 1469 or 1470, Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur adopts the character of Morgan that resembles the Morgan developed in the French tradition. Vinaver points out that many of Malory’s works were based upon French works, such as the Prose Lancelot and the Prose Tristan (“Sir Thomas” 544-545). As a result, we see parallels between specific scenes in Malory’s works and scenes depicted in the French works. In addition, Vinaver says of Malory that, “With great consistency, though with varying degrees of success, he endeavored to disentangle from his sources a series of self-contained stories” (“Sir Thomas” 545). Malory’s romances may have been written as several separate stories, and not one complete work (Barton 35). As a result, the overall depiction of Morgan in the Le Morte D’Arthur remains inconsistent (Barton 35). While in one instance Morgan plays the role of the evil enchantress, in another instance she may display her benevolent healing powers. Likewise, Barton explains, “All her different guises, however, can be explained as resulting from the variety of Malory’s sources” (35).

While in the Le Morte D’Arthur Malory’s “chief emphasis is upon heroic life and the affairs of men,” women are also idealized and placed in a position of authority (Olstead 128-129). These women provide the main incentives for the men to perform such great deeds; as a result, the women must be “larger than life” and “worthy of such high aspirations” (Olstead 129). Because of this necessity, many are portrayed as supernatural women and remain “extremely suitable for the testing of champions” (Olstead 129). In several of the episodes of the Le Morte D’Arthur, Morgan fulfills the role of a tester. Morgan’s actions are linked to the main themes in the work, and her purpose is to threaten Arthur’s realm (Olstead 130-131).

Several episodes clearly illustrate Morgan’s role in the Le Morte D’Arthur. The first episode that involves Morgan is the fight between Arthur and Accalon, which is taken directly from the Suite du Merlin. Olstead claims, “the importance of the episode is that it introduces narrative and thematic tensions having broad implications for the entire legend” (134). In this episode, Malory adheres to his source, the Suite du Merlin; however, there are parts that are clearly different from the Suite: Accalon is seen as “more of a traitor for fighting against his liege lord” and Morgan is provided “with the additional motivation for her scheme of jealousy of Arthur’s power” (Barton 36). Olstead states that because Arthur’s “reign is secure” and “the Order of the Round Table, is established,” Malory decided that new conflict was necessary (132). As a result, Morgan was able to fulfill this need but also in a way that did not “bring Arthur’s achievements into question” (Olstead 132). In Malory’s version of the conflict, Morgan appears as the strongest and most persistent threat to Arthur’s Round Table (Olstead 132).

In later episodes in which Morgan appears, her role is mainly the captor of knights and her purpose is death, not love for the knight (Olstead 135). However, a particular episode where this is not the case is seen in the episode of the drinking horn. The drinking horn is supposed to be sent to Arthur in order to test the fidelity of and shame Guinevere; however, Lamorak intervenes and has the horn sent to King Mark in order to shame Sir Tristram and reveal his love affair with Isoud (Malory 363-364). The drinking horn episode is significant for two reasons: “it shifts the object of Morgan’s hatred from Arthur to Guinevere and Lancelot and allies her with the degraded King Mark” (Olstead 135-136).

Moreover, by including the contrasting figures of Morgan and the Lady of the Lake, Malory adds more of an evil element to Morgan’s character. The contrast of these two women is not a new idea: the prose Prophecies suggests the existence of an opposition between the women (Olstead 133). However, because Malory includes the Lady of the Lake into the episode and contrasts their magical skills in such a direct manner, “they become more clearly than ever before symbolic embodiments of evil and good” (Olstead 133). The opposition between Morgan and the Lady of the Lake and their actions within the plot make the reader more interested in the individual character and create suspense within the episodes (Olstead 136). Basically, the extreme opposition that Malory creates between the two women makes Morgan seem much more evil, especially when compared to and seen alongside the virtuous Lady of the Lake.

While Malory indeed borrows much of his material for the Le Morte D’Arthur from the French tradition, he also makes several alterations in order to select those episodes and themes that would best suit his own work. Malory’s main intention was to give Morgan a functional role in his work and to try to eliminate some of the inconsistencies in her character. Morgan’s actions were tied directly to the central themes and her assignment was clearly defined: to serve as a threat to Arthur’s realm. While Morgan definitely fulfilled her assignment throughout the Le Morte D’Arthur, the ending of the work fails to adhere to Malory’s intentions with her character. In the closing chapters, Morgan comes to Arthur in his greatest need and takes him away to Avalon to be healed (Malory 517). Morgan suddenly becomes “Morgan the Wise, Arthur’s sister, the magical lady of healing” in this scene, which is quite the opposite of Malory’s depiction of Morgan in all the prior episodes (Olstead 137). Perhaps, Morgan’s change in character occurs because “blood is thicker than water” or because “tradition decrees it” (Olstead 137). Whatever the case may be, it is clear that Malory was faced with many inconsistencies in the traditions regarding Morgan le Fay.

The traditions attached to the character of Morgan le Fay over many years have essentially created the character we know today. In Monmouth’s Vita Merlini and in Chretien’s Erec and Enide and Yvain, she is a benevolent healer who lives in the magical Otherworld paradise. However, through the process of humanizing her character in the French Vulgate Cycle, Morgan changes drastically. She becomes the sister or half-sister of Arthur and utilizes her magical powers in evil ways. She is depicted as a woman who pursues love but in the wrong ways, such as in the case of Lancelot. Her character is one that is more human-like in attitude and motivation. For example, she hates Guinevere only because of her interference in Morgan’s love affair with Guiomar. Furthermore, in the Suite du Merlin she aspires to kill Arthur, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she attempts to bring about Guinevere’s death. Finally, in Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur Morgan is placed within the text only to threaten Arthur and to test the men within Arthur’s kingdom. Tracing Morgan’s origin back to the Celtic goddess is just as problematic as unraveling the traditions that are attached to her character. We can only speculate why these authors portrayed Morgan in these various ways, and we can only rely on speculation in discovering her origin. However, something we can say about Morgan is that her character seems to have greatly evolved over time and has been shaped and determined by the authors who have included her in their works.

Weiss, Judith. Wace’s Roman de Brut: A History of the British. University of Exeter Press, 1999.

Wentz, W.Y. Evans. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. England: Colin Smythe Ltd., 1977.

Wright, Richard N. “The Development of Morgan Le Fay’s Character in Arthurian Literature.” Bachelor’s thesis, Emory University, 1986.

Chapter 4 : Morgan Le Fay by Susa Morgan Black , FSA Scot. Medieval Story

 The contemporary stories of Morgan le Fay are based on Christianized versions found in the Medieval writings of the Vulgate and Malory. She is depicted as an evil and lusty enchantress who tricks her brother, good King Arthur, into an incestuous relationship with her, resulting in the unnatural birth of their son, Mordred. She tricks Arthur’s wizard, Merlin, into divulging his magical secrets to her, then disposes of him inside the trunk of a tree, or a crystal cave. She sows the seeds of discontent with gossip against Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, steals the magical sword, Excalibur with it’s healing scabbard, plots the death of Arthur with her various lovers, and ultimately contributes to the dissolution of the Round Table. Yet, even in this version, Morgan was one of the three queens that retrieved Arthur’s fatally wounded body from the Battle of Camlan on Salisbury Plain, and returned with him to the holy Isle of Avalon to heal him, for he is the Once and Future King, destined to return from the timeless fairy island when Britain is in need of him. Marian Zimmer Bradley rescues Morgan le Fay from the Medieval sources, and tells the story from Morgan’s own point of view, as recently seen in the excellent movie, The Mists of Avalon, based on her novel. Celtic Story Morgan was a Celtic Queen. One of the definitions of the name Morgan is “Great Queen” (Mohr Righan), which may have been an ancient royal title. The early Celts were matriarchal, and during the transition from matriarch to patriarchy, they went by Druidic tanist law, meaning the kingship was inherited by the King’s eldest sister’s son (according to Evangeline Walton’s version of the Mabinogian). Mordred was the true heir to the throne by ancient law, not because he was Arthur’s son, but because he was Arthur’s nephew. (After all, if Guenevere had given birth, whose child would it have been – Arthur’s or Lancelot’s?) The Christian clerics, who supported the patriarchal law of primogenitor (direct inheritance from father to eldest son within the bonds of marriage), changed the facts of the story, making Mordred the product of an unholy, incestuous union between brother and sister in order to invalidate Mordred’s legitimacy and destroy the remnants of the once powerful matriarchal system. Celtic Triple Goddess But Morgan is far older than the Medieval Arthurian legends. Her name appears in all Celtic lands – Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Mann, Cornwall, and Brittany. As far away as Italy, She is called Fata Morgana which describes the mirages seen near the Straights of Messina. Morgan’s castle is said to be located under the water. I believe She is the one of the oldest Celtic Goddesses, who traveled with the Celtic people across the continent of Europe. There is even a vampire character in Polish folklore called “Morgano” which may be a distant remnant of Her. Morgan is the third aspect of the sacred triad of the Triple Goddess, the essence of the powerful Crone, Warrioress, Seductress. Although She is an elder Goddess, she is still magnificent in appearance – often beautiful but frightening. In many of the tales, such as Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, she can change her appearance from an ancient hag to a beautiful maiden. Irish Goddess of War and Death In Ireland, She is called Morrighan (or Morrigu), the Goddess of Battles and Death. She is a Queen among the Tuatha de Danaan. She is a shapeshifter who can take the shape of a raven or crow at battle sites, where She is Chooser of the Slain. In legend, She trained and armed some of Ireland’s greatest warriors, including Chuchulain. She is said to have mated with the Irish God Dagda while straddling a river. The sensuous Battle Goddess seduced many Irish heroes and Gods. The Morrigan is also known as the Washer at the Ford or the Washer of Shrouds. She is seen washing the armor of warriors in a stream, wailing and prophesying their deaths. (Many of Her legends take place near water). She is associated with the bean sidhe (banshee), the wailing women who prophesy death and sometimes take the shape of ravens. The Morrigan was also a Seer, who prophesied the future. She is sometimes called the Triple Goddess – with Her other aspects being Badb, Macha, and Nemain. Scottish Tales The treacherous whirlpool in the Inner Hebrides, commonly known as the Corryveckan, is also known as “Morrigan’s Cauldron”. Manx Tale In Manx, there is a legend of a mermaid who lived in a creek on the Isle of Man. A young boatman fell in love with her and brought her an offering of apples, even planting an apple tree near the shore for her. It is said that he eventually left, and she wandered the shores looking form him in vain. Apples and Mermaids are both signatures of Morgan’s many folktales. Lady of the Lake In Breton, France, Morgens are sea-women, water spirits or mermaids. The name Morgan has also been translated as “of the sea” (muirgen) and is one of the names for the Lady of the Lake. She is associated with both Vivianne and Nimue, who are also known as the Lady of the Lake. The western sea (the Atlantic Ocean) is where Her island of Avalon (also known as Ynys Avallach, the Isle of Apples and the Fortunate Isle) is located – where She receives the dead and heals them of their earthly pains. Could the names morgue, mortuary and morte also be related to this Goddess of Death? Avalon is associated with Glastonbury Tor, which some legends say was once a magic island surrounded by water. Morgan is one of the three queens that takes King Arthur’s body to Avalon to heal. As a witch and healer, she is said to know the power of both healing and poisonous herbs. In Avalon, She presided over nine priestess’s who were prophetesses and healers. Avalon is known to have been an oracular center. Some believe that Avalon was a Druidic college for priestesses of women’s mysteries. Certain healing wells are also sacred to Her in Britain – known as Morgan’s wells. In one Arthurian legend, King Uther Pendragon was obsessed with lust for Morgan’s mother, Ygraine. With Merlin’s help, Uther tricked her into sleeping with him by taking on the shape of Ygraine’s husband, the Duke of Gorlois, after he had already murdered the Duke. Her new stepfather could not abide Morgan since she suspected him of his ignoble deed, so Uther sent Morgan to Ygraine’s sister, Viviane – the abbess at the convent on Avalon. Here, safe among the nuns, Morgan was taught the art of sorcery. She furthered her education in magic as a student of Merlin’s when she came to King Arthur’s court. During this transition time between the old religion and the new, the convent could well have been a Druidic college for women.

