Rosamond's And Tempest's Lives example essay topic

A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott's background influenced her to write the tragedy A Long Fatal Love Chase. One important influence on the story was her father's role as a leading transcendentalist (Done 342). Transcendentalism states that society is a necessary evil (Clendenning 371). Simi-larly, Rosamond Vivian, the main character in the book, states her opinion of society when she says: "Law and custom Iknow nothing of, public opinion I despise, and shame and fear I defy ' (8). In addition to beliefs, another influence on the story was the many jobs that Alcott held.

Besides being an author, she was also nurse and seamstress at one time or another. By comparison, Rosamond becomes a seamstress to afford food and board after she runs from Tempest with no money (94). Later, she joins a convent and becomes a nurse when a conta-gio us fever breaks out in the town (124). Perhaps the most important influence on the story is that she was a supporter of the Temperance movement and women!'s suffrage. Among other things, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the National Woman " 's Suffrage Associa-tion believed in equality between men and women (Scott 389).

Likewise, Rosamond, the pro-t agonist, is a woman who is characterized as fearless, ethical, and competent compared to the male antagonist Phillip Tempest. This background, together with a believable plot, convincing characterization, and important literary devices enables Louisa May Alcott in A Long Fatal Love Chase to develop the theme that love is a fatal obsession. The structure of the novel is cleverly used by Alcott to keep the reader hooked. The opening situation is used to describe the circumstances of Rosamond Vivian's and Phillip Tem-pest's lives. The first scene portrays Rosamond as a beautiful and restless young woman who is living with her grandfather in seclusion. By writing Rosamond's thoughts, "I shall do something desperate if this life is not changed soon.

It gets worse and worse and I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom,' Alcott is able to show how vulnerable and what easy prey she would make to a man like Tempest (3). She also uses the opening scene to give the reader a clear picture of how Tempest thinks and feels. It is obvious that he only considers people as entertainment when Alcott writes: "Most men would have been touched by the inno-cent confessions of the girl [Rosamond], but this man's heart had grown hard with years of selfishness and he merely enjoyed her as he would h! ave done a lovely flower, an exciting book, a passionate song' (9). Following the opening situation, the generating circumstances are used to show how Rosamond's and Tempest's lives have been changed by being married and the rea-son that Rosamond decides to run from Tempest. At first it seems that married life has changed both of them for the better. Alcott describes Rosamond's new appearance by writing: a year of love and luxury had ripened her youthful beauty into perfect bloom.

Grace-ful by nature, art had little to do for her, and, with a woman's aptitude, she had acquired the polish which society alone can give She now showed fair promise of becoming all that a deep and tender heart, an ardent soul and a gracious nature could make her, once life had tamed and taught her more (43). Also, for the first time Tempest shows real emotions towards someone besides himself and re-morse for his past sins when he mutters: "I wish to heaven I had found this girl ten years ago and saved myself from treachery for which I never can atone' (45). Though it seems that eve-rything is perfect, the generating circumstances also show that Tempest's old ways have not completely changed. When Rosamond hears a noise while she is sleeping, she wakes up and goes to the head of the stairs and hears voices. After listening for a while she finds out that the woman speaking to Tempest is his true wife and she is trying to get their son, Lito, back from him (88). Rosamond is shocked to find out that Tempest lied to her and deceived her into be-coming his mistress.

She quickly packs a few clothes and escapes through her bedroom window into the night (92). Succeeding the generating circumstances, the rising action brings suspense and apprehension to the novel. This segment is a r! e petition of Rosamond retreating from Tempest, him finding her, and barely escaping him again by using her intellect; it is also signifi-cant because it reveals that Rosamond has fallen in love with another man. An example of Tempest's persistence occurs after Rosamond's first flight when she takes up sewing to support herself, and ends up living in an apartment for nine months. When she returns to her room one day, she finds Tempest sitting in her only chair waiting for her. She tries to escape but Baptiste, Tempest's faithful servant, is blocking the door and Tempest threatens that if she screams, he will say she is mad and carry her away by force (96).

