I found Miles Coverdale to be the most intriguing character within The Blithedale Romance. That is not to say that I liked his character, on the contrary, I believe Mr. Coverdale to be perhaps the most unreliable narrator in history. He is given the lead role within this book and one would think that with that role would come a certain responsibility to accurately and consistently portray the happenings of the tale. I found it infuriating that Miles Coverdale was so absorbed in his own world that he failed to give an appropriate narration of the happenings within Blithedale until, that is, he found the lives of those inhabiting the farm to be more captivating than his own varying thoughts and ideas. However, even after his sudden interest in the story in which he was relating, Miles Coverdale remained to be an untrustworthy story teller. I felt as if I couldn't rely on his version of the details and therefore found myself critiquing his every observation and judgment of the others within the book. Mr. Coverdale is an overdramatized poet incapable of living his own life. He chooses instead to prey upon the lively stories of others through acts of unsuccessful voyeurism and loosely spills out his observations into a ballad in which everyone but himself has a significant role to play. Hollingsworth was the leading actor, Zenobia, the beautiful, proud, and evil seductress who's tragic end becomes the climax of his tale, and Priscilla developed into the desirable Snow White or Cinderella. Despite his obvious attempts to portray his selfish invasions into the privacy of those around him as actions of pure concern, the reader can easily see that his intentions are for the sole purpose of gaining an interesting story. Miles Coverdale understood that he was a bore and that he was too cowardly to attempt to live his own life. Instead, he intoxicated himself with the story of those around him who do dared to live and he secretly desired tragedy and catastrophe upon them because only then would he have something to really write and think about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's interesting that you say that Coverdale is intoxicated with the others' stories; it sounds almost as though he's addicted to them and to the drama that they generate. That helps to make sense of his "I began to long for a catastrophe" in the boarding house.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis as Cloverdale being an unreliable editor. To me it seemed that he was unreliable because he would avoid telling parts of the story that would reveal his true feelings or motivation. However by focusing so much on the others he reveals that he is heavily invested in the others stories, as you said, so in a round about way he reveals his feelings and motivations by not openly saying to his audience, "hey I wonder what's going on, I should spy on them."
ReplyDelete