Title: Tantamount to Murder
Author: John Brunner
Date of First Publication: 1994
Place of Publication: The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein (Robinson Publishing, UK)
Type: Short story
Characters: No character
Themes: ANDROID; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS; BYRONIC HERO
Critical Summary: Unexpected intruders come to the sanctuary of the Marquis de Vergonde, interrupting his lament to his lost wife and their short marriage. A famous scientist once, the Marquis lives alone with his servent Jules. He had assumed his title on marrying his wife, but all was void at her death. Her brother, Paul Serrouiller, has come with his civil lawyer, a celebrated psychologist, and their servants to reclaim his right to the estate and title with his sister’s death. Their search of the cellars reveals a gently painted nude of the soft, gorgeous form of the Marquis’ sleeping wife. Her body, he claims is not dead, but being held there in a glass mausoleum, sealed to exclude her from air. She was perfectly preserved until a cure is found for her illness. When the neighbor of the chateau, a magistrate, comes to protect the rights of the standing marquis, it is discovered that Paul has smashed the outer window to the mausoleum with a brandy bottle, effectively breaking the seal. A change of painful resignation falls over the marquis as he realizes that his wife is now forever dead. He agrees to allow Paul to take the property because his life is pointless without the ability to reanimate his wife. He goes to visit her body one last time. Receiving fresh air, she wakes up, takes three steps, and dissolves. Proven alive, Paul is held responsible for her death and arrested. At Paul’s arrest, the marquis falls down dead. Without him, the secret of resurrection is lost.
Like Victor Frankenstein, resurrection was within the mad scientist’s research, something that only he could decode and understand. Unlike Frankenstein, the marquis had noble reasons, mixing obsession and love. Though some of his qualities are tragic and heroic, the marquis is a soft Byronic hero, pitiable in the end.
Administrative Notes: Noelle Simonne Zaffiro, CSUF; Amanda Howard, CSUF (editing)