After a long discussion and a real proposal from Tempest, Rosamond tells him that she will think about it and give him an answer in the morning. He then tells her that he has made sure she cannot escape and will be waiting for her tomorrow. After he leaves, she climbs out the window, goes across the roof, and knocks on! a neighbor's window (101). Mademoiselle Honoring, Rosamond's neighbor, hides her in a basket filled velvet fabric and together they leave right under Tempest's nose (106). Later in the novel, Rosamond joins a convent and meets Ignatius, a young and attractive priest.

He falls in love with her right away, and when Tempest bribes Father Dominic into letting him into the con-vent, Ignatius tries to save her. They flee and he becomes the only friend that she can trust (140). This event is precarious because it may be the last chance that Rosamond has for happy-ness, and with the constant threat of Tempest's pursuit and Ignatius' distance (he loves her but cannot get to close because he is still a priest), it is unknown if she will ever find peace. Subse-quent to their escape, the prolonged climax occurs when Tempest and Ignatius twice confront each other.

Tempest stops Ignatius inthe middle of a street and challenges him to a duel with pistols. Ignatius turns him down claiming tha the is a man of God and will shoot no one. When Tempest! t insults Rosamond, Ignatius quickly catches him by the throat. They then fight violently but the short struggle is abruptly over when Tempest's head strikes a stone lays stunned (225). The second confrontation occurs when Tempest seeks revenge on Ignatius. Ro-sa mond and Ignatius decide to go back tothe island when she receives word a letter from her grandfather explaining that her aunt has passed away.

Tempest is determined not to let Ignatius leave with her, and he bribes the attendants of their boat to leave with Rosamond while Ignatius is gone. Ignatius returns to find Rosamond out at sea and the Circe, Tempest's yacht, in close pursuit. He gets into another boat to follow but it is not fast enough. When Tempest sees that the Osprey, the boat Rosamond is in, is safe at shore, he tells one of his men to rundown the boat Ignatius is in with their yacht.

After the boat is destroyed, Tempest returns to shor ex-pectin g to find Rosamond. Instead he sees Rosamond's gr! andfather weeping over Rosamond's dead body and Ignatius standing close by. When he asks what killed her, the grandfather ex-claims: You wrecked her and left her to die in the cruel sea! The priest followed and compelled your tools to give her up, and would have brought her to me without harm but for your black deed. Wring your hands and groan till your hard heart breaks, you are too late for any word of hers (241). Tempest then drives a hidden dagger deep into his breast, drops to his knees, gathers the dead woman his arms and says: "Mind first-mine last-mine even in the grave!' (242).

At that point the novel abruptly ends with no resolution except Ignatius' previous words: "Nothing can part us long; our love was true and pure, and though forbidden here it will unite us forever in the beautiful hereafter' (242). Though predictable at the beginning, Alcott makes A Long Fatal Love Chase memorable with its high energy and unexpected conclusion. A Long Fatal Love Chase is based on three main characters: Rosamond Vivian, Phillip Tempest, andFather Ignatius. To begin, Rosamond Vivian could be the leading character in any fairy tale with her beauty and temperament, strong moral convictions, and endurance. Her uncommon looks and vibrant personality are repeatedly brought up in the novel. Alcott depicts her as ' full of power and passion, yet still half unconscious of her gifts; beautiful with the beauty that wins the heart as well as satisfies the eye, yet unmarred by vanity or affectation' (43).

Her moral principles are shown when she turns down Tempest's second offer of marriage even though she still loves him. When he asks her why she will not become his wife after he gets a divorce, she replies: "Before I was innocently guilty, now I should be doubly guilty if I went back to the ' gay and free life I love. ' Atone for the wrong you have done me by ceasing to tempt and trouble me. I will not yield, though you hunt! me to death' (101). Lastly, Rosamond has to be enduring to survive so long on her own with her crazed husband constantly showing up and ruining her efforts at a fresh start. For example, the last time he catches her alive, he places her in a mental institution.

