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Falkenstein: or The Modern Pandora
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In Caleb Williams,
William Godwin examined the consequences of many actions as one
of his guiding themes. Each character in his novel typified a
particular aspect that Godwin wanted to examine. Curiosity guided
Caleb Williams, much like an 18th Century Pandora. Though much
attention was paid to the evils in existence, it should not be
forgotten that curiosity was the instigator of Caleb’s troubles,
and the means in which Godwin began his examination of the evils
of the world. Falkland’s systematic persecution sprung from
Caleb’s following the dictates of his curiosity, regardless
of the road’s end. Godwin painstakingly detailed the steps
that led Caleb from his comfortable existence to his descent into
slavery to curiosity; and the consequences thereof. Caleb’s
curiosity foreshadowed and paralleled the physical tyranny that
Godwin sought to illuminate in the novel.
Caleb told us
in the beginning of the novel, “I had an inquisitive mind”
(59). Since he was born to “humble parents” (59), he
was given little. So he learned from a young age to use his mind
as a means of entertainment and education. During the period Godwin
wrote this novel, several philosophical movements were emerging.
Today we know one of them as the ‘Age of Enlightenment,’
which prized reasoning above all. Caleb started out as an almost
prototypical Enlightened Hero. He overcame his lack of social
status through self-education. “My improvement was greater
than my condition in life afforded room to expect,” Caleb
said (59), establishing his ‘heroic’ credentials. Caleb
listed other qualities of his character and person, but the most
significant characteristic was curiosity. Caleb himself told the
reader, “[t]he spring of action which... characterised the
whole train of my life, was curiosity” (60).
However, early
warning signs were planted in the novel, telling the reader that
Caleb’s “inquisitive” nature may not uphold Enlightened
ideals. Caleb’s appetite for knowledge was nearly limitless.
No less than the sum of all knowledge seemed to be enough for
Caleb since he said, “I could not rest till I had acquainted
myself with the solutions that had been invented for the phenomena
of the universe” (60). While this might seem admirable, it
lacks the practicality that characterized Enlightenment. What
did a young man from a poor family living on a nobleman’s
country estate need with the sum of all human knowledge?
Still, his curiosity
propelled him on to gather information and learn more and more.
Describing the experience of reading, Caleb said it was as if
books “took possession of my soul” (60). This is one
of the first instances that the reader sees Caleb’s thirst
of knowledge as a powerful force larger than Caleb himself. Upon
moving into Falkland’s home, Caleb made the transition from
feeding his curiosity on books to feeding on living beings, in
particular, on Falkland. The reader sees that the force of Curiosity
in Caleb was easily provoked, because he “was excited by
every motive of interest and novelty to study” Falkland’s
nature (62).
Soon, Caleb was
presented with his ‘Pandora’s Box,’ a mysterious
trunk which Falkland kept locked most of the time. One could say
that the trunk represented Falkland himself, making him into a
living ‘Pandora’s Box.’ Falkland’s strange
behavior could not escape Caleb’s curious eye. After encountering
Falkland by accident in a private chamber, and hearing him lock
his trunk, Caleb’s curiosity was stoked further. “My
mind was too much disposed to meditate upon what I had heard and
seen” (64), Caleb said. In spite of his original intent to
maintain secrecy, as well as in spite of proper decorum, Caleb
shared his knowledge with Mr. Collins, a longtime servant of Falkland’s.
In a later situation, where Caleb discovered a private letter
of Falkland’s, he said, “another time perhaps my curiosity
might have given away to the laws of decorum” (188), but
Caleb instead reads the letter. His curiosity pushed him in directions
that should have not been taken, and Caleb said it only “inflamed
his curiosity” (66), to learn more. Much like a Greek tragedy,
events began moving towards an single unavoidable end.
After Mr. Collins
told Caleb more about Falkland’s earlier years, Caleb
“brooded over” (179) the new knowledge. Amazingly, Caleb’s
curiosity transforms a “sufficiently distinct and satisfactory”
account of Falkland’s past into something “mysterious”
(179-180). Later Caleb said, “[t]he mind is urged by a perpetual
stimulus” (199), which if taken in conjunction with the transformation
of Falkland’s history, the reader sees that Curiosity becomes
a force that sustains its own existence. What Caleb says only
supports this idea:
“[I]t
seems as if it [the mind] were continually approaching to the
end of its race; and as it promises itself in that satisfaction
an unknown gratification, which seems as if it were capable of
fully compensating any injuries that may be suffered in the career”
(199).