The Morrigan as Morgan Le Fay, Lady of the Lake, Lady of Avalon and similar identities. I’ll offer this in the form of a conversation – the conversation I so often find myself having when the subject comes up. Here’s how it usually begins:“Morgan Le Fay is obviously a guise of the Morrigan, because their names are so similar, so I work with them as the same Goddess.”Actually, their names only appear similar; they’re actually completely distinct. You see, the Celtic languages branched into two separate families fairly early in their development: the Gallo/Brittonic languages, also known as P-Celtic and including Gaulish, Brittonic and later Welsh, and the Goidelic languages, also known as Q-Celtic, and including Irish and Scots Gaelic (both families also including minor Celtic forms such as Manx, Cornish, Breton, etc.) The name Morrigan comes to us from the Irish Gaelic branch, whereas the name Morgan comes via the Welsh/Brittonic branch. Being manifestations of Celtic language, both branches do retain many related and mutually intelligible word constructions, but Morgan/Morrigan isn’t one of them.The name ‘Morrigan’ comes to us from the Irish Gaelic branch, and is composed of the terms mor (connoting phantom, terror, or the dead) and rígan (queen). The name is also sometimes given a long accented ó: mór (great). Her name can thus be constructed ‘Phantom Queen’ or ‘Great Queen’.The etymology of ‘Morgan Le Fay’, on the other hand, comes from the Welsh/Brittonic branch, and it has nothing to do with queenship. It derives from môr (sea) and gen, from genos, a common Gallo-Brittonic name-suffix meaning ‘born of’ or ‘child of’. Thus Morgan is ‘Sea-Born’, and refers to a spiritual being or Goddess connected with the sea. We see this surviving in folklore about the Morgens or Mari-Morgens, a class of Otherworldly sea-beings from Breton folklore.“But doesn’t Morrigan also translate as ‘Sea Queen’?”No, I’m afraid it doesn’t. The name Morrigan doesn’t appear in Welsh, it appears in Irish. And neither mor nor mór means ‘sea’ in Irish. The word for sea is muir, but there is no evidence at all identifying this as the etymological root of Her name. Nor is the Morrigan anywhere directly linked to the sea in any of the source texts in which Her name appears. Unfortunately, this false etymology has been published in a number of places, and people often assume if it’s in print it must be correct.What about Avalon? Isn’t Avalon the Celtic Otherworld, and so wouldn’t the Morrigan be linked to it?There have been many names for the Celtic Otherworld (or it might be more accurate to say Otherworlds; a topic for another time). Avalon derives from a much later stratum of mythology than the Iron Age period referenced in the Irish mythological literature that describes the Morrigan. Avalon is a British Arthurian literary concept that does not appear until late medieval Grail romances, a fusion of medieval British and French mythologies containing traces of earlier Celtic concepts fully intermixed at that stage with Christian mysticism. Earlier and more Celtic-influenced literature refers to Ynys Afallon, or ‘Isle of Apples’; this may in fact be loosely linked to the Irish Emain Ablach; an island associated with Manannan, a God of the sea and of magic and illusion, among other things.So yes, there are concepts of a Celtic Otherworld appearing in Welsh and Irish lore and linked to the sea (or lakes) and to apples. But nowhere is the Morrigan directly associated with this Isle of Apples concept. And the image of Avalon, as a mysterious lake-bound isle of magic associated with priestesses veiled in blue, pseudo-Druidic symbolism, and a mythical Celtic Goddess-cult… IS NOT FOUND in the late Iron Age Celtic tradition that describes the Morrigan. That Avalon, while beautiful and inspiring, is a fiction. Marion Zimmer Bradley creatively imagined it based on late medieval Grail romance, mixed with some additional Celtic mythology, and liberal amounts of modern Wiccan-style theology and symbolism. I don’t mean to insult anyone – it’s really a lovely archetype and inspires much beautiful and effective spiritual practice today. But it’s not historic and it’s got no real connection to the Morrigan.“Well, the Morrigan is clearly connected to sorcery, and so is Morgan Le Fay.”Yes, the Morrigan is one of the primary Druidesses of the Tuatha De Danann, so of course She performs magic. The Tuatha, you see, are ‘the people of Art’. It’s right there in the first episode where they are introduced in the source texts: we are told that the Tuatha came to Ireland from islands over the sea, where they had learned wisdom and magic and sorcery, and they brought these arts to Ireland. As the Morrigan is one of their Druidesses, She performs all the classic Druidic functions: poetic recitation and incitement; prophecy and seership; recording of deeds and epics; and of course, battle sorcery. But show me a Celtic Goddess who doesn’t use sorcery or magic. That doesn’t make them all Morgan Le Fay.“But the Morrigan is referred to as a ‘Faery’, and that sounds like Morgan Le Fay.”The Morrigan being referred to as a ‘faery’ just means She is an Otherworldly being. This status applies to all of the Tuatha, the tribe of Gods to which She belongs. In their representations in the mythological literature, they are variously described as Gods, as faeries, or as heroes, depending I suppose on which Christian was writing down the lore and how they chose to interpret what they were receiving from the Pagan oral tradition. But regardless, being a faery isn’t a special quality of the Morrigan apart from all the other Tuatha. The lore is full of faery women, many of whom engage in actions reminiscent of Morgan Le Fay, such as healing, hexing, illusions, and transporting people between the earthly realm and the Otherworld. Again, this doesn’t make every faery woman in Celtic mythology an appearance of Morgan Le Fay (or the Morrigan). It means the world of the Celts was peopled with Otherworldly beings of all kinds!“But the Morrigan is associated with streams and rivers, so She’s a water Goddess, like the Lady of the Lake.”To begin with, the Morrigan has no particular association in the Iron Age lore with lakes or sea. We do see a very strong association with streams and rivers, but this doesn’t equate to making Her a water Goddess generally, nor to linking Her to lakes and seas. One of the reasons She frequently appears at rivers is that the rivers are boundaries between different provinces, and when She makes these appearances, it is most often connected to a battle occurring at these boundaries between factions or tribes. For the same reason, most of Cu Chulainn’s important combats take place at fords of rivers; but we wouldn’t on that basis conclude that he is a water God!In the Celtic imaginal landscape, bodies of water generally are liminal places – boundaries of sovereignty, as well as gateways to the Otherworld. Thus, a great many significant events in the mythological literature take place at river fords, lakes and the shores of the sea. This reflects into the stories of nearly all the Irish Gods. In addition, these bodies of water also carry life-giving qualities of watering the land and providing fertility, fish, and other aquatic produce. Rivers in particular are strongly connected with female power in much of the lore. Thus, throughout all the Celtic lands, we consistently find rivers named for Goddesses, and some lakes, too. Given the predominance of rivers and lakes named for Celtic Goddesses, there are actually remarkably few carrying any name connected to the Morrigan. Because, while water bodies are everywhere associated with female power and the Otherworld generally, they are not directly linked to Her particular functions.“But isn’t the Lady of the Lake a sovereignty figure, like the Morrigan? What about the sword?”Yes, clearly the myth of the Lady of the Lake offering the sword to King Arthur is a form of sovereignty myth. But you see, that’s not enough to equate her with the Morrigan. Sovereignty attributes can be traced within many Celtic Goddesses, and obviously no one would claim they all are the Morrigan. The sovereignty figure is a fundamental form of the Celtic conception of female divine power. It tells us that the Celts understood sovereignty as a power arising from the land, conferred through the action of a female divinity. That doesn’t mean all female characters who carry the power of sovereignty are the same Goddess. It means that relation to sovereignty is a crucial element of female divine power, and is therefore carried by many of the Celtic Goddesses, taking a distinct shape with each based on Her particular sphere of concern and mode of action. The Morrigan’s form of sovereignty is the form it takes when it is called upon to defend itself, when it becomes martial, protective, and warlike. She is female divinity and sovereignty in the shape of battle. But we cannot conclude from Her sovereignty connection that any female figure offering sovereignty in folklore is the Morrigan.“But I work with Morgan Le Fay as an aspect of the Morrigan, and She’s real to me. Are you telling me my practice is invalid?”No, I would never presume to judge what another’s personal spiritual practice should be for them, unless I’ve been asked my opinion. I see nothing wrong with Pagan folk venerating both the Morrigan and Morgan Le Fay, or any other combination of deities, within their personal practice if that works for them. I am saying that there is not significant historical or literary evidence to support interpreting Morgan Le Fay as an appearance or ‘guise’ of the Morrigan. I am saying that there is not evidence for the Morrigan having any direct or significant historical link to the medieval folklore of Avalon and the Lady of the Lake.I’m not here to tell anyone that their personal experiences are false if they’re experiencing these two as one deity. But I would like to suggest that if your personal experience is substantially at odds with the body of available evidence about the origins and nature of a deity, it might be wise to look more carefully at how you are interpreting your experiences. And I definitely think anyone teaching or publishing about these deities needs to take into account the whole body of evidence.

Part II: Lady of the Lake- Celtic Mythology

The birth of the Lady of the Lake is almost certainly ancient and pagan, and is usually referred to by variations on the names Nimue or Vivienne. The name Nimue is probably related to Mneme, the shortened form of Mnemosyne, one of the nine water-nymph Muses of Greek and Roman mythology who furnished weapons – as does the Lady of the Lake – to Perseus, the beheader of the Gorgon Medusa. Vivienne is thought to derive from the Celtic form Vi-Vianna, derived from Co-Vianna, a variant of the ubiquitous Celtic water-goddess, Coventina. Water deities were common in Celtic mythology, and offerings of weapons and valuable objects in rivers and lakes were extremely common. Even today these practices continue; however, the weapons are thrown into wishing wells, where the Lady of the Lake is called “Lady Luck”! The background stories for Arthurian material — and, thus, for the Lady of the Lake — are seen in the so-called French Vulgate, a prose compilation assembled in the first half of the thirteenth century. It is a collection of a number of other works written by such diverse authors as Geoffrey of Monmouth whose Historia Regum Britanniae of 1138 was then expanded by Wace in Norman French and Layamon in English; individual tales of various Arthurian heroes, as found for example in the romances of Chretien de Troyes; and incomplete works such as Robert de Boron’s Merlin. One lengthy section of the Vulgate cycle is called the prose-Lancelot, which tells the story of the future paladin’s childhood, his coming to King Arthur’s court, and his love for Guinevere. Lancelot is the son of King Ban of Benwick, a province in France. The King is forced to flee his lands with his wife and son when attacked by his neighbor, King Claudas, but when he sees his city in flames he collapses and dies. The queen puts the child down near a lake and runs to her husband, but when she returns for the child, he is no longer there. He has been kidnapped by a fey, a fairy. “The lady who took Lancelot, whose name is Niniane – the text tells us – is a fairy, by which is meant a woman with a knowledge of magic.” Niniane is, of course, another name for Viviane and for Nimue, the queen of Avalon: a good fey or a bad fey, according to the text we read. The tale Lancelot recounts is the first of the three stages that will lead him to his destiny, that is to say his initiation. In order to gain entry into Arthur’s court, the Lady of the Lake must teach the young child to become a knight; however, Lancelot’s emblematic space is not the land of his father — where a young man could prove his prowess and his mettle — but the Otherwordly Kingdom in which the Lady of the Lake has raised him. His weapons also attest his supernatural origins, since it is the Lady of the Lake who gives them to him. The text insists on the color of the other world, white, the color of innocence and purity: The Lady is dressed in white, Lancelot is always called “li blans chevaliers” or “li chevaliers au blanches armes.” Those weapons are no mere ornaments; they are presented as an essential attribute of the youth, and it is through them that he must win his knighthood. In providing Lancelot with those very weapons, the Lady of the Lake contravenes King Arthur’s authority, for it is the King himself who is to bestow the title of knight by dressing him with new weapons. Later the Lady of the Lake will send Lancelot three shields, all made of silver. The pattern of the first is a diagonal stripe or bendy; the second has two bendies; and the third has three. These shields also belong to the other world, having as colors (tinctures) “argent” and “gules,” that is to say silver and red, and magic powers – they double, triple and quadruple the strength of the one who holds them. Worthwhile noting is the fact that

that of raising Lancelot du Lac and preparing him to become a knight — regretfully, time does not permit me to discuss the Lady of the Lake’s role in the blossoming love between Lancelot and Guinevere; in exalting courtly love and, through their passion, thereby illustrate the most important courtly values: love and chivalry — she also has a fundamental role in the story of King Arthur. In Sir Thomas Malory’s La Morte Darthur, Nenyve – one of the spellings of Nimue – enters the male dominated political sphere whenever she feels that her guidance is warranted. As an advocate of feudal chivalry, she is a protector not just of chivalric virtues, but also of King Arthur, her chosen sovereign. It is the Lady of 1 See also Boiven 1984: 18-25. the Lake who, in the so-called post-Vulgate Merlin, by raising her arm up from the waters of her lake gives Arthur the sword that she calls “Excalibur, that is as to say as Cut-steel.” Many of you are acquainted with the story, and at this point I am sure you are thinking: Yes, but what about King Arthur and the sword in the stone? Wasn’t Excalibur set in a stone, and Arthur, as the legitimate King, the only one who could pull it from the stone? Yes, this is another version of the legend or, as other legends tell us, there were two swords. First and foremost though, the sword is the ultimate symbol of the power of the king, and it is loaded with symbolic meaning. The Lady of the Lake speaks: The sword which the knight has belted on has two sharp edges, and not without reason. Of all the arms, the sword is the most honorable and the most noble; the one, which has the most dignity, for you, can harm with it in three ways. You can thrust and kill by stabbing with the point, and you can cut right and left with the two edges. The two edges signify that the knight should be a servant to our Lord and to His people: and that one edge of the sword should strike those who are enemies of Our Lord and despisers of His faith: and the other should take vengeance on those who are destroyers of the human company, that is those who take from one another, who kill one another. Such should be the strength of the two edges, but the point is different. The point signifies obedience, for it stabs, and nothing so stabs the heart, not loss of land or of wealth, as being forced to obey. (qtd. in Dean 1993: 13)

These words are meant for Lancelot, but the same can be said for Arthur, whose sword is the symbol of his reign over Camelot. It is with this sword that he wishes to kill Lancelot, who has betrayed him with his wife Guinevere; however, after a three-month siege of Lancelot’s castle, the Joyous Guard – before the love between Lancelot and Guinevere it had been called the Sad Guard– mortally wounds Arthur in battle. As he feels the shadow of death shift over him, he commands Griflet, one of the first Knights of the Round Table, and one of Arthur’s chief advisers (in other versions Sir Bedivere is the one who is asked to do it) to throw Excalibur back into the enchanted lake. Griflet fails to do it twice, since he believes that so great a weapon should not be wasted. When he finally complies with the wounded King’s request and throws the sword into the lake, a hand emerges from the water to grab it, and disappears with it under the surface. When Arthur hears that the Lady of the Lake has re-

e Morte d’Arthur was written by Sir Thomas Malory in the late 15th century, and the text centralizes King Arthur of Camelot and his Knights of the Round Table, beginning with King Arthur’s birth and ending with his death and downfall. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, the Lady of the Lake (also known as the Damosel of the Lake or distinguished as Nyneve) is an enchantress who dwells at the metaphorical and literal margins and shapes the text through her magic and femininity, these traits influencing the other. For example, she protects herself from the sorcerer Merlin’s sexual predation by banishing him through her magic. Although there are multiple of these Ladies (as they respawn from deaths and occupy multiple places at once), they are rarely distinguished from one another and are rather addressed as a singular, collective figure. The Lady of the Lake glimmers in and out of focus to bestow magic upon the protagonists, such as by presenting enchanted gifts to King Arthur or acting as a decisive force in knightly battles through her intervening with her magical abilities. In Geraldine Heng’s “Feminine Knots and the Other: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (1991), Heng counters the dominant scholarly narrative that Morgan le Fay, an enchantress who is also Arthur’s half-sister, is a marginal figure in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and instead highlights Morgan’s “overarching authority” and asserts through a feminist lens that Morgan le Fay is central to the story (Heng, 508). Inspired by Heng’s approach to recognizing and the marginalized feminine figures’ critical influence, we can analyze the role of the Lady of the Lake’s magical identity in relation to the texts’ dominant, central narrative. The Lady’s magical skills allow her to overcome her marginalization and significantly affect the narrative. Simultaneously, the Lady’s influence and control through magic reflects a portrait of her literary character that would have been overlooked otherwise, her magical decisions revealing the complexity of her “moral compass.” For example, the Lady makes decisions that conflict against each other, therefore never necessarily easily defined as “always in Arthur’s favor.” She sometimes strikes “unfair” or “dishonest” bargains with Arthur that lack full disclosure for her own advantage, but she also sometimes saves his life. These impartial and partial decisions define the Lady as a complex character who operates on her own terms. Despite both the Lady of the Lake and Morgan le Fay being prominent, powerful enchantresses in Arthurian literature, scholarship on Morgan le Fay is much more robust and nuanced in comparison to that of the Lady of the Lake, the former becoming regarded as complex and significant and the latter depleted of critical attention, analysis, and thorough characterization. 1, 2 As an example of the Lady of the Lake being traditionally perceived as small or insignificant, the Lady of the Lake has her own entry in Robert H. Wilson’s catalog of minor characters, “Addenda on Malory’s Minor Characters,” which is a study of minor characters whoappear throughout Malory’s texts.3

 The Lady’s place in this catalog symbolizes dominant scholarship’s broader assignment of the Lady of the Lake to a minor and marginal character. Despite receiving little scholarly attention, the Lady of the Lake is the subject of intense fascination beyond the realm of Arthuriana, inspiring major artistic works such as Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake” and Franz Schubert’s “Ellen’s Gesang III”4 (also known as “Ave Maria”). This phenomenon can be attributed to the narrowness of the Lady of the Lake’s perception by scholars. This perception portrays her as marginal, thereby further diminishing her as a character. To achieve a more comprehensive picture of the Lady of the Lake’s character in Le Morte d’Arthur, we must recognize and redefine the literary margins, the center, and their relation to one another within the context of magic. Beyond Le Morte d’Arthur, the Lady of the Lake’s character is often viewed as the morally purer counterpart to Morgan le Fay, who in Le Morte d’Arthur, is depicted as cunning and evil as she attempts to deceive and slay Arthur and his knights. In the article “Merlin and the Ladies of the Lake” (2000), Anne Berthelot compares the two Arthurian enchantresses Morgan le Fay and the Lady of the Lake, asserting that Morgan is often depicted negatively, while the Lady is described positively (Berthelot, 55).

The Lady is described to “not have such an important part to play either, but acts as substitute mother and protector to Lancelot, she must be above any suspicion. Accordingly, if she has learned magic, it has to be ‘white magic,’” or good magic, rather than Morgan le Fay’s black, or evil magic (Berthelot, 65). Although the Lady is categorized as minor or marginal by scholarship, she is highlighted for her goodness and purity. This is emphasized further in juxtaposition to Morgan. The enchantresses’ characters are contrasted in a passage from Prophesies de Merlin translated by Carolyne Larrington: Morgan was born in the fire of lechery. And I believe that the lovely Lady of the Lake was born somewhere near Paradise. Morgan plans and carries out wicked deeds. And she of the Lake does good deeds. The former has good knights killed, while the other gives them comfort and help. She brings help to orphans and Morgan destroys them, to spite their fathers and mothers. (Larrington, 97)

 Through this comparison of the Lady of the Lake and Morgan le Fay, the perception of the Lady’s image as a generous, aid-giving character is heightened. In turn, she is reduced to only these qualities. Furthermore, the Lady of the Lake is also frequently analyzed with respect to the characters she “accompanies,” emphasizing her marginal role as the helper figure throughout Arthuriana. For example, S. E. Holbrook states that the Lady of the Lake is often studied and remembered by scholars by her relationship to Morgan, rather than as she appears in “the whole of Malory’s Arthuriad whether approached as a collection of assorted tales or as a unified narrative sequence” (Holbrook, 762). The Lady of the Lake, when appreciated, remains imagined only in comparison to the masculine narrative of Arthuriana and Le Morte D’Arthur, specifically mentioned by Holbrook as an “isolated, and in this case even paltry, Merlin affair” (Holbrook, 762). In appreciation of Heng’s work with Morgan le Fay and Holbrook’s recognition of the Lady of the Lake as a “luminary,” I hope to further expand scholarship’s understanding of the Lady of the Lake’s character by studying the Lady and her magic in their own contexts rather than in the narratives or characters she is frequently described to accompany. Magic is a source of mobility and visibility for the Lady in Le Morte d’Arthur. Her femininity is integral to how she uses magic, while magic also gives the Lady agency autonomy as a woman.