Tempest leaves her a note saying that she will not be able to leave until she relents and lets him take her home with him. She decides to stay, and even though her health takes a turn for the worse, she stays for several weeks until Baptiste tricks her into a false escape where Tempest is waiting (179). Another main character in the novel is Phillip Tempest. He is very handsome (despite the scar on his forehead that he received in a duel) and charming. In the matter of a month he is not only able to convince Rosamond to marry him, but to leave everything else behind and sail around the world with him, a man she hardly knows (42). Tem-pest is also willing to kill if it further his own ends.

When he takes Rosa mo! nd to England, he sees Willoughby, who finds out that Rosamond does not know that Lito is Tempest's son. Since Rosamond thinks that Lito is only a boy that Tempest found and is taking care of, Tem-pest sees Willoughby as a threat. After finding out that Willoughby has heart disease and may die from sudden shock or intense excitement, Tempest takes him on a tour of the town. He runs him ragged with his unrelenting energy, until Willoughby loses consciousness and later dies in his room (61).

Ultimately, Tempest feels no guilt toward any misdeed that he commits, no matter how much he wants to. He admits it to Rosamond when he says: "I mean that it is natu-ral for me to be wicked than virtuous; when I do a bad act, and I've done many, I never feel ei-ther shame, remorse or fear' (62). While Rosamond's and Tempest's true character show from the beginning, Ignatius' real identity is not seen until the novel is almost through. Rosamond first describes him as. ".. a cold, silent man with a pale, ascetic face and eyes that seemed so bent on tur! ning from the vanities of the world that they were seldom lifted from the ground (124). Later, when Ignatius helps her escape, he is regarded as a kind man who is willing to leave eve-rything for a woman he loves, but cannot have because he is a priest (141).

Finally, Ignatius re-veal's to Rosamond that heh as lead a whole other life before he became a minister. His real name is Bayard Conde, a hero who led the gallant students in the last revolution. He explains why he came to the ministry by saying: "I tried love, glory and pleasure; none satisfied me, and, weary of the world, I left it' (199). Therefore, Alcott uses the characters as a means of bringing righteousness, depravity, and mystery to the novel in order to show more than one perspective. In A Long Fatal Love Chase, Alcott uses several varying literary techniques.

An impor-tant technique used in the novel is the foreshadowing of Rosamond's death. For example, when Tempest and Rosamond are sitting in her grandfather's house during a storm, lighting strikes Rosamond's favorite tree and she remarks: "It is a bad omen, for the superstitious say when the tree dies I shall follow soon' (14). The next instance occurs a few days later when Rosamond asks Tempest what he saw in the magicians " magic mirror. He replies: "A lovely dead woman, an old man mourning over her and myself standing near with an expression of remorse and despair such as I am quite incapable of feeling' (20). Another important literary device is point of view.

Alcott writes the novel in third person omniscient to show both the character's actions and feelings. By using this method, it is possible to see Tempest's two sides when he tells Rosamond, "promises are easily made' then mutters to him! self, "and broken' (47). This technique also gives Ignatius' character more depth. Through third person omnis-cient, the reader sees his thoughts, which tell how much he obviously loves Rosamond.

His ac-tions, however, show how much restraint he evidently has in order to remain a priest when he knows that Rosamond shares the same feelings for him (225). Possibly the most effective de-vice used in this novel is suspense. With its constant presence, the book is more active and vig-or ous. For instance, after a fierce argument with Tempest, Lito is never seen at the house again. Tempest is unwilling to speak of it, so Rosamond goes in search of him and finds a grave with Lito's fez on top. Alcott leaves the subject alone after that, leading the reader to believe he is dead.

It is not until later in the novel that she reveals Lito has faked death to live with his mother (112). Therefore, Alcott is able to makethe novel's different aspects seem round and complete by using! such different techniques. This background, together with a believable plot, convincing characterization, and im-portant literary devices, enables Louisa May Alcott in A Long Fatal Love Chase to the develop the theme that loves a fatal obsession. The point of this theme is to turn the novel into a trag-edy, which makes it more memorable.

Alcott succeeds by giving the exact opposite of what is expected, the death of Rosamond. Itis a good method, because without it, it would have been just another love story. The novel is worthwhile because it deals with more than romance; it relates to death and events beyond our control.