Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Date of First Publication: April 1926
Place of Publication: Weird Tales, Ed. Farnsworth Wright
Bibliographic Reference: isfdb
Type: Short story
Keywords: SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; POSTHUMAN
Critical Summary: While Frankenstein’s influence is readily apparent in Lovecraft’s “Herbert West – Reanimator,” its presence is more subtle in Lovecraft’s “The Outsider.” Like Frankenstein, “The Outsider” is a Gothic piece. The text presents a perpetually sunless world of castles and ruins in which a sense of uncanny horror pervades throughout; the level of horror climactically rises near the tale’s end. “The Outsider” presents an unnamed and unseen narrator, who informs the reader that he has spent his entire existence living alone in an abandoned castle. The narrator’s existence is a mystery; he has no idea from whence he came, nor who confined him. Although he occasