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Other ___________ _________________________________ ____________ University Microfilms International THE PROJECTION OF EVIL: AN ANALYSIS OF NINETEENTH- AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH FICTION INFLUENCED BY "THE DEMON LOVER" BALLAD DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Toni Reed, B.A., M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 1986 Dissertation Committee: Approved by D. R. Barnes B. H. Rigney Adviser A. Shapiro Department of English Copyright by Toni Reed 1986 For John Reed, the gentlest man I have ever known. 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Professor Daniel R. Barnes for his guidance, insights, and encouragement throughout my research and Professors Barbara Hill Rigney and Arnold Shapiro for their suggestions, comments, and personal support. I gratefully and affectionately acknowledge the contributions of friends who have encouraged me to write what I see honestly and directly: Corinne Dillon, Cheryl Ann Carter, Ruth Ann Hendrickson, Joanne Blum, and Patricia Naulty. To my mother, Margaret Reed, and my father, John Reed, I offer my deepest gratitude for their unwavering faith in me and for teaching me to believe in myself. To my children, Kelly and Christopher Bates, I offer my sincerest thanks for their loving support and for understanding my frequent absences. Ill VITA September 24, 1944 . Born - Salem, Massachusetts 1977 ..................... B. A. , Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1983 ..................... M. A., Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1978-79 ................ Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1981-86 ................ Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1986-1987 .............. Lecturer, Department of English, Columbus, Ohio 1986-1987 .............. Adjunct Professor, Division of Humanities, Franklin University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Literature Studies in American Literature to 1900. Professor Daniel R. Barnes Studies in Modern British and American Literature. Professor Barbara Hill Rigney Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature. Professor Arnold Shapiro Studies in Rhetoric Professor Edward P. J. Corbett IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................... iii VITA ..................................................... iv CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION: WOMAN WAILING FOR HER DEMON LOVER ! ................................... 1 II. THE CONCEPT OF DEMON AS L O V E R ...........23 III. ANALYSIS OF "THE DEMON LOVER" BALLAD . 46 IV. THE DEMON-LOVER MOTIF IN BRITISH FICTION . 72 V. CONCLUSION: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF DEMON-LOVER/VICTIM INTERACTIONS ......... 132 APPENDIX A: CHILD BALLAD TEXTS ................... 170 APPENDIX B: DAVIS BALLAD TEXTS . ................ 181 APPENDIX C: MISCELLANEOUS BALLAD TEXTS .......... 196 NOTES ................................................ 205 WORKS C I T E D ......................................... 213 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: WOMAN WAILING FOR HER DEMON LOVER! Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on. And turns no more his head; Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. Coleridge, The Ri9e ot the Ancierit Mariner The body of literature for any period of history reflects, in part, the fears, conflicts, and ethical concerns inherent in the culture which produces its novelists and poets. Although the literary works of any particular century tend to reflect the social mores of that period and are therefore tied to historical interpretation, certain themes in fiction transcend the cultural milieu in which the works were formed. Certain thematic patterns or motifs continue to appear in literature throughout time, patterns that may in fact be traced from the earliest Greek myths through the Bible and influential works of fiction to popular literature and contemporary films. Works of literature, including the earliest known forms of orally transmitted folklore, tend to repeat a finite number of plots or stories which captivate audiences generation after generation. In the same way children enjoy hearing the same fairy tales told over and over again, most people respond to tales that resemble others they have heard or have read before; familiarity with stories fosters personal identification, and identification by audiences leads to repetition of the same basic plot formulas over time. This study concerns itself with one specific narrative scheme which has been repeated since the beginning of literary history, yet one that has been largely ignored by scholars and literary critics: the demon-lover motif.^ Briefly, this motif conveys in an exaggerated fashion an aggressive man's attempts to dominate and destroy a naive, impressionable woman and demonstrates also her lack of perception and foresight. The struggle takes on mythical proportions, in part because of the larger-than-life and often supernatural features of demon-lover figures, and in part because of the frequency with which the tale is told. One of earliest literary expressions of the demon- lover motif is found in "The Demon Lover" (Child #243), a popular ballad that was sung in Scotland and England as early as the mid-seventeenth century. In the ballad, a cloven-footed revenant lover destroys his former mistress through supernatural means for her unfaithfulness to him while he has been away. In literary works as well, authors typically attribute demon-lover figures with supernatural traits that distinguish them from other characters. Very often they are compared to Satan or are said to possess demonic qualities, and their behavior seems excessively cruel, even diabolic at times. Myths are stories which represent beliefs held by a group of people; in ancient Greek and Roman cultures, many myths explained natural phenomena which could not otherwise be explained. In such narratives, human dramas are enacted on a cosmic scale through the mythology of a cultural group, dramas which often capture elemental struggles between the sexes. Conflicts depicted by mythological figures— for example, conflicts between Pan and the Nymphs or Cupid and Psyche— symbolize struggles between men and women. As narratives evolved from the early mythology to folktales, ballads, and other forms of folk literature, these conflicts continued to be expressed because they parallel human experience. It is no surprise that formal written literature frequently focuses on the recurring human conflicts between men and women. By identifying the characteristics of one particular type of conflict, the demon-lover conflict, we may explore both its mythological and psychological dimensions. Northrop Frye believes that "the structural principles of literature are as closely related to mythology and comparative religion as those of painting are