For example, she escapes Merlin’s sexual predation by using her magic to entomb him. I argue that magic and femininity are two forces in interplay that define the Lady of the Lake, who influences and shapes the crux of Le Morte D’Arthur through these aspects of her identity. The narrative would not hold without its magical framework, which the Lady provides from her unique position. Thus, despite the marginalization of the Lady by the context of the text and its existing scholarship, the entanglement and inseparability of femininity and magic in Le Morte D’Arthur reveals the Lady of the Lake as crucial to the narrative. The Two Variants of Le Morte D’Arthur The existing texts of Le Morte d’Arthur exist in two variants: the 1485 print published by William Caxton (circa 1422 – circa 1491), and the Winchester manuscript which was copied by two professional scribes between 1470 and 1483 (BL Add. MS 59678, The Malory Project). Both variants are derived from Sir Thomas Malory’s now-lost original holograph, which was written entirely by Malory’s hand.

The Caxton manuscript, a printed edition of Le Morte d’Arthur by William Caxton in 1485, was the first variant to become accessible. The Winchester manuscript was discovered in the Winchester College Library in 1934, and scholars agree that it is closer to Malory’s original holograph than the Caxton. The Winchester and Caxton differ from each other in both content and organization; the Winchester is composed of eight books while the Caxton is composed of twenty-one books with a total of five hundred and seven chapters. The Winchester is also significant in that it contains marginalia (markings in the margins of manuscripts such as comments, scribbles, or decorations) and colophons (statements at the end of a book that reveal information about its authorship), both of which the Caxton lacks or omits. However, the Caxton contains additional fragments of text that are not found in the Winchester, which modify the situations and contexts of events throughout the story. In this paper, I use the 1954 edition of The Works of Thomas Malory by Eugène Vinaver (which brackets words omitted by the Winchester) and the 2015 Canterbury Classics edition of Le Morte d’Arthur. In addition, I also use the digital Winchester and Caxton manuscripts through The Malory Project to provide extensive close readings and interpretations of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (The Malory Project). The historical identity of Sir Thomas Malory remains unclear but has been traditionally attributed to Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, a knight who was jailed for a range of crimes including murder, rape, theft, and extortion (Vinaver, v). Another likely identity is Thomas Malory of Papworth, who has been attributed a rich collection of Arthurian literature through his connections with the Wydville library. However, he is unlikely to be a “knyght-presoner” (knight prisoner) as the author describes himself in the colophon at the end of The Tale of King Arthur in the Winchester manuscript discovered in 1934 (Lumiansky 882; fol. 70v). And yet while considering the identity of Sir Thomas Malory, it is important to note that the author references Le Morte d’Arthur as the “book of Arthur and his knyghtes,” emphasizing the centrality of King Arthur and his knights in the narrative. When studying the margins where the Lady of the Lake dwells, the margins are both literal and metaphorical. The literal margins of the text are where the marginalia dwell, serving as a “metatext” in Le Morte d’Arthur. In this context, the metatext presents itself as an

The Extrahuman Qualities of the Image of the Lady of the Lake The protagonists Arthur and Merlin are approaching a lake when the Lady makes her first appearance in Book I of the Winchester manuscript (fol. 20v). Arthur’s original sword (also referenced as Excalibur in Le Morte d’Arthur) was broken in battle, so Merlin guides Arthur to a lake and explains that the king may obtain a new sword. As they approach the lake, Arthur sees “an arme clothed in whyght samyte, that helde a fayre swerde in that honde” (Vinaver 41). From her arm, we can discern she is clothed in “whyght samyte” (white samite), a rich, silk fabric that is often interwoven with gold (OED, “Samite, N., Sense 1.”). Above the length of her arm, a “fayre swerde” (fair sword) protrudes from the grasp of her hand. The first appearance of the Lady of the Lake in the text is mysterious, yet alluring, and perhaps even glorious. Though only describing her arm, the descriptions of the Lady are rich and luxurious, producing an image of a gleaming sword and lustrous fabric emerging from the water. In another The Noble Tale of the Sangreal, one of the books in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur that retells the quest for the Holy Grail, white samite is also mentioned in reference to another magical or divine – Holy Grail. Natforthan there was no knyght that myght speke one worde a grete whyle; and so they loked every man on other as they had bene doome. Than entire into the halle the Holy Grayle covered with whyght samyte, but there was none that myght se hit, nother whom that bare hit. (Shepherd, 503) In both contexts, white samite accompanies a divine entity–the Holy Grail and the Lady of the Lake–and the white, silken fabric serves to conceal or clothe the entities. Nearly fully submerged in the water, the only visible parts of the Lady are her uncovered arm, the white samite of her clothing, and Excalibur. Piecing these elements together, this fraction of the Lady’s image is radiant–provocative in its unnaturality and unsettling allure–a maiden underwater proudly displaying a weapon. Clothed in white, she even becomes extra-human through the insinuation of her supernatural ability to remain submerged underwater. In this moment, the Lady’s proximity to humanness is questioned, thus prompting a reevaluation of the Lady with respect to the divine instead. The Ambiguity of the Lady of the Lake’s Name, Title, and Identity It is also important to consider that “the Lady of the Lake” is a title for a multitude of Ladies who act as one, rather than a name for a singular individual. Perhaps, it is an appropriate descriptor for individual members of a larger group who can be attributed to the title. For example, there may be many ladies who are all individually referred to as “the Lady of the Lake,” as the instances of the Ladies’ deaths and reappearances suggest. Despite “the Lady of the Lake” functioning closer to a title than to a name (as there are multiple of these Ladies), the text conflates the two with its rare usage of distinction by names (such as in the case of Nyneve, the chief Lady of the Lake), and thus these two attributions combine. As a result, the name “the

Lady of the Lake” becomes synonymous with the title “the Lady of the Lake,” and thus the text insinuates an overlap between the external perception of the Lady and the role of the Lady. There is an inherent plurality to the “Lady of the Lake,” whom the text regards as both a name and title. Within this plurality of the Lady of the Lake, there is a curious combination of permanence and disposability that doubly exist for the Lady—while she dies twice through Le Morte d’Arthur, she also reappears and is consistently present throughout the text until the end. In another example, when the Lady first appears in the Le Morte d’Arthur, the text floods the scene with multiple Ladies of the Lake: there is the Lady going upon the Lake, the Lady in the lake with a sword in her hand, and the Lady who is speaking to Arthur. This multiplicity of the Lady of the Lake, which contains both her disposability by the text and her immortality, parallelize with the text that desires to marginalize the Lady and the Lady who overcomes this marginalization. In the Winchester manuscript, the names of important figures, such as King Arthur, Merlin, or King Arthur’s knights, are written in red ink in contrast to the rest of the text, which is written in black ink. When the Lady of the Lake makes her first appearance in the Winchester manuscript as the “damosell goynge uppon the laake” (fol. 20v), the word “damosell” is marked in black rather than red ink, undifferentiated from the rest of the text, unlike the names or titles of other characters. In the passage where she is introduced, the “Lady of the Lake” or other variants of her name are not mentioned, as the Winchester manuscript omits Arthur’s question and Merlin’s introduction of the Lady, which served as the singular instance of the Lady’s naming in that chapter. In these instances of the omission and lack of distinction of the Lady’s name like the other characters, the text fails to make the significance of the Lady explicit, underscoring her place in Le Morte d’Arthur as marginal. Margin to Margin, the Marginalia Acknowledge the Lady of the Lake Marginalia are embellishments, notes, or illustrations in the margins of a text. In Le Morte d’Arthur, a prominent form of marginalia are inverted triangles, or shield shapes, with text written inside. They are especially prevalent in the Winchester manuscript when the Lady of the Lake is present or about to appear. In the article Inks and Hands and Fingers in the Manuscript of Malory’s “Morte Darthur”, Whetter counts that there are “eighty red-ink marginal notes” across the Winchester manuscript, “some of which are enclosed in various shield-like shapes, some of which are not” (Whetter 433). For example, a shield is drawn to the left of the passage when King Arthur asks the Lady for her sword (fol. 21r). This particular shield is drawn in red ink and is inscribed with the text “here ys a mencion of the Lady of the Laake whan she asked Balyne le Saveage his hede,” foreshadowing how the Lady of the Lake will ask King Arthur for the head of the knight Balin. Whetter points out how these marginalia are unique from the usual marginalia occurring in medieval manuscripts, as they are “not, moreover, the usual sort of gloss identifying or explicating sources that appear in so many different kinds of medieval manuscripts, but very specific summaries of particular narrative events” (Whetter, 433). The marginalia serve as a metatext in Le Morte d’Arthur, as it adorns the body of the text with summaries and prophecies, such as predicting characters’ deaths. Erik Wade supports the theory of the prophetic function of the marginalia in the article Malory’s Marginalia

Excalibur as an Extension of the Lady, Therefore an Extension of Her Magic The Lady extends a part of her magic and power to Arthur through the sword Excalibur, which becomes an essential aspect of Arthur’s conquests, and thus the text. The sword Excalibur occupies a significant and central position in Le Morte d’Arthur, as this weapon is always with the protagonist Arthur. The sword is highly valuable in and to the story, as it helps Arthur win the war against King Lot and the battle against Lucius. The name “Excalibur” comes from the Old French Escalibor, and is also a corrupt form of Caliburnus (often shortened to Caliburn) which comes from the Latin word chalybs (or steel) (Helmut 152). The etymological roots of the sword come together to emphasize its strength. The sword’s strength and value are Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2025 9 also recognized by others, such as by Morgan le Fay, who steals Excalibur from Arthur and replaces it with a counterfeit (Vinaver 103). Similarly, Merlin tells Arthur that the scabbard of Excalibur would prevent him from shedding any blood (Vinaver 43). When Merlin receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, Merlin asks Arthur if he liked the sword or the scabbard better, to which Arthur replied the sword. To Arthur’s response, Merlin tells him “‘Ye are the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde upon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you’” (Vinaver 43).

 In a Freudian reading of the sword and the scabbard, the masculine sword would represent Arthur, while the protective scabbard would represent the Lady. Interestingly, Merlin compares the sword and the scabbard by saying the scabbard is worth ten of the swords, which may be an allusion to both the Lady’s multiplicity and disposability. The idea of the Lady’s disposability exists in parallel with the idea that there are multiples of the Lady–she becomes regarded as less important because there are many of her. This idea becomes visible through the Lady’s multiple deaths throughout the text. Imagining the Lady’s magic as manifested into a physical form, we can recognize the sword Excalibur as part of the Lady. Thus, a part of her that is always carried by the text’s hero; as such, she is able to enter and inhabit the central narrative. Interpreting the sword Excalibur as a part of the Lady, there is an inherent aspect of multiplicity and extension to the Lady of the Lake’s character. The Lady of the Lake Exercises Meaningful Influe

file:///C:/Users/SHWHITT/Downloads/isabelle_lee_final_manuscript.pdf

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Scope:

Defining the Technology portion of the Daydreamin Comics Website in the realm of 4 possible platforms:

1. Digital Asset Management
2. Collect Management
3. Electronic Library

Arch of the Scope

• Meta Data
• Document Management System
• Knowledge Management System      

What is digital asset management? A Digital Asset Management program (also known as “Enterprise Content Management” outside academia) is a set of policies, processes, and systems to identify, capture, store, manage, preserve, and provide access to digital assets of long-term value to the institution.

 Background and scope Digital asset management programs are an attempt to create a technical and policy environment in which digital materials that are deemed to have long-term value can be captured, stored, and managed as institutional assets. A digital asset management program applies to digital materials the same time-tested archival and records management principles that are used for preservation and management of non-digital materials (traditional archives), ensuring access to these materials beyond the life-span of the media, formats, or custodianship of their original authors or owners. Conceived as a campus-wide collection of resources, tools, policies and technologies, a digital asset management program is available for use by all members of the university community. It serves as an access system for current use materials, a repository for inactive materials (perhaps under the auspices of a records management program), and a storage and management infrastructure for the preservation of material for the university archives. The program should be based on a collaborative, federated model, with many campus units and partner organizations participating as content contributors and users, as well as in ongoing development and improvements to the system.

A digital asset management system should be capable of handling a variety of types of information and media formats, including but not limited to single instances or sets of the following:

• Administrative documents and records

• Journal articles and other scholarly papers

 • Theses and dissertations

• Learning objects used in coursework

• Other text documents

• Spreadsheet files

• Image files

• Other multimedia files

• Disk images (i.e., copies of CDs or diskettes)

• Data sets

 • Computer programs

Collection management comprises the balancing, proper organization and maximum utilization of the library materials.

It includes acquiring, processing, organization and dissemination of new collections, and weed out of old and un-used documents from the library. Collection management is the development of collection and the related managerial aspects like budget planning and control, staffing, maintenance of library collection, application of conservation methods, keeping balance between various types of materials, keeping coordination with other departments like processing, reference, circulation, using performance measurement and performance indicators as well as monitoring of library materials for best utilization. Collection organization and management is a complex and multifaceted process and its success depends on various rudiments such as policy formation, user need, community analysis, acquisition, organization, technical processing, resource sharing and weeding out. Collection management is an important library function and involves three major aspects:

• Budgeting for the collection.

• Developing policies for the collection.

• Developing strategies for building, weeding and managing the collection.

In scientific and academic journals, “peer review” is the process of authors submitting their articles to a panel of peers in their field. Those peers are usually selected by the journal publishing the work, and the group of peers is charged with commenting on the article and suggesting revisions. The author then makes those revisions prior to publication. Nearly all scientific journals use this process to revise articles and maintain a high standard of scientific evidence. For academic work, peer-review is the standard way of knowing whether obvious junk and obvious mistakes have been weeded out.

Even then, just because something was peer-reviewed doesn’t even mean we found all the problems—plenty of published, peer-reviewed articles turn out not to be true. Small studies, preliminary studies, and studies with non-obvious bias are regularly disproven by better research. Peer review, though, is the first step in making that group smaller. A peer-reviewed source in academia is just like saying “this product was checked for obvious defects.” Since academic work is the pursuit of better, more nuanced truth, checking ideas for accuracy is a fundamental first step.

Does that mean all other sources are junk? Not at all—professional articles and websites are great sources for big-picture ideas, overviews of a topic, or current events; they are just not very good sources for arguing evidence in an academic field. Professional sources are usually designed to present information to the public in an informative way. Peer-reviewed academic sources, in contrast, are designed to present that information

rigorously as a foundation for further research. If you are studying psychology, for example, you can’t just rely on summaries of what has been done in years past—the state of our knowledge evolves, and you need to look at peer-reviewed sources to find the most recent developments in the field.

3.1 Features of a Digital Library A digital library consists of organized collection of multimedia and other types of resources.

§Resources are available in computer

§process-able form. The functions of acquisition, storage, preservation, and retrieval are carried out

§through the use of digital technology. Access to the entire collection is globally available directly or indirectly across a

§network. Supports users in dealing with §information objects. Helps in the organization and presentation o f t h e a b o v e o b j e c ts t h r o u g h electronic/digital means. In order to have a better understanding of the term “digital library”, the following elements need to be considered:

1. The digital library is not a single entity.

2. The digital library requires technology to link the resources.

3. Universal access to digital libraries and information service is a goal.

2.1 Electronic Library Electronic library, or simply e-library consists of electronic materials and services such as video tapes and CD-ROMs”. Aina (2004) defines electronic library as a library that consists of materials and services in electronic format rather than print format. This implies that digital materials like electronic database, CD-ROMs, video and audio tapes, microforms, among others that require the use of electricity come under electronic libraries. The term “electronic library” is also defined by The National Diet Library, (1998) as “the provision by a library of primary information (actual materials) and secondary

information (information about the materials) electronically, via communications networks, together with the infrastructure for this purpose.” The electronic library provides electronic publications on-line, and will also digitize and make available materials that are presently held in print form. The electronic library is an expansion of traditional library services utilizing new information technologies. It makes a wealth of information accessible, and enables regional or other disparities in information access to be corrected. It acts as a guide to the vast expanse of cyberspace, allowing anyone, anywhere to access information at any time.

Examples of Electronic Library (Resources) Any library or information resources that can be accessed electronically, e.g

. – electronic journals

– scholarly databases

 – electronic books

 – hybrid digital collections

 – Internet gateways and search engines The resources can be free or fee-based access for users.

2.2 Examples of Electronic Library (Resources) Any library or information resources that can be accessed electronically, e.g.

– electronic journals

– scholarly databases

 – electronic books

 – hybrid digital collections

 – Internet gateways and search engines

 The resources can be free or fee-based access for users.

 2.3 Advantages of Electronic Library Electronic library leads to expansion and development of library services in the

Ø following ways: Correcting regional or other disparities in

 Ø information access; Enabling integrated access to many types

 Ø of information; Realizing a variety of functions which utilize information and communications

Ø technologies; Enabling economic and efficient access to information

Digital library collections are not limited to be a document replacement, rather, they extend to be digital view that cannot be represented or distributed in printed formats.

Distinctive Differences between electronic, Digital and Virtual Libraries In order to distinguish electronic, digital and virtual libraries, it is pertinent to consider their formats, collections and access to their resources. Aina, Mutula and Tiamiyu (2008) have described the three concepts as follows: Electronic Library – the core library processes of acquisition, cataloguing, online access, circulation, and information retrieval are computerized. However, the information resources need not be in digital formats. Users have access to librarians but attempts are made to minimize such contact. This type of library by and large also occupies physical space.

Digital Library – may be perceived as an information service or a collection of electronic information resources, in which all the information resources are available in computer processable form. In addition, the func tions of a cquisition, stor age , preservation, retrieval, etc., are carried out using digital technologies such as computers, networks, etc. A digital library contains no conventional printed information resources, but electronic books, journals, and newspapers.

Access to the librarians may also be through electronic means such as email. The library may or may not occupy a physical space, where users need to go to gain access to its electronic resources. Virtual Library – refers to an information service or collection of electronic resources whose collections are entirely in virtual or digital form and information is accessed over a network.

 Such library provides access to virtual indexes, catalogues, and books. Virtual library does not have physical space, where users visit to access information resources. Instead, access is distributed and virtual. It is sometimes referred to as ‘paperless library’, ‘library without walls’, ‘networked library’, ‘seamless library’ and library of the future.

Disadvantages of Digital Library N/S Area of Disadvantage Explanation

1. Copyright Digitization violates the copy right law as the thought content of one author can be freely transfer by other without his acknowledgement. So One difficulty to overcome for digital libraries is the way to distribute information. How does a digital library distribute information at will while protecting the copyright of the author?

2. Speed of Access As more and more computer are connected to the Internet its speed of access reasonably decreasing. If new technology will not evolve to solve the problem then in near future Internet will be full of error messages.

3. Initial cost is high The infrastructure cost of digital library i.e. the cost of hardware, software; leasing communication circuit is generally very high.

4. Band width Digital library will need high band for transfer of multimedia resources but the band width is decreasing day by day due to its over utilization.

5. Efficiency With the much larger volume of digital information, finding the right material for a specific task becomes increasingly difficult.

6. Environment Digital libraries cannot reproduce the environment of a traditional library. Many people also find reading printed material to be easier than reading material on a computer screen.

7. Preservation Due to technological developments, a digital library can rapidly become out-of-date and its data may become inaccessible.

Introduction Electronic information resources is an organized collection of electronic or digitized information and materials available in the digital form which can be accessible by a computer on the network by using any protocol (Hungwa, 2013). E-resources can be considered as a reservoir of a significant aspect of global literature. The role of the library professionals has changed due to the need for a culture of information seeking pattern and behaviour of users towards e-resources. University library professionals are discovering ways to respond to the exponential growth of e-information resources. E-resources have become an integral part of the hybrid library for academicians and researchers. (Kelefa, Emmanuel, & Esther, 2017).

The application of ICT for information storage, processing, access, and communication has also brought several products and services into the landscape of university libraries, consequently, the information seeking patterns and behaviour of users are also being changed simultaneously in recent years. Scholarly information for the academic community of university education are very significant for further research and investigation, which are available in various types of databases, by the instantaneous development in database technologies. Such information needs can be acceded and retrieved effectively and efficiently through the application of ICT and e-resources. University libraries are progressing towards offline and online e-resources for easy access and retrieval of information.

Development in ICT and e-resources technologies has changed how information is acquired, stored, retrieved, disseminated and communicated, along with equally changed the way of rendering information services in university libraries. As e-resources have overcome the problems of storage and flood of information, print sources are being digitized to promote and produce utility (Jasper, et al 2016), and they noted that users find electronic resources smartly and use them more conveniently than print sources. As a result, libraries in response to the information needs of their users are smoothly building the collection of einformation resources available online through the use of the internet and other offline digital formats

have enabled the librarian and library staff to provide better service to the user community within and outside the libraries at the global level. The considerable points for the need for e-resources are mentioned below:

· Access to e-resource can be done by the more than one user.

 · Searching process of e-resource can be accomplished quickly.

· Finding the process of e-resource can be performed easily by the users.

 · Collection of e-resource can be built up in huge amount.

· Amount of time can be saved by using e-resource.

· Collection of e-resource can be organised and managed in digital form

· Efficient delivery of e-resource can be promoted economically to all the users.

 · Co-operative efforts of libraries can be facilitated easily for saving and sharing the investments of organisation and management of e-resources of the libraries. 6. Characteristics and Special Features of E-Resources E-resources can be characterised by the following qualities, which differentiate them from traditional resources: · Access: Access to every document by anyone; from anywhere.

· Retrieval: Retrieval of e-resources is rather performed quickly than print resources.

 · Guided: The users can be guided to the document by providing a link

. · Easiness: Easy to search the text.

· Media: The collection available in electronic format can be of any media.

· Ownership: Not that important

. · Interaction: In electronic environment, the interaction between user and librarian is frequent.

· User group: No defined user group.

 · Software: The software can help the users in retrieving the desired information; hardly intermediate can help users. E-resources on the Internet have the inherent special features of the information on the Net itself. The features of e-resources related to information and media stated by Satija (2003) are as follows:

· Compactness: High compact storage.

 · Reproduction: The reproduction process can be operated easily.

· Easily detaches: Contents can be very easily detaches from their media or container. · Migration: Ease of migration of contents from one medium to another.

 · Communication: Ease of transmission, communication, and storage.

· Hypertext and multimedia;

 · Search approach: Refined and multidimensional searches through keywords, free text, Boolean operators and natural language processing.

7. Types of E-Resources E-resources can be categorised into two categories: Offline and Online. Some popular e-resources in both categories are discussed below:

 · Electronic books: A book is an electronic form of a printed book to be viewed on a computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, or ebook reader (e-reader). As such, it may also be managed on a computer or other convenient electronic device. There are common formats liked by e-readers as Adobe PDF and plain text (TXT).

 · Electronic journal: There is no tangible definition available for electronic journals. In literature, various terminologies have been used by the authors like virtual journals, paperless journals, online journals, scholarly electronic journals, networked journals in place of electronic Journals. An electronic journal is published periodically in electronic format on the Internet. A library may collect important electronic journals for its digital collection. There are currently two types of e-journals: Offline the CD-ROM version, and Online or Internet-based journals (https://www.lisedunetwork.com).

· Electronic newspaper: E-Newspaper is published electronically online in the same format as a normal print publication of the newspapers, which can be accessed through Internet and its tools, along with supplementary content to print publications published exclusively on the World Wide Web. With web addresses, hypertext, and hyperlinks to extra information, uploaded photographs, etc, e-newspapers follow the format of most print newspapers (https://www.easytechjunkie.com).

 · Electronic magazine: Electronic magazine (or e-zine, webzine) is a digital magazine that is hosted, distributed, and read online along with some features of online newspapers and blogs. Electronic magazines have the same editorial approach as traditional magazines. There are some magazine publishers in online editions, referred to as digital editions.

· Pricing of E-Resources The greatest problem of e-resources is pricing. As fixed prices and subscription rates for printed books and printed journals etc. but there are no standard pricing models for e-resources due to the different policies of the publishers. Some publishers and vendors may deal with e-journals only or both e-books and e-journals and together with the additional benefits of accessing open sources. Many pricing models are based on different matrixes.

These matrixes are potential users under a local network, concurrent users, nature of the institution, subscription for a specific period, and different renewal policy; long-term/short-term subscription, access to back files, access through IP addresses/Proxy server, archival license, site restriction, pay-per-view, the offer of open access sources with a subscribed package, length of time of access (five years access may be concessional) ( Ables, 1996). There is a trend of bundle pricing offered by publishers for all their publications. The bundle pricing model gives access to a wide range of collections, but the usability of all the resources contained therein cannot be ensured in advance. Hence, the pricing model is being popular for the acquisition of e-resources. Librarians should negotiate with the publishers or the vendors to arrive at mutually agreed prices if no standard pricing model exists, along with the terms and conditions of accessing the resources. But trial and demonstration for evaluation of the package would be necessary to take the opinion of the users about the usefulness of the product.

· Archival Problem As online resources are remotely located under the ownership of the publishers or vendors, university libraries do access these resources under the terms and conditions of the agreement and licensing policy. This poses serious archival problems for back files after the expiry of the subscription and outright purchase of the package by libraries. So archiving of back files is also a challenge. Hence, the decision has to be taken whether archival responsibility would remain with the publishers or the library will make its own arrangement. Archiving back issues in the local server for the certainty of all-time availability should be given preference. Timely care in its maintenance and migration from the old platform to the new one is important from time to time (Chepesiuk, 2000).

· Management Issues In the beginning of the 21st century, university libraries were feeling about existing library software was incapable of handling eresources due to a lack of library software, open software, and the ERMS (Electronic Resources Management System). In fact, ERMS enables the Users to access e-resources by multiple approaches, and also the requirements of the library staff in maintaining the e

In the beginning of the 21st century, university libraries were feeling about existing library software was incapable of handling e resources due to a lack of library software, open software, and the ERMS (Electronic Resources Management System). In fact, ERMS enables the Users to access e-resources by multiple approaches, and also the requirements of the library staff in maintaining the e resources. ERMS should enable to meet the following users’ approaches:

Arch of the Scope

Meta Data                           

Metadata describes the content, quality, condition, and other characteristics of data. Metadata is generally standardized, structured information that facilitates functions associated with data, such as:

1. Organizing and managing data
2. Preserving data for the long term
3. Ensuring that data can be indexed and discovered in a data repository
4. Retaining the context around which the data was captured or created, which is vital in facilitating comprehension and reuse of the data by other researchers

As indicated in the Miller definition above, metadata helps people find resources and determine their value, for whatever need is at hand. This function of metadata is especially critical in digital environments, where humans rely on computer processing for reliable and timely results:

• Metadata facilitates organization, indexing, discovery, access, analysis, and use of print and online resources.
• Metadata enables software agents to navigate and “comprehend” web content.
• Metadata influences search engine results, rankings, and click-through rates.
• Metadata is even more important for non-textual content that isn’t readily processed by machines (e.g. images, multimedia, datasets).
• Metadata presence and quality (or the lack thereof) can significantly help or hinder time and money expenditures in research activities.

                                                 Document Management System

Document management is how your organization stores, manages, and tracks its electronic documents.

Secure Shared Filing System

            `A. Document Identification Numbers (Similar to Marc Records)

A Document Identification Number (DIN) or Document Number is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to a specific file, form, or piece of correspondence for tracking and authentication. Its exact format and purpose depend on the specific context: [1, 2]

Taxonomy

Define  Knowledge Management System Commercial Online

A Knowledge Management System (KMS) is a centralized digital framework that captures, organizes, and shares company information so employees can quickly find trusted answers. Its primary goal is to break down data silos, reduce redundant work, and preserve critical institutional knowledge. 

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Alex Haley’s Queen: The Story of an American Family

In this epic historical novel, Haley, the author of Roots, traces his lineage on his father’s side from the love affair of an Irish-American plantation owner and a black slave. Though the cast of characters becomes overcrowded in places, this saga provides a grand overview of America’s tortured racial history from Andrew Jackson’s presidency through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Queen, the author’s grandmother, survives incredible trials to see her children reach heights she could never have imagined.

The novel Queen explores the slave trade in America and the wealth and prosperity it brought to the new land in the 17th& 18th centuries. The American Civilwar in 1860s has been fought against the abolition of slavery. The plantation owner of Southern states opposed the freedom of slaves.

The end of the civil war has brought dawn to the Black and they are set free. The bondage of the long years has been slashed and many coloured people moved towards the Northern states dreaming their new way of life. The identity of the Blacks has to be shaped by themselves with their new free life. But the lack of education and pressure of poverty compelled them to work for meagre wages and life a wretched life even after becoming free. The novel gives an account of the trauma of the protagonist, Queen during the search for her identity throughout her life. The term „trauma‟ refers to the severe mental and physical pain.

 The core of the trauma, the mental pain remains a shocking event. The brutality of the incident cannot be experienced at the moment of occurrence, but its harshness anchors in the unconscious. The piercing pain returns to haunt and torment people through the fragments of memory and vague fears repeatedly (Oanh 99). The „trauma‟ of the characters can be depicted through the recurrent imagery and action in the narratives. The authors make use of the images to represent the torturous self and mental agony. In the novel Queen the author uses the image of the flames to signify the tormenting psychological pain of the woman.

Literature Review

Chapter 1: Identity

The novel Queen designates the treatment of Black women in the Southern plantations. Queen was born to the black slave Easter, and her white master, James Jackson. Her light skin has separated her

from both the Blacks and the Whites. The bi-racial birth of Queen, has not been considered as lawful to be the heiress of the plantation. The white master James Jackson Jr has never considered her as his legitimate daughter. Easter has been just a slave mistress. One of the central themes of Queen is the exploration of racial identity and the ambiguity that comes with being of mixed race. The light skinned child born to the White master and the Black slave mother has been called as Mulatto. The white society never accepts the children of the Black women as their race because of the Black bloodline.Queen’s life is a testament to the challenges faced by those who straddled the color line.

The novel meticulously details Queen’s struggle to find a place where she belongs, torn between the world of her mother and that of her father. This duality of identity is a recurring motif throughout the novel, reflecting the broader societal tensions of the time. Queen‟s life encounters a drastic change after the civil war. When all the slaves have been set free, most of the slaves of the plantation move towards the North. The real problem of Queen starts with her position in the family of Jackson. She has not been accepted in the family and is aslave girl with some privileges. Jackson insists her to go for her new life as he cannot pay for her service anymore.

The words of her father hurt her much as she thinks “Iis a family”(477). She considers her duty as a daughter in the family but the Jackson family treats her only as aslave. After informing the family, she heads towards the northern states. But her white skin, which gives her the appearance as a white lady, traps her into trouble. The black girls are warned against the sexual harassments by the mothers. Her trauma starts when she is raped brutally by Digby who has given an illusion of loving her. She has lost her false White identity and starts believing herself as a Black. In Huntsville, she visits a Black church trying to find food and shelter and she declares that she is “a nigra” (530) loudly. Her sense of belongingness has not been fully satisfied then.

Queen finds a shelter in a spinsters‟house in Huntsville. Her love with the Black man Davis results in pregnancy. But unfortunately, he deserts her and has left for his revolution against the White masters. Her boy baby has been named as Abner by the spinsters saying that he has to be brought up religiously.

Queen cannot tolerate the intrusion of the spinsters in bringing up the child. As she never wants to lose her child to anyone and endures all the harshness of life for Abner. Her fear of losing the child causes trauma throughout her life. Queen searches for Davis, who has become a rebellious speaker and eventually finds him. Unfortunately, he is killed by the White masters threatening that they would hurt his son. When Queen looks at the burnt dead body of Davis, her mental agony increases leaving a permanent scar in her mind. The flames have been in her mind and the fire demon is there in her always.

The death of Davis does not affect her at that moment but she experiences the traumatic shocks in her mind recurrently. At the time loss of love or bit of fear and anxiety her past memories torment her. This torture occurs at the sight of fire and flames. Later, when Queen meets Alec and his children she feels home. Her love for being in a family is gratified by being there with the Alec‟s children. She is reluctant in constructing a bond with them. When Abner is well-cared by Alec‟s daughters, she decides to marry him and to become the mother for those motherless children. Her new life with Alec has given her a peaceful environment. She feels that

The couple has a child named Simon. When Simon wants to study, Alec insists him to work with him instead of his studies. Though Queen wants her son to go to high school, she cannot tolerate her separation from her son. Alec insists, she wants to be in the family, and she never wants to be part with her children. The trauma of Queen reaches the climax when she is sorrowful after her son has gone for his studies.

 She has not expressed her grief to anyone but her mind takes her back to all the past incidents and tortures as she witnesses the flames on the stove. She wants to put off the flames but suddenly “the fire had caught her at last”(656). She is treated medically but her talk with her son and her husband brings back her sanity. The Irish bloodline of Queen has not been a part of her identity in the white society.

Her childhood is filled with scars of being a nigger. She has never accepted her identity as a black. The quest for identity is a driving force in Queen’s life. Throughout the novel, she is depicted as a character in constant search of a sense of belonging. Her mixed heritage makes her a perpetual outsider, and this alienation is compounded by the social expectations placed upon her. Queen‟s journey is one of self-discovery, as she attempts to reconcile the disparate parts of her identity. In Los Angels Times, British Screen writer, Stevens compares her search for the identity is the symbolic representation of the black people, especially a black woman,“she became the equivalent of a medieval morality play–an Everywoman” (King). The story is the tragic journey of most of the people in search of their real identity. Haley uses Queen’s story to explore the broader theme of identity formation in a racially divided society.

The novel highlights how identity is not just a personal construct but also a social one, shaped by external perceptions and societal norms. Queen‟s experiences demonstrate the difficulty in framing a compact identity in a world of race and class. Alex Haley’s Queen is a powerful exploration of the complexities of race, identity, and heritage in the American South. Through the story of his grandmother, Haley offers a nuanced portrayal of the challenges faced by mixed-race individuals in a society that rigidly enforces racial boundaries.

 The novel‟s exploration of racial ambiguity, the search for identity, and the impact of societal norms provide valuable insights into the cultural and social dynamics of the post-Civil War era. The novel is not just a historical one but a profound insight into the human relationships and the human experiences along with the ideas of history, culture and society. Haley‟s works demonstrate the relevance to ideology of race, class and sense of belonging in the present time.

Griots Dictionary.com defines Griots as “A member of a hereditary caste among the peoples of western Africa whose function is to keep an oral history of the tribe or village and to entertain with stories, poems, songs, dances, etc” (Griot). The role of the Griot is indispensible in Haley’s search for the truth about his family history. Juffure’s Griot not only verifies his family history but gives a broader history of the Kinte clan and how they came to Gambia from Mali and other African nations. The Griot is a staple fixture in the Mandinka tradition and it could even be said that Kinte drew inspiration from the Griots’ particular way of storytelling and made it his own, in order to save his identity from erasure by colonising forces.

Chapter 2 : Breakdown of the Novel

In the historical novel “Queen” by Alex Haley, readers are taken on an epic journey through generations of a family’s history, tracing the life of a remarkable woman named Queen. Set in the 19th century, this captivating story explores themes of identity, resilience, and the enduring power of family bonds. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, Haley paints a vivid picture of the struggles and triumphs faced by African Americans during a pivotal period in American history.

Brief Synopsis

“Queen” is a sweeping narrative that begins in Africa, where Queen is born into a Mandinka tribe. After being captured and sold into slavery, Queen finds herself aboard a slave ship bound for America. The story follows her as she endures the horrors of plantation life, navigates the complexities of relationships, and ultimately finds her voice and agency in a society that seeks to strip her of both.

The setting of the novel spans multiple locations, from the African continent to the plantations of the American South. Haley’s rich descriptions transport readers to each location, immersing them in the sights, sounds, and emotions of the characters’ experiences.

Main Characters

Summary of Different Story Points

Chapters 1-5: Queen’s Early Life in Africa and Capture

In the early chapters, readers are introduced to Queen’s idyllic life in Africa, where she is part of the Mandinka tribe. However, her world is shattered when slave traders invade her village, capturing Queen and separating her from her family. She endures a treacherous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in America as a slave.

Chapters 6-10: Life on the Plantation

Queen finds herself on the Waller plantation, where she experiences the harsh realities of slavery. She witnesses the brutal treatment of her fellow slaves, endures physical and emotional abuse, and forms a bond with Nancy Holt.

Chapters 11-15: Relationships and Struggles

Queen’s life takes a turn when she catches the attention of Master Waller, who begins to sexually exploit her. She also forms a deep connection with James Jackson, a free black man who educates her and encourages her to fight for her freedom.

Chapters 16-20: Escape and Freedom

With James’s help, Queen escapes the plantation and embarks on a dangerous journey to freedom. Along the way, she faces countless obstacles, but her determination and resourcefulness keep her going. She eventually reaches a free community in the North and starts a new life.

Chapters 21-25: Queen’s Legacy

The final chapters of the book explore Queen’s legacy and the impact she has on future generations. Alec Haley, the author’s grandfather, discovers Queen’s story and feels compelled to uncover his own ancestral roots. Through his research and interviews, he pieces together Queen’s life and preserves her memory for future generations.

Main Events

1. Queen’s capture and journey on a slave ship.
2. Queen’s arrival on the Waller plantation and her experiences as a slave.
3. Queen’s relationship with Nancy Holt and the bond they form.
4. Queen’s exploitation by Master Waller and her search for agency.
5. Queen’s connection with James Jackson and their quest for freedom.
6. Queen’s escape from the plantation and her journey to the North.
7. Alec Haley’s discovery of Queen’s story and his research into his own heritage.

Themes and Insights

• Identity: The novel delves into the exploration of identity, as Queen grapples with her African roots while being forced to adapt to the harsh realities of slavery in America.
• Resilience: Queen’s story is a testament to the indomitable spirit and resilience of enslaved individuals who faced unimaginable hardships but found the strength to persevere.
• Family and Legacy: The importance of family bonds and the power of preserving one’s legacy are central themes in “Queen,” as both Queen and Alec Haley strive to uncover their ancestral roots and honor their heritage.
• Oppression and Resistance: The novel sheds light on the oppressive system of slavery and the various forms of resistance employed by enslaved individuals, highlighting the Bottom of Form

The post Write up on Alex Haley’s Queen: The Story of an American Family appeared first on DayDreamin’ Comics.

Peter Soyer Beagle is the internationally bestselling and much-beloved author of numerous classic fantasy novels and collections, including The Last Unicorn, Tamsin, The Line Between, Sleight of Hand, Summerlong, In Calabria, and The Overneath. He is the editor of The Secret History of Fantasy and the co-editor of The Urban Fantasy Anthology. Beagle published his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, at nineteen, while still completing his degree in creative writing. Beagle’s follow-up, The Last Unicorn, is widely considered one of the great works of fantasy. He has written widely for both stage and screen, including the screenplay adaptations for The Last Unicorn, the animated film of The Lord of the Rings, and the well-known “Sarek” episode of Star Trek. As one of the fantasy genre’s most-lauded authors, Beagle has received the Hugo, Nebula, Mythopoeic, and Locus Awards, as well as the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire. He has also been honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award and the Comic-Con International Inkpot Award. In 2017, he was named 34th Damon Knight Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association for his contributions to fantasy and science fiction. Beagle lives in Richmond, California. He has recently created two collections of his short fiction, The Essential Peter S. Beagle Volumes 1, & 2.        

                                                               The Last Unicorn

Literature Review

A group of human hunters, having unsuccessfully caught any game after several days have passed, come to the realization that they have come across a Unicorn’s territory, a sacred area where animals are kept safe by the Unicorn’s magic. They abandon the hunt but before leaving the Unicorn’s glen one of the hunters shouts out a warning to it that she may be the last of her species. The hunter’s message bothers the Unicorn and though she initially rejects the idea, skepticism and concern begin to trouble her and she eventually resolves to leave her forest to get answers.

During her travels she is surprised to discover that humans that encounter her no longer recognize her as an enchanted creature–seeing a beautiful white mare rather than a Unicorn. She eventually comes upon a sentient butterfly that speaks in cryptic riddles and songs. Initially, the butterfly is evasive about what he knows of the fate of the rest of the Unicorns but he relents and gives her a warning: her kind has been herded against their will by a fearsome magical beast known only as “The Red Bull” controlled by King Haggard.

During her quest Mommy Fortuna, a powerful witch who owns and operates a traveling carnival, imprisons her intending to make her part of her roster of sideshow attractions. Fortuna casts spells on common animals to make patrons believe that they are seeing mythical, legendary beasts such as manticores and satyrs. The Unicorn also receives a similar magical treatment as humanity has all but forgotten her kind. She notices however that she is not the only true enchanted being in the carnival: along with her is a true harpy, Celaeno. A magician named Schmendrick, part of Mommy Fortuna’s carnival troupe, sees the Unicorn for what she truly is and takes pity on her unlocking her cage in the middle of the night. She in turn frees all the other beasts in the carnival, even the harpy Celaeno. Once freed Celaeno takes her revenge on Mommy Fortuna and her hunchbacked lackey, Rukh.

Schmendrick, upon seeing that the traveling carnival is no more, decides to accompany The Unicorn on her quest to find the rest of her kind. Bandits come upon the pair one night and Schmendrick is captured. The Unicorn rescues him but attracts the attention of the bandit leader’s wife, Molly Grue, who is tired of a life of banditry and sees the two as a way out. Joins them on their quest and together they reach the town of Hagsgate located in a territory under King Haggard’s sway. Drinn, a local from Hagsgate tells the trio that the town is under a curse because their king is under a curse himself. The curse can only be broken if someone from Hagsgate manages to destroy King Haggard’s castle and continuing to tell the prophecy Drinn speaks of a baby boy that he found in the Hagsgate market one winter’s night. He knew that the child was the one foretold who’d bring down King Haggard and break the curse.

King Haggard comes upon the baby the following evening however and raises the child as his own. On route to the king’s castle the trio encounter The Red Bull, chasing The Unicorn down and eventually cornering her. Attempting to rescue her Schmendrick cast a particularly powerful magic spell on The Unicorn, accidentally turning her in to a beautiful human woman. The sudden transformation confuses The Red Bull who gives up the assault and returns to his master. The spell has devastating results on the Unicorn: whereas she was once immortal, she is now mortal and suddenly separated from her magic.

Worse, Schmendrick reveals that he is incapable of reversing the spell, as he too is immortal, as mortals are the only ones that can wield real magic. Molly and Schmendrick encourage the now human Unicorn to resume her mission. The trio finally arrives at King Haggard’s castle where they offer their services and loyalty to him in order to learn the whereabouts of the other unicorns. The Unicorn is introduced under the pseudonym “Lady Amalthea” so as not to arouse the suspicions of the King and they are allowed to participate in court. Amalthea’s beauty attracts the attention of the King’s adoptive son, Prince Lír.

In time they discover that the rest of the unicorns have been trapped in the sea for King Haggard’s amusement, as they are the only things that make him happy. Upon divulging this information he then explicitly alleges that she has come to their kingdom to rescue the unicorns and that he is aware of her true identity. Amalthea, however, seems to have forgotten about her true nature as well as her quest. Having been reminded of her quest, the three resume their efforts in earnest and following the advice gleaned from a cat they locate the entrance to the Red Bull’s den. King Haggard and his forces try to stop them but they manage to enter the lair where Prince Lír joins them.

The Bull immediately attacks them and Schmendrick casts a true spell to restore Amalthea to her original form, willingly giving up his immortality in the process. Lír tries to defend Amalthea by foolishly getting in between the charging bull and her, and he is promptly trampled to death for his heroics. Infuriated by the death of the prince Amalthea manages to awaken her latent magical abilities and she succeeds in driving the Red Bull into the sea.

The Red Bull, being an elemental creature of fire, perishes immediately in the sea, and with its’ death the other unicorns are freed. They promptly return to their forest and with the unicorns gone King Haggard falls into despair once more and his castle slowly begins to come undone and soon there is no trace of it. The Unicorn revives Prince Lír with her magic, and now, with King Haggard gone he wishes to follow her back into the forest but Schmendrick counsels him not to.

Later they learn that the man Drinn is in truth Prince Lír’s true father and that he had left him in the market place to fulfill the prophecy. Seeing condition of Hagsgate, Lír resolves to take on the duties of a king to restore the city. Schmendrick and Molly part ways with Lír and The Unicorn content to live out their lives on the edge of the kingdom.

The Unicorn/Amalthea returns to the forest, but before she does she confides to Schmendrick that the experience of mortality has changed her. She is unique in that she is the only unicorn to ever understand what it is to feel love–and feel regret. Many years later Schmendrick and Molly cross paths with another princess in need of help and they advise her to go to Lír as he is a hero.

The post Write up on Peter Soyer Beagle’s the Last Unicorn appeared first on DayDreamin’ Comics.

Introduction:

William Henry Cosby Jr. was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on July 12, 1937, to Anna and William Cosby. One of Cosby’s four brothers died at age six. Cosby’s father joined the navy and was away from home for months at a time. Cosby, as the oldest son, helped his mother pay the bills by doing odd jobs such as delivering groceries and shining shoes.

Bill Cosby’s comedy creation, “Fat Albert.” Actually, this movie should really be titled, “Slightly Over Weight Albert” because the star of the movie can hardly be called fat. In any event, the lead character is based on Bill Cosby’s childhood stories about growing up in Philadelphia in the fifties. Fat Albert was always a favorite in Bill Cosby’s famous comedy routines, and that led to an animated television special, to a TV series and finally a live-action feature film. Where do I fit into all this, you ask? Well, I was there at the beginning. Bill Cosby’s comedy creation, “Fat Albert In any event, the lead character is based on Bill Cosby’s childhood stories about growing up in Philadelphia in the fifties. Fat Albert was always a favorite in Bill Cosby’s famous comedy routines, and that led to an animated television special, to a TV series and finally a live-action feature film. Where do I fit into all this, you ask? Well, I was there at the beginning. 

Richard Allen II is probably best known as the place where comedian Bill Cosby grew up near 11th and Parrish Streets. Richard Allen II is probably best known as the place where comedian Bill Cosby grew up near 11th and Parrish Streets.

Literature Review

Bill Cosby’s “The Brown Hornet” Historical African American Super Hero Records

Although originally part of the second version of the show The New Fat Albert Show from 1979 and later versions, mention should also be made of the revolutionary Brown Hornet character. Much has been made of late about how the recent critically acclaimed film Black Panther has finally depicted black superheroes and provided African American children (and others of course) with a role model, someone to admire and look up to, someone who actually looks like them. This was anticipated, however, over forty years ago with the cartoon within the Fat Albert show involving the African-American superhero the Brown Hornet, a variation of the Green Hornet television show and hero.1 A comic book treatment of this hero is mentioned back in the earlier series and Cosby also made use of the Green Hornet, in a different form, in an earlier radio show. The full-blown cartoon segment of the show, beginning with “it’s not a bird, it’s not a bee, it’s the brown hornet”, ended up replacing the closing songs by the Junkyard band and served a similar function, mirroring the dilemma dealt with in the main sequence involving the Junkyard gang. Although the Brown Hornet cartoon is not particularly impressive in terms of animation and story-line, it makes a very powerful impact as we witness the Junkyard gang glued to the television in their clubhouse, proud and inspired to have a hero to watch and emulate who shares their skin colour. This positive role-model was all the more powerful when one recalls the long history of derogatory portrayals of African-Americans in popular culture, most famously/infamously in the Blackface Minstrelsy tradition.

https://englishlit.ege.edu.tr/files/englishlit/icerik/4_%20David%20Livingstone%20Website%20Version.pdf

The syndicated episodes have sporadic Brown Hornet stories, or new segment called “Legal Eagle.” The lead character is a heroic type who spouts mixed-up proverbs, but the cartoon really focuses on the mishaps of critters Gabby and Moe. These segments are cute, but it doesn’t seem as believable that every member of Fat Albert’s gang would rush to watch it as they do with the much cooler Brown Hornet. (Cosby is not heard doing any Legal Eagle voices.)

The syndicated episodes have sporadic Brown Hornet stories, or new segment called “Legal Eagle.” The lead character is a heroic type who spouts mixed-up proverbs, but the cartoon really focuses on the mishaps of critters Gabby and Moe. These segments are cute, but it doesn’t seem as believable that every member of Fat Albert’s gang would rush to watch it as they do with the much cooler Brown Hornet. (Cosby is not heard doing any Legal Eagle voices.)

Chapter 1 The Brown Hornet

The Brown Hornet is a fictional African-American superhero who serves as the central character in a serialized animated segment featured within the children’s television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Depicted as a confident, golden-garbed space adventurer, he pilots a malfunction-prone, bee-shaped spaceship through the cosmos, battling interstellar villains alongside his sidekick Stinger—a loyal assistant—and Tweeterbell—a robotic companion—while imparting moral lessons on themes like justice and perseverance.[1][2]Introduced in 1979 as part of The New Fat Albert Show—a retooling of the original series produced by Filmation Associates for CBS—the Brown Hornet segments parody classic radio and film serials, such as The Green Hornet, with cliffhanger endings that resolve in subsequent episodes. Voiced by Bill Cosby, the character was a favorite among the show’s protagonists, a group of Philadelphia youths led by Fat Albert, who would gather in their junkyard clubhouse to watch the “broadcasts,” often drawing parallels between the hero’s dilemmas and their own real-life challenges.[1][3]The segments aired from 1979 to 1984, emphasizing positive messages for young audiences while contributing to the representation of Black superheroes in mainstream animation during the era. Though short-lived compared to the main series, which ran from 1972 to 1985, the Brown Hornet has endured as a nostalgic icon, influencing later discussions on diversity in children’s media and appearing in merchandise like comic books and apparel.[1][4]

Chapter 2 : Overview and Concept

Character Description

The Brown Hornet is depicted as a Black superhero dressed in golden garb, complete with a flowing cape and a mask that conceals his identity, as he journeys across the universe to battle evildoers and deliver important moral lessons to viewers.[5] He is joined by his loyal sidekicks: Stinger, a large and somewhat bumbling figure clad in pink who serves as his trusty assistant, and Tweeterbell, a small, squeaky-voiced white robot that aids in their adventures.Typical episodes follow a serialized structure reminiscent of classic adventure serials, opening with the trio trapped in dire peril aboard their distinctive hornet-shaped spaceship; the crisis is swiftly resolved by the Brown Hornet snapping his white-gloved fingers to activate his superpowers, though each victory proves short-lived as a new, more pressing threat emerges without delay.[6] This format underscores the character’s role in promoting positive values, with the Fat Albert gang often viewing these segments on their clubhouse television as a favorite pastime.[7]The Brown Hornet embodies parody through its hoarse-whispering narration delivered in a gravelly voice, blending hardboiled detective noir tropes with over-the-top space opera elements for comedic effect.[8]

Role in Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

In Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, the Brown Hornet served as a recurring cartoon-within-a-cartoon segment that aired from 1979 to 1984, presented as a favorite program watched by Fat Albert and his gang on a dilapidated television set in their junkyard clubhouse.[9] This meta-format allowed the superhero adventures to interrupt the main storyline, providing escapist entertainment while reinforcing the series’ educational messages about friendship, responsibility, and personal growth. The Brown Hornet’s exploits, featuring the titular hero and his sidekicks Stinger and Tweeterbell, often paralleled the moral dilemmas faced by the North Philadelphia kids, blending action with subtle life lessons.[2][10]Specific episodes highlighted direct interactions with the Brown Hornet concept. In the 1984 episode “Video Mania,” Weird Harold becomes obsessed with playing a Brown Hornet-themed arcade game, illustrating the dangers of excessive screen time and the value of balancing fun with real-life priorities.[11] Another installment, “Film Follies” from 1984, sees the gang creating their own homemade Brown Hornet movie for a school film festival, showcasing creativity and teamwork as they reenact the superhero’s adventures.[10] The 1982 special The Fat Albert Easter Special prominently features a Brown Hornet vignette where the character crash-lands and teaches the kids about the importance of giving, renewal, and community spirit during the Easter season.Overall, the Brown Hornet functioned as both a narrative device and a thematic mirror, offering the characters—and viewers—inspirational tales that echoed the show’s commitment to positive social messaging without overshadowing the primary storylines.[7]

Creation and Inspiration

Chapter 3 Origins in Radio

The Brown Hornet was conceived by Bill Cosby as a recurring serialized segment in his syndicated radio program, debuting in early 1968 as a comedic parody of classic radio adventure serials like The Green Hornet and the hardboiled detective genre.[12][13] Sponsored by Coca-Cola and distributed to over 200 radio stations, the five-minute daily inserts featured improvised humor, sound effects, and cliffhanger narratives emphasizing the protagonists’ bungled crime-fighting escapades, such as chasing minuscule villains or getting lost in forests during pursuits.[12][14]In these segments, Cosby voiced the titular hero, The Brown Hornet, a self-proclaimed champion of justice who operated from a “very fast car” known as the White Beauty, often leading to chaotic road mishaps and exaggerated detective tropes like decoding cryptic clues or evading absurd threats.[12][15] His sidekick, Leroy, served as the driver and reluctant partner, whispering responses in a hoarse tone while handling practical duties amid the duo’s frequent failures, such as car breakdowns or overlooked details in investigations.[12] The team was completed by their loyal pet dog, Weaver, who added to the comedy through antics like causing distractions during chases or requiring rescues, underscoring themes of camaraderie and incompetence.[12][15]The segments aired within The Bill Cosby Radio Program, a Monday-through-Friday series produced by Frank Buxton and featuring additional sketches, musical interludes, and Coca-Cola advertisements, with over 350 episodes syndicated nationwide from 1968 onward.[12][13] Early serials, such as “The Teeny Weeny Hold-Up Man Murder Clue” (spanning 28 chapters from January to July 1968) and “The Haunted House by the Side of the Road Where Their Car Broke Down in the Rain Murder Clue” (20 chapters in August-September 1968), exemplified the format’s blend of slapstick, malapropisms, and serialized storytelling that later influenced its adaptation into animation.[15]

Adaptation to Animation

In 1979, Filmation Studios reimagined The Brown Hornet, originally a radio parody created by Bill Cosby, as a caped and masked superhero for integration into the animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (retitled The New Fat Albert Show). This adaptation transformed the character from an earthbound detective engaged in car chases, as depicted in Cosby’s 1968 syndicated radio program parodying The Green Hornet, into a space-faring hero combating cosmic threats in a style reminiscent of Space Ghost. The shift emphasized adventurous, interstellar escapades, aligning with the era’s popularity of science fiction animation while maintaining the character’s humorous, bumbling persona.[8]The segments featuring The Brown Hornet were produced as self-contained “show-within-a-show” episodes embedded within Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, airing on CBS from September 1979 to 1984. Bill Cosby served as executive producer for these additions and provided the primary voice for the character, drawing directly from his stand-up routines to infuse the animation with authentic comedic timing. Filmation’s production team, including co-producer Lou Scheimer as narrator, crafted the segments to fit seamlessly into the parent show’s format, where Fat Albert and his friends would gather in their junkyard clubhouse to “watch” the hero’s exploits on a fictional television.[16][1]Key stylistic and narrative changes distinguished the animated version from its radio roots. The Brown Hornet’s signature vehicle evolved from a high-speed car to a sleek spaceship called the Hornet Mobile, enabling interstellar travel and battles against alien villains. His sidekicks were updated to Stinger, a muscular enforcer, and Tweeterbell, a diminutive robot companion providing comic relief and gadget support, replacing the more grounded allies of the original concept. To harmonize with Fat Albert‘s educational mission, each segment incorporated a moral lesson—often addressing themes like teamwork, honesty, or perseverance—delivered through the hero’s resolutions, reinforcing the series’ focus on positive social values for young audiences.[8][2]

Chapter 4 Fictional Elements

Powers and Abilities

The Brown Hornet possesses superhuman strength and the ability to fly, enabling him to overpower adversaries and navigate cosmic environments. He can escape from dangerous situations with a snap of his white-gloved fingers, often resolving threats instantaneously, such as escaping traps or generating protective barriers during interstellar conflicts.[17]He also demonstrates resilience to space hazards, permitting him to confront threats across the universe without sustaining injury. He employs these powers strategically to thwart interstellar villains, often outmaneuvering them through clever tactics that highlight problem-solving and ethical decision-making rather than brute force alone. He has shapeshifting abilities and can create objects out of thin air to aid in his adventures.[8]Central to his character is a reliance on quick wit and moral authority over technological gadgets, underscoring themes of justice, perseverance, and personal integrity in his adventures. This approach ensures that victories serve as teachable moments, reinforcing positive values while combating evil. He occasionally utilizes a hornet-shaped spaceship for rapid interstellar travel, complementing his innate abilities.[18]

Sidekicks and Setting

The Brown Hornet’s adventures are supported by two distinctive sidekicks who provide both assistance and comic elements to the ensemble. Stinger serves as the hero’s large, somewhat dimwitted companion, often clad in a pink outfit consisting of a shirt, shorts, boots, and a red cape, complemented by a white cap, gloves, and a black domino mask. His bumbling actions and overweight physique contribute to humorous mishaps, offering comic relief while loyally standing by the Brown Hornet during confrontations with villains.[2][4]Complementing Stinger is Tweeterbell, a small, anthropomorphic white robot resembling a transistor radio, equipped with wheels for feet, humanlike gloved hands, light blue eyes, a small yellowish-orange cape, and an orange floppy hat, also wearing a black domino mask. With her squeaky, high-pitched voice, Tweeterbell delivers technical support, gadgetry, and witty commentary, enhancing the team’s problem-solving capabilities in high-stakes scenarios.[2][1]The stories unfold across an intergalactic setting, where the trio embarks on spacefaring missions aboard a barely functional, hornet-shaped spaceship complete with wings, navigating the cosmos to combat outlandish cosmic threats and ne’er-do-wells. These adventures emphasize themes of justice and morality, with episodes typically concluding on cliffhangers that depict the heroes facing new, seemingly inescapable perils, teasing future installments.[2][8]

Media Appearances

Television Episodes

The Brown Hornet appeared as recurring 5-7 minute animated segments integrated into episodes of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids from 1979 to 1985, serving as a show-within-a-show that the main characters eagerly watched in their junkyard clubhouse.[2] These vignettes featured standalone adventures of the superhero and his sidekick Stinger combating villains like the evil Roach while emphasizing moral lessons such as teamwork, honesty, and responsibility, often concluding with cliffhanger endings that teased future exploits.[10] The segments parodied classic superhero tropes from 1970s television, including dramatic narration and over-the-top action sequences, without a comprehensive official episode list documented in production records.[19]Notable integrations highlighted the Brown Hornet’s influence on the Fat Albert gang. In the episode “Film Follies” (Season 8, Episode 20, aired January 12, 1985), the kids produce their own Brown Hornet film for a school festival, learning about collaboration and directorial authority when Rudy’s ego disrupts the project.[20] The 1982 Fat Albert Easter Special prominently features the Brown Hornet, who crash-lands to aid the group in understanding themes of renewal, forgiveness, and community giving during an Easter outreach effort.[21] Additionally, in “Video Mania” (Season 8, Episode 13), Weird Harold’s obsession with arcade games includes playing a Brown Hornet-themed cabinet, underscoring lessons on moderation and earning rewards through honest work.[22] These crossovers blended the superhero parody with the series’ educational focus, reinforcing positive values through entertaining narratives.

Fictional Theatrical Film

In the 2004 live-action film Fat Albert, the characters watch a fictional blockbuster titled The Brown Hornet: The Great Galaxy World Adventure Movie, presented as an in-universe superhero feature that inspires the gang’s sense of heroism and camaraderie.[23]This diegetic film parodies the structure of superhero origin stories, unfolding across a galaxy-spanning narrative where The Brown Hornet confronts interstellar villains while imparting lessons on perseverance, teamwork, and ethical decision-making, thereby mirroring the moral themes of the original animated series.[24]As a narrative device, it underscores the characters’ admiration for the hero, motivating their real-world actions in the story, though no actual production of the film exists outside its portrayal within Fat Albert.[23]

Other Media

The Brown Hornet made a brief cameo appearance in the 1976 black comedy film Mother, Jugs & Speed, where Bill Cosby, playing the ambulance driver “Mother,” introduces himself on a CB radio as the character, complete with his sidekick Stinger.[25]In television, the character appeared as an imagined hero in the 2007 South Park episode “Imaginationland, Episode I,” depicted among other fictional figures in the Imaginationland setting during the terrorist attack storyline.[26] The Brown Hornet was also parodied in the 2012 Black Dynamite animated series episode “Sweet Bill’s Badass Singalong Song… or Bill Cosby Ain’t Himself,” where an army of henchmen resembling the superhero serve as Bill Cosby’s enforcers in a satirical plot involving brainwashing black celebrities.[27]The character received a musical nod in the lyrics of “Thought @ Work” by The Roots from their 2002 album Phrenology, where Black Thought raps, “I’m like Aquaman and Brown Hornet,” likening his prowess to the fictional hero.[28]Beyond direct references, the Brown Hornet has influenced cultural discussions on black superheroes, often cited as an early example of African American representation in media from the 1970s. This legacy extends to merchandise, including T-shirts featuring the character’s likeness and catchphrases, available through retailers like Amazon and TeePublic, appealing to nostalgia for Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.[29]

Production and Voice Cast

Production History

The Brown Hornet animated segments were produced by Filmation Studios as recurring “show-within-a-show” features integrated into the Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids television series, which aired on CBS from 1972 to 1984 before transitioning to syndication from 1984 to 1985.[30] These segments debuted in 1979 during the third season, retitled The New Fat Albert Show, and appeared in numerous episodes starting from that season, emphasizing moral lessons through superhero adventures.[9]Bill Cosby, drawing from his experiences portraying a similar character in a syndicated radio program during the late 1960s and early 1970s, created, executive produced, wrote, and voiced the Brown Hornet, infusing the production with elements from his stand-up routines and radio sketches that parodied classic superhero serials like The Green Hornet.[31] Filmation’s approach relied on limited animation techniques to maintain low production costs, recycling common superhero tropes such as dramatic escapes and villain confrontations while aligning the segments thematically with the main Fat Albert stories.[30] The exact number of Brown Hornet segments is not definitively documented.[2]No comprehensive episode guide exists solely for the Brown Hornet segments, as they were not tracked separately from the parent series, and production ceased with the conclusion of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in 1985.[9]

The post Write up on Bill Cosby’s “Brown Hornet” Historical Records African American SuperHero appeared first on DayDreamin’ Comics.