In other words, Curiosity holds out a carrot in front of Caleb,
forcing him to seek and devour more knowledge. Here, Curiosity
transforms into a tyrant. “The curiosity which,” Caleb
said, “constitutes my ruling passion, stimulated me to make
it [Falkland’s mystery] my perpetual study” (194). Caleb
used the words “ruling passion” making it impossible
to avoid drawing any parallels to human rulers such as kings,
barons, or wealthy landowners. All of these comparisons equaled
tyrants in Godwin’s eyes.
Later in the novel,
when Caleb was setting out to escape from Falkland’s household,
he pondered the state of life. “[M]an is fated to be, more
or less, the tyrant or the slave,” Caleb believed (238).
If a reader asked whether Caleb was the tyrant or the slave, in
regards to his curiosity, the answer is obvious. On more than
one instance, Caleb answered that question explicitly. For instance,
curiosity, he said, was the “principle that ruled me with
absolute dominion” (191). Falkland himself even answered
this question, as he finally revealed his long held secret to
Caleb. “To gratify a foolishly inquisitive humour, you have
sold yourself,” into slavery, Falkland said (215). It is
interesting to see that Falkland used the same word Caleb described
himself in the first page of the novel, “inquisitive.”
What once appeared to be an admirable characteristic turned out
to be a tragic flaw.
Caleb’s curiosity
was so powerful it even controlled Caleb’s own physical acts.
In addition to the conscious acts of spying done in order to sate
his curiosity, Caleb found himself completely taken over by Curiosity.
Caleb was lying when he said, “I know not what infatuation
instantaneously seized me” (210), making him grab a prying
tool and seek out Falkland’s secret trunk. “[U]ncontrollable
passion was added to my bodily strength” (211), Caleb said
when he described breaking open the trunk. The whole act was described
as “an act of insanity” by Caleb (211). Curiosity had
displaced his own sense, and controlled his body.
The reader can
apply the myth of Pandora’s box to this particular ‘insane
act.’ Caleb’s act of opening Falkland’s trunk precipitated
the calamities that hounded him for the rest of the novel, much
like Pandora’s opening of her box faciliated the release
of evils into the world. Also, Falkland took advantage of Caleb’s
actions to accuse him of theft. Falkland showed an impartial witness
the “trunk standing in the apartment with its locks and fastenings
broken” (250), with the intention to use this against Caleb.
In the myth, the last thing trapped and locked away was Hope.
Caleb, in writing to Mr. Collins, ventured a guess on the contents
of Falkland’s trunk. “[T]he secret it encloses, is a
faithful narrative of that [Tyrrel’s murder]” but like
Hope locked away, the “narrative will probably never see
the light” (423).
Though the events
that recounted Caleb’s insatiable curiosity take up only
a small part of the entire novel, it is significant enough to
be established as a major concept. Godwin explained that he wrote
the novel in reverse order. “I invented first the third volume
of my tale, then the second, and last of all the first” (445).
This gives more weight to the early parts of the novel, in which
we are introduced to Caleb, and his curiosity. Godwin had been
intimate with Caleb for a long time before we were introduced
to him. In writing of tyranny and the consequences thereof, Godwin
instilled his ideas into the form of Curiosity in Caleb, which
set off the whole chain reaction that resulted into the first
book he wrote, Volume Three. With this in mind, the opening paragraph
of Caleb Williams take on new meaning.
“I
have been a mark for the vigilance of tyranny, and I could not
escape. My fairest prospects have been blasted. My enemy has
shown himself inaccessible to entreaties, and untired in persecution.
My fame, as well as my happiness, has become his victim”
(59).
The superficial
explanation is that Falkland is the enemy spoken of in the opening
lines of the novel. However, when the importance of Curiosity
is gauged, it becomes clear that Godwin very well could be speaking
of Caleb’s own curiosity as he started Caleb’s memoirs.
Caleb couldn’t escape this tyranny because it was part of
himself. The force of Curiosity resisted common sense, the laws
of decorum and Caleb’s own conscience. It was tireless in
its persecution of Caleb, not allowing him to do anything but
dig further and further. If it were not for his curiosity, Caleb
would have never learned Falkland’s secret, and Falkland
wouldn’t have needed to use his powers to discredit Caleb’s
reputation. The obvious tyrants in this novel were Tyrrel and
Falkland, but it must not be forgotten that the tyranny of Caleb’s
curiosity was the prelude to the tyranny of Falkland.
Caleb had resolved
to “never fill the part of either the oppressor or the sufferer”
(239), but he failed to realize he was both the tyrant and the
slave. Caleb could do nothing else but pry open Falkland’s
trunk and Falkland’s own soul to satisfy Curiosity, just
the same as Pandora couldn’t resist opening her gift box.
As Caleb and Pandora opened their boxes, the evils of the world
manifested themselves, dooming them both.
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