Title: The Last of the Daubeny-FitzAlans
Author: Arnold Harvey
Date of First Publication: 1976
Place of Publication: The Rivals of Frankenstein: A Gallery of Monsters
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER
Critical Summary: Arnold Harvey’s “The Last of The Daubeny-FitzAlans” is a short story of two men that encounter the corpse of what seems to be a man-made creature (although it is not explicitly stated). The short story seems to take place outside of a church or near a church’s graveyard where graves are being disturbed in order to move the coffins to another location. There are two men watching the workers bring up the coffins—the story is a conversation between these men, an unknown narrator, and a vicar. The men are talking about the Daubeny-FitzAlans. The vicar is recounting how the Daubeny-FitzAlans were amateur scientists that for generations were interested in creating living creatures out of chemical compounds. The vicar tells the narrator that the FitzAlans experimented numerous times with homunculi—small humanoids—but were never successful. He also informs the narrator that the entire family was comprised of pygmies except for the last of them, Sir Forbes Daubeny-FitzAlans, who was around seven feet tall. As the conversation progresses, the vicar tells the narrator of a sickness Sir Forbes had that progressively made him lose his skin and ultimately have a monstrous appearance. Finally, as the coffin of Sir Forbes is being brought up from the ground, because of weight it falls back open. The bones of Sir Forbes fall out and what people see are not composed of collagen and calcium, but brass.
Harvey’s story, like Frankenstein, is about the making of a living thing out of something dead. Even though it is not explicitly stated that Sir Forbes was created by the FitzAlans, the ending makes the reader believe the FitzAlans might have succeeded after all.
Just like Frankenstein, in which the Creature is described as having a yellowish, transparent skin, Sir Forbes is said to have suffered from a severe type of eczema that made his skin look a sickly color before falling off. Even though it is not explicitly stated that Sir Forbes was a man-made creature, clues in the story lead the reader to believe he might have been one. Nobody met him until he was older. Likewise, nobody ever really knew what was going on in the FitzAlans residence. His stature is another clue that he might have been created. According to the vicar, all of the FitzAlans were very small people excepting a seven-foot-tall Sir Forbes. At the end, when the people see his brass bones fall out of the coffin, the reader can infer that the FitzAlans achieved their goal by endowing anomalous life to Sir Forbes.
Administrative Notes: Tannia Alonso, CSUF; Christian Bazinet (Editing)