Introduction

William Faulkner (1897-1962), who came from an old southern family, grew up in Oxford, Mississippi. He joined the Canadian, and later the British, Royal Air Force during the First World War, studied for a while at the University of Mississippi, and temporarily worked for a New York bookstore and a New Orleans newspaper. Except for some trips to Europe and Asia, and a few brief stays in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, he worked on his novels and short stories on a farm in Oxford.

In an attempt to create a saga of his own, Faulkner has invented a host of characters typical of the historical growth and subsequent decadence of the South. The human drama in Faulkner’s novels is then built on the model of the actual, historical drama extending over almost a century and a half Each story and each novel contributes to the construction of a whole, which is the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County and its inhabitants. Their theme is the decay of the old South, as represented by the Sartoris and Compson families, and the emergence of ruthless and brash newcomers, the Snopeses. Theme and technique – the distortion of time through the use of the inner monologue are fused particularly successfully in The Sound and the Fury (1929), the downfall of the Compson family seen through the minds of several characters. The novel Sanctuary (1931) is about the degeneration of Temple Drake, a young girl from a distinguished southern family. Its sequel, Requiem For A Nun (1951), written partly as a drama, centered on the courtroom trial of a Negro woman who had once been a party to Temple Drake’s debauchery. In Light in August (1932), prejudice is shown to be most destructive when it is internalized, as in Joe Christmas, who believes, though there is no proof of it, that one of his parents was a Negro. The theme of racial prejudice is brought up again in Absalom, Absalom! (1936), in which a young man is rejected by his father and brother because of his mixed blood. Faulkner’s most outspoken moral evaluation of the relationship and the problems between Negroes and whites is to be found in Intruder In the Dust (1948).

In 1940, Faulkner published the first volume of the Snopes trilogy, The Hamlet, to be followed by two volumes, The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959), all of them tracing the rise of the insidious Snopes family to positions of power and wealth in the community. The reivers, his last – and most humorous – work, with great many similarities to Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, appeared in 1962, the year of Faulkner’s death.

Significance of the Study                                    

The Shift – Primitive Values Go down, Moses is a collection of short stories. They tell the composite history of the McCaslin family, of the descendants of Carothers McCaslin and the residents of the plantation he founded. With the bits of information appearing in the stories the complete history of Carothers McCaslin is clarified. Each story is independent of the other and has its own plot. This collection is interrelated with a number of themes, which are intertwined and spread out among a multitude of stories and characters. Go down, Moses can be said that another brilliant set piece, which takes a probing look to understand the south as a whole. It is also proof to the modern American south. Among the creations of God man is the highest. He plays a prominent role right from the time of creation.

“Go Down, Moses [is] a collection of seven stories by William Faulkner, published in 1942, which treat the McCaslin family, white and black, from the time of Lucius, the founder at the opening of the 19th century, to the mid-20th century, all together representative of Southern history. Hunting and rituals of initiation are basic metaphors. The longest and most significant of the stories is The Bear.” James D. Hart The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 5th edition (Oxford 1941-83) 286 “There are in Go Down, Moses two loosely related strands of subject matter—the life of the ascetic Isaac McCaslin, the hunter, and the life of Lucas Beauchamp, the son of the mulatto slave who in turn had been the son of Carothers McCaslin, Isaac’s grandfather. The antecedents of Isaac are explained in ‘Was,’ the humorous story in which we learn that Uncle Bud and Uncle Buck, Isaac’s father, refused to profit from slavery. Isaac himself figures dominantly in ‘The Old People,’ ‘The Bear,’ and ‘Delta Autumn.’ Two chapters are devoted to Lucas Beauchamp and his family, ‘The Fire and the Hearth’ and “Go Down, Moses.’

 Both of these sections, however, relate more directly and intimately to the action in Intruder in the Dust, a later novel, than to the chapters devoted to Isaac. The theme implicit in the sections devoted to Lucas Beauchamp is white injustice to the Negro, and the theme implicit in those devoted to Isaac is the nobility of character to be learned from life in the wilderness. In ‘The Bear’ Faulkner attempts to bring the two subject matters and therefore the two themes together, with the wilderness theme dominating.” William Van O’Connor “The Wilderness One The Shift – Primitive Values Go down, Moses is a collection of short stories. They tell the composite history of the McCaslin family, of the descendants of Carothers McCaslin and the residents of the plantation he founded. With the bits of information appearing in the stories the complete history of Carothers McCaslin is clarified.

 Each story is independent of the other and has its own plot. This collection is interrelated with a number of themes, which are intertwined and spread out among a multitude of stories and characters. Go down, Moses can be said that another brilliant set piece, which takes a probing look to understand the south as a whole. It is also proof to the modern American south. Among the creations of God man is the highest. He plays a prominent role right from the time of creation.

“Go Down, Moses [is] a collection of seven stories by William Faulkner, published in 1942, which treat the McCaslin family, white and black, from the time of Lucius, the founder at the opening of the 19th century, to the mid-20th century, all together representative of Southern history. Hunting and rituals of initiation are basic metaphors. The longest and most significant of the stories is The Bear.” James D. Hart The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 5th edition (Oxford 1941-83) 286 “There are in Go Down, Moses two loosely related strands of subject matter—the life of the ascetic Isaac McCaslin, the hunter, and the life of Lucas Beauchamp, the son of the mulatto slave who in turn had been the son of Carothers McCaslin, Isaac’s grandfather. The antecedents of Isaac are explained in ‘Was,’ the humorous story in which we learn that Uncle Bud and Uncle Buck, Isaac’s father, refused to profit from slavery. Isaac himself figures dominantly in ‘The Old People,’ ‘The Bear,’ and ‘Delta Autumn.’ Two chapters are devoted to Lucas Beauchamp and his family, ‘The Fire and the Hearth’ and “Go Down, Moses.’ Both of these sections, however, relate more directly and intimately to the action in Intruder in the Dust, a later novel, than to the chapters devoted to Isaac.

The theme implicit in the sections devoted to Lucas Beauchamp is white injustice to the Negro, and the theme implicit in those devoted to Isaac is the nobility of character to be learned from life in the wilderness. In ‘The Bear’ Faulkner attempts to bring the two subject matters and therefore the two themes together, with the wilderness theme dominating.” William Van O’Connor “The Wilderness One The Shift – Primitive Values Go down, Moses is a collection of short stories. They tell the composite history of the McCaslin family, of the descendants of Carothers McCaslin and the residents of the plantation he founded. With the bits of information appearing in the stories the complete history of Carothers McCaslin is clarified. Each story is independent of the other and has its own plot.

This collection is interrelated with a number of themes, which are intertwined and spread out among a multitude of stories and characters. Go down, Moses can be said that another brilliant set piece, which takes a probing look to understand the south as a whole. It is also proof to the modern American south. Among the creations of God man is the highest. He plays a prominent role right from the time of creation.

“Go Down, Moses [is] a collection of seven stories by William Faulkner, published in 1942, which treat the McCaslin family, white and black, from the time of Lucius, the founder at the opening of the 19th century, to the mid-20th century, all together representative of Southern history. Hunting and rituals of initiation are basic metaphors.

The longest and most significant of the stories is The Bear.” James D. Hart The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 5th edition (Oxford 1941-83) 286 “There are in Go Down, Moses two loosely related strands of subject matter—the life of the ascetic Isaac McCaslin, the hunter, and the life of Lucas Beauchamp, the son of the mulatto slave who in turn had been the son of Carothers McCaslin, Isaac’s grandfather. The antecedents of Isaac are explained in ‘Was,’ the humorous story in which we learn that Uncle Bud and Uncle Buck, Isaac’s father, refused to profit from slavery. Isaac himself figures dominantly in ‘The Old People,’ ‘The Bear,’ and ‘Delta Autumn.’ Two chapters are devoted to Lucas Beauchamp and his family, ‘The Fire and the Hearth’ and “Go Down, Moses.’ Both of these sections, however, relate more directly and intimately to the action in Intruder in the Dust, a later novel, than to the chapters devoted to Isaac. The theme implicit in the sections devoted to Lucas Beauchamp is white injustice to the Negro, and the theme implicit in those devoted to Isaac is the nobility of character to be learned from life in the wilderness. In ‘The Bear’ Faulkner attempts to bring the two subject matters and therefore the two themes together, with the wilderness theme dominating.” William Van O’Connor “The Wilderness One The Shift – Primitive Values Go down, Moses is a collection of short stories. They tell the composite history of the McCaslin family, of the descendants of Carothers McCaslin and the residents of the plantation he founded. With the bits of information appearing in the stories the complete history of Carothers McCaslin is clarified. Each story is independent of the other and has its own plot. This collection is interrelated with a number of themes, which are intertwined and spread out among a multitude of stories and characters. Go down, Moses can be said that another brilliant set piece, which takes a probing look to understand the south as a whole. It is also proof to the modern American south. Among the creations of God man is the highest. He plays a prominent role right from the time of creation.

“Go Down, Moses [is] a collection of seven stories by William Faulkner, published in 1942, which treat the McCaslin family, white and black, from the time of Lucius, the founder at the opening of the 19th century, to the mid-20th century, all together representative of Southern history. Hunting and rituals of initiation are basic metaphors. The longest and most significant of the stories is The Bear.” James D. Hart The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 5th edition (Oxford 1941-83) 286 “There are in Go Down, Moses two loosely related strands of subject matter—the life of the ascetic Isaac McCaslin, the hunter, and the life of Lucas Beauchamp, the son of the mulatto slave who in turn had been the son of Carothers McCaslin, Isaac’s grandfather. The antecedents of Isaac are explained in ‘Was,’ the humorous story in which we learn that Uncle Bud and Uncle Buck, Isaac’s father, refused to profit from slavery. Isaac himself figures dominantly in ‘The Old People,’ ‘The Bear,’ and ‘Delta Autumn.’ Two chapters are devoted to Lucas Beauchamp and his family, ‘The Fire and the Hearth’ and “Go Down, Moses.’ Both of these sections, however, relate more directly and intimately to the action in Intruder in the Dust, a later novel, than to the chapters devoted to Isaac. The theme implicit in the sections devoted to Lucas Beauchamp is white injustice to the Negro, and the theme implicit in those devoted to Isaac is the nobility of character to be learned from life in the wilderness. In ‘The Bear’ Faulkner attempts to bring the two subject matters and therefore the two themes together, with the wilderness theme dominating.” William Van O’Connor “The Wilderness One

Literature Review

The book tells the story primarily of the McCaslin family, starting in the late 1700s (likely the land’s original American proprietor) and continuing into childless Isaac ‘Ike’ McCaslin’s  old age, where the novel begins. After establishing Ike as “uncle to half a county and father to no one”, already anticipating the tale of his family’s mixed black-white branch. Faulkner then flashes back to a memory of Ike’s elder cousin, McCaslin Edmonds, of a time he accompanied his uncle Buck to bring back an escaped slave.

The story takes place in 1859, just before the War, a time for which Southern writers lesser than Faulkner may have expressed nostalgia. In Faulkner’s 1859, although aristocratic Southern society has yet to unravel, its fabric is fraying at the edges. A fascination with those edges, with the liminal, has often characterized the best Southern literature: O’Connor, for instance, uses “freaks” and the grotesque to heighten her examination of fallen human nature. To the deaf you shout, she avowed in one essay, and to the nearly-blind you make wild and exaggerated gestures – hence a murdered grandmother, a Bible salesman turned sexual abuser, or a woman gored by a bull. Faulkner tends to rely less on implausible situations, not so much shouting as attuning readers’ ears to the minute gestures with undertones humorous, ominous, or shocking.

By way of summary, a McCaslin slave runs for a neighboring plantation, where he plans to see Tennie, a slave of the Beauchamp family. A nine-year-old McCaslin Edmonds, ‘Cass’ for short, accompanies his impetuous and single Uncle Buck to try to run him down before he reaches the Beauchamps’, while his Uncle Buddy, also a bachelor, stays home but counsels him to look after Buck. (The uncles’ full names are Theophilus and Amodeus, respectively Greek and Latin for ‘lover of God’.) Hubert Beauchamp has a sister, Sophonsiba, who’s tried to seduce Buck before. Sophonsiba wants a husband, her brother wants to find her one, and both McCaslins want to stay single: Sophonsiba has tried to force Buck’s hand before, but his canny brother always interferes.

After Buck and Cass arrive, Hubert asks him to take a drink on the porch before chasing down his slave, and Buck obliges. Several drinks and midday dinner later, and we realize Buck is the real quarry, lured to “bear-country” by his slave. Turns out, the slave (“Tomey’s Turl”) has gotten Tennie to cut a deal: he lures Buck to Warwick (pretentious and unfounded name of the Beauchamps’ farm) for Sophonsiba, and her husband will arrange for he or Tennie to be sold so they can be together. After tracking Turl unsuccessfully all night (and all but emptying a liquor bottle in the process), Buck finally lays down in an unused bedroom. Sophonsiba screams, and Buck has been caught: for his and Sophonsiba’s honor, he’ll be forced to marry her.

The story plays out like a comedy: two uncles, one shrewd and the other bumbling; a secret plot by two lovers to be together and play matchmakers in the process; the dramatic irony as we watch Buck stumble unknowingly into the trap; a fox wreaking havoc in the big house by drawing the dogs at full-speed after it. The whole scenario is laugh-out-loud funny at times, but challenging at others, and no matter how much it might’ve read to its original audience like a plantation comedy, Faulkner’s also calling our attention to the more disturbing elements.

For instance: the name Tomey’s Turl, by implication without father and without last name, already implies his ‘miscegenation’ by the elder McCaslin and his slave, as well as (more germane) the family’s refusal to acknowledge him. Every time Buck and Buddy speak of him, they disavow him, dispossess him, and repudiate their (half-) fraternity with him. “Tomey’s” Turl – we don’t need to speak of a father. And it fits too with neither Buck nor Buddy having had children: they want the benefits of their legacy, the house and land and wealth, without the cost which children would bring. The hunt’s incursion into the home (the fox) serves as comedic foreshadowing to the marriage hunt at Warwick, but also it suggests an intrusion of the wild into domestic life.

And, of course, there’s the problem of slavery, but in this story it is drawn up into the themes of hunting and gaming. Cass consistently uses hunt language to describe his uncle’s chase of Turl, calling it “the best race he had ever seen.” Humans are being de-humanized: Turl has become a rabbit or fox, Buck is compared to a bee (pollination/sex/marriage) and a hornet (anger at Turl). Both Beauchamp and Buck are fighting to maintain their “peace and quiet and freedom”, defined as life without a woman to care for.

So gender issues appear too, as Miss Sophonsiba is viewed as a problem to be avoided. Both Buck’s and Hubert Beauchamp’s refusal to have a family should be a sign that all isn’t well. Since Faulkner, well-developed frameworks for gender and racial equality have helped bring these issues to light, but unfortunately many critics would stop there, make these themes into absolutes. They remain, however, symbols, and the dowry question points to how the gender theme, in particular, works.

When Buddy comes to rescue his brother (who sent Cass through the window as a messenger), Hubert agrees to bet him his sister’s dowry (land and slaves) against his brother’s freedom from marriage. In the traditional definition of a dowry, it’s the female child’s share of the family inheritance. So when her brother, custodian of the family wealth, gambles her dowry in cards, it’s not just Buck he’d be taking money from; he’d effectively be disinheriting his sister. The hunt is replaced by the game; they will speculate on family members white and black. Buddy, a renowned poker player, wins the game. Whether by skill or luck doesn’t matter much to the story; Hubert at least has the grace to know he’s been beaten and retire.

Buck’s and Buddy’s brother, Tennie’s Turl, manages to secure a marriage to Tennie through his own cunning, since his brothers wouldn’t plan one for him. Buck gets to return to his single life of drinking and hunting without encumbrance, and Buddy gets to keep his companion.

True to comedic form, the story ends where it began, with dogs chasing the fox, who has again broken loose from its cage, around the house. The catastrophe has been averted; Buck gets to keep his prized freedom, and a marriage between the united lovers, Turl and Tennie, approaches. But although the chase between fox and dogs and two hapless uncles continues, it still hints at a certain restlessness which has entered domestic life. We assume Hubert still wants free of his sister, and as everyone pursue their agendas, the ritual hunt looks more and more like a sort of game, gambling sisters and brothers and inheritances like property, nothing quite stable since people are prizing individual freedom over family, hunting and gambling and fleeing to maintain their share. Faulkner will dial in on this domestic restlessness in the next chapter, which examines the appeal of riches, and the search for them, over against the mundane peace of the home and “The Fire and the Hearth”.

The post Write up on William Faulkner’s “Go Down Moses” appeared first on DayDreamin’ Comics.

Introduction

Charles W. Chesnutt was born to Andrew Jackson Chesnutt and Maria Sampson Chesnutt in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 20, 1858. Both parents were free people of color from Fayetteville, North Carolina who had left Fayetteville in 1856 for better opportunities in Ohio. Andrew and Maria met while traveling in a wagon train of other free African Americans heading to the Midwest. The search for a place of racial tolerance, with the potential for social uplift, led the family briefly to Oberlin, Ohio, before returning to Cleveland and eventually back to Fayetteville after the Civil War. At that time, Charles’s grandfather was ailing, and the family sought to provide aid as well as to raise their children in the place of their forebears.

Reconstruction had begun to have its effect on the southern social landscape, as the Freedmen’s Bureau created schools all over the South for formerly enslaved people. Chesnutt would find his earliest supporters in the school for African Americans in Fayetteville, named after head of the Freedmen’s Bureau Oliver O. Howard. The principal of the school, Robert Harris, took an interest in Chesnutt, finding him a precocious child and conscientious student. When not in school, Chesnutt worked at the family grocery store, which formed in him a deep impression of his southern surroundings and the character of its people. Chesnutt also spent time at a bookstore owned by George Haigh, who allowed the young reader to peruse the store’s contents as he pleased.

At home, Chesnutt’s mother’s health began to fail. Maria had had three more children after the Chesnutts’ return to Fayetteville, and her last pregnancy had proven difficult. Chesnutt helped his mother around the house, and when not doing chores spent much of his time reading. When his mother passed away in 1871, Chesnutt, as the oldest child, was left to look after his younger siblings. Despite the additional burdens, Chesnutt wrote his first published story a few years later (1875) in a small weekly newspaper run by an African American. His father expected Chesnutt to contribute to the family household, and Chesnutt’s supporter Principal Harris suggested that the young man become a teacher. He first worked in Fayetteville at the Howard School, and then in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Life as a Young Educator

Chesnutt’s time as an educator was occasionally marked by moments of inspiration, but more often marred by the precarious nature of post-Civil War country schools. As a teacher he experienced promises of employment that were later rescinded because of lack of funding, distrustful members of communities leery of outsiders, and frustration with teaching methods that did not take into account the realities of impoverished life in the American South. Chesnutt read extensively during this time to alleviate his loneliness. He taught briefly in Charlotte, a welcome change that allowed him to work with adequate resources but that ended in 1877 when Chesnutt was offered the opportunity to return to Fayetteville and work for the newly established Normal School for African Americans. A year later he married Susan Perry, a young woman who came from a respected African American family. Chesnutt’s life as an educator committed to community uplift was in full swing.

As principal of the Fayetteville State Normal School for Negroes, Chesnutt was aware of the beneficial impact that his educational leadership had on the African American community and wider southern social landscape. Still, despite the special calling of this work he yearned for “wider fields,” as his daughter wrote, “and he chafed constantly under the hampering restrictions of life in the American south.”^[1] He assuaged his dissatisfaction through additional efforts at community outreach. Chesnutt provided instruction to students outside of school through private courses in instrumental and vocal music. He also continued to read extensively and deepened his studies in classics, languages and stenography. Yet he realized that he would not remain in the South, lacking as it was in contemporaries with whom to discuss matters of intellectual interest. “I get more and more tired of the South,” Chesnutt wrote in his journal of 1882; “I pine for civilization and companionship.”^[2] The racial prejudice Chesnutt and his ancestors experienced compelled him to work hard to assure that his two daughters and then-unborn son would never have to experience the same. He began to prepare for a trip north to explore economic opportunities utilizing his stenography and shorthand skills. “I shall depend principally upon my knowledge of stenography,” he wrote, “which I hope will enable me to secure a position on the staff of some good newspaper, and then—work, work, work!”^[3]

From the South to New York City and Cleveland

Chesnutt did indeed find work in New York. Working as a reporter for Dow, Jones, and Company, he contributed a daily column of Wall Street gossip to the New York Mail and Express. It seemed that Chesnutt had satisfied his primary goals after leaving Fayetteville, securing employment in a cosmopolitan city, and making inroads in the field of literature through his position as a reporter. But New York City, as Chesnutt saw it, was no place to raise a family. He moved to his childhood home of Cleveland, securing a job in the accounting department of the Nickel Plate Railroad Company, writing letters and footing ledgers. Chesnutt, ever industrious, began to prepare to take the state bar examination. He was determined to provide for his family and improve their social standing, but also to lay in store for a time in the future when he could devote all his energies to writing. For Chesnutt, literature was a pathway to both a more enriching intellectual life and a moral revolution in race relations. He eventually passed the state bar examination and established his own court reporting firm. The financial self-sufficiency necessary to support a full-time writing life was coming into view.

The Writer Arrives

Chesnutt’s pursuits in stenography and law provided his family with a comfortable life. By 1898, he and Susan had three daughters—Helen, Ethel, and Dorothy—and a son, Edwin. Chesnutt’s work began appearing in the Atlantic Monthly in 1887, which brought his writing to a wide and influential audience and attracted the attention of many authors and cultural leaders. George Washington Cable was one of them; their correspondence would grow into an important friendship. Cable read many of Chesnutt’s works, offering feedback as well as opinions on and leads about publishing opportunities. Critics were impressed. James Lane Allen, a gatekeeper “of the genteel tradition,” upon finishing the story, dashed off a letter to the magazine’s editor: “Who—in the name of the Lord!—is Charles W. Chesnutt?”^[4]

Chesnutt had arrived. Atlantic Monthly would, over his career, go on to publish seven of Chesnutt’s stories. His book-length collections of short stories, The Conjure Woman and The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line were issued by Houghton Mifflin in 1899. His literary repute landed him the opportunity to write the first biography of Frederick Douglass authored by an African American, Frederick Douglass, published by Small, Maynard in the same year. The House Behind the Cedars, a full-length novel, was published in 1900, and Chesnutt’s devastating fictionalized account of the Wilmington Coup and massacre of 1898 appeared as The Marrow of Tradition, in 1901. Though he kept working on novels in manuscript, Chesnutt’s final published long fiction appearing during his lifetime was The Colonel’s Dream, issued by Doubleday, Page in 1905.

Later Years

Chesnutt’s later years provided him with opportunities to write, travel, and continue his work for racial uplift. He was a member of Twelve for the Advancement of the Interests of the Negro Race together with Booker T. Washington, Kelly Miller, T. Thomas Fortune, and other formidable Black leaders. As Helen Chesnutt described it, their work centered on “constructive progressive efforts to turn the attention of the country to Negro successes, to correct the errors and misstatements concerning the progress of the race and make known the truth regarding acts of the white race affecting the black race all with a view of perfecting a larger and more systematic effort in the unification of the races.”^[5] By 1910, he was asked to coordinate the Cleveland meeting for a new organization: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Despite bouts of ill-health which he and the family remedied by travel to gentler climes, Chesnutt continued to pursue his public role in the uplift of African Americans. Exemplary of these efforts, in June 1913, Chesnutt delivered an address entitled “Race Ideals and Examples,” on the occasion of receiving an honorary LL.D. at Wilberforce University. The speech was published in the African Methodist Episcopal Review later that year.

Chesnutt’s writing and involvement in organizations for racial uplift and cooperation provided him with continued opportunities for civic leadership in Cleveland, including service as chair of the Committee on Colored Organizations. Chesnutt’s reflections on race relations had evolved over the years, however. As a young educator in Fayetteville, Chesnutt had remarked on the “subtle feeling of repulsion toward the Negro common to most Americans”; and yet he concluded that “the Negro’s part is to prepare himself for recognition and equality.” By 1903, in a letter to Booker T. Washington, Chesnutt indicated that he had “no faith in the Southern people’s sense of justice so far as the Negro rights were concerned.” Speaking in 1910 to representatives from other states of the Committee on Colored Organizations of his hometown, Cleveland, he was resigned, admitting that “racial conditions there were peculiar” and that not many white citizens would support the interests of the NAACP.

Chesnutt continued to write and publish occasional short stories in his later years, but the political and social moment had taken on currents more receptive to a new movement in the interpretation of race matters and black life. What is now known as the Harlem Renaissance by the 1920s had begun a new awakening for Black writers, impacting readerly tastes at the time.^[6] Dated though it might have been aesthetically, Charles Chesnutt’s work remained integral to African American literary life. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1928 by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People “for his pioneering literary work on behalf of the Afro-American struggle.” The award influenced the sales of many of his titles, and his short story “The Sheriff’s Children” was included as the first story in Harlem Renaissance icon Langston Hughes’s influential 1967 edited collection The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers: An Anthology from 1899 to the Present.

“You ask about my family and myself,” Chesnutt once said, offering an illuminating picture of his values: “I have enjoyed for many years an ample income, from the standpoint of a moderately successful professional man . . . of my four children, all are college graduates, two of my daughters from Smith College, one from the College for Women of Western Reserve University, and my son from Harvard. I am a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Bar Association, the City Club and others.”^[7] Although he had not been able to make a living writing fiction, Charles Chesnutt had surely achieved much of what he had hoped for many years earlier upon leaving Fayetteville, North Carolina. By the time he passed in Cleveland in 1932, his legacy as a public opponent of racism was still strong, while his literary legacy was still in its youth, as witnessed by adaptations of his works for film and stage, the surge in reprintings of his works after the 1960s, and the widespread teaching of his fiction in American Literature classrooms today.

Literature Review

The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chesnutt was published in 1901; I read the 1993 edition with introduction by professor Eric Sundquist. The novel was reportedly well-researched by the established black author, using the Wilmington, NC Massacre of only 3 years earlier as foundation for its story about a fictional ‘Wellington.’ Chesnutt had relatives who survived the event, and interviewed their neighbors as well; further, his personal history tied him emotionally to the wider narrative. In the book, the event itself is limited to the last ~100 pages (of 340), although that finish is given force by the involvement of fictional characters developed throughout the book. This is a fascinating, accessible look at an important historical event, through the unusual lens of informed and incisive literature of the same time.

Chesnutt’s main interest is in describing how much the post-Reconstruction period is reverting to the form of its racist legacy: white control and oppression are still functional; social relations serve to keep the town’s minority-white (~1/3) elites well-ensconced; mixed-race generations are in the shadows but ever-present (reflecting Chesnutt’s own family history). Indeed, this is a heritage of social complexity that Ta-Nehisi Coates is addressing even today in his new fiction. Chesnutt’s purpose is to give readers of the time a sense of “the complex psychology of white supremacy and black resistance” [Sundquist], for a close look at the social tensions stewing in this small town where a few white conspirators use the specter of rape to intentionally create conditions for a coup, for mobs to overthrow the elected Republican (white and black) leaders, and murder many citizens in the process. Chesnutt himself sent copies of the book to politicians of the time.

The narrative form is dated yet engaging, suggesting a period gothic novel of the antebellum south, often preoccupied with big-house romances, rivalries and closeted skeletons. Black characters too often appear mere background for that narrative. The melodramatic ending involves several fictional characters, apparently unrelated to real events. In effect, for a modern reader, Chesnutt generously ‘humanizes’ the white villains to a surprising extent, depicting their anxieties and self-justifying motives. It is curious that an involved black author, especially with historical purpose, chose this form and delivers so well; but it was an established form and likely effective – I am in no place to judge. To be fair, his description of the social mechanics of oppression are in spells direct and unvarnished. Still, I felt the limited narrative about black characters was glaring, and often served to trivialize them.

The essential 1993 Introduction (a detailed 37 pages) by white academic Sundquist addresses the author’s life and work, the country-wide factual context of reaction to Reconstruction, the factual basis of the event itself, the book’s references to real people; and convincingly analyzes the literary result. He tags the book as “One of the most significant historical novels in American literature.”

Prominent for Sundquist is this thesis: “The gender politics of the Wilmington revolution were of utmost importance to a national ethos of segregation.” This is not ‘gender politics’ in our contemporary sense. Rather, for me he refers to the broad historical morass of racism, gender and sexuality: the southern white male ego threatened by both black men and encroaching potent black culture; confusion arising from both sexual attraction and sexual assault amongst all manner of racial pairings; rape as both a weapon to dominate a people, and contrived as excuse to torture, mutilate and murder its men; biracial children as legacy complicating both the perpetuation and the extinction of white supremacy, for all parties; maybe more. His sweeping analysis defeats my capacity to summarize. Some threads of all this arguably appear in Chesnutt’s novel (e.g. the character of Chesnutt’s fictional Olivia Carteret); Sundquist provides further evidence in historical fact. His explication is compelling.

Significance of the Study

  The latest work from the pen of Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Marrow of Tradition,” is a notable production. Indeed, it is the strongest and most absorbing story of Southern life which has yet come from that sectional phase of American life. Cable, Page, Tourgee and Joel Chandler Harris have penned with cunning fidelity stories of “Dixie land,” and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s great story was great because of the moral influence it exerted, rather than its artistic finish. In the “Marrow of Tradition” we find every phase of Southern life painted with such rare fidelity that at last appears the cultured and industrious phase of Afro-American life, not over done, but just as we know it to be. At last the Southern white aristocrat, “poor white,” ante-bellum Negro and cultured Afro-American are placed in juxtaposition in a chef d’oeuvre of Charles W. Chestnutt, which easily puts him in the front rank of American novelists.

  The plot hinges upon the Wilmington riot of ’98, and one who picks up this book to read will lay it down with reluctance when the last chapter tells its climax with a dramatic intensity that has rarely been equaled. The hollow pretensions and hypocritical fraud ever manifest by the South in its treatment of the “race problem,” Mr. Chestnutt unmasks. He punctures not only the white demagogue, but white respectability which endures and tolerates with such charming composure the Southern mob and its bloody work, while the political revolutionists does not escape perforation by this master hand. Jerry, the Negro porter, who would be turned “several shades lighter” by the application of the patent nostrums advertised so extensively in Afro-American weeklies, serves to exhibit the pathetic and lamentable characteristic in that class of Afro-Americans who with feverish anxiety are spending large sums of money to eliminate their physical characteristics. Of this man he says: “If he could by some strange alchemy, bleach his skin and straighten his hair, there would still remain underneath it all only the unbleached darky,—the ass in the lion’s skin.”

  Dr. Miller, the eminent Afro-American physician, is a character so real in the midst of his surroundings, socially ostracized by the whites, superior in attainments, wealth and ambition to his own race, he turns philanthropist and erects a hospital for his people, which is burned to ashes during the riot, now a matter of history, his own child shot to death in its mother’s arm by the rioters by accident, while he is called upon to save the life of a white child whose father had been the principle agent in fomenting the revolution, and who had once before refused him access to his home.

  Cause and effect—the interdependence of the two races, and artistic glimpses of Southern life are reproduced by Mr. Chestnutt as no other writer in this particular field of romantic literature has yet done, and the reason of it is because Mr. Chestnutt thoroughly knows the Afro-American of education and refinement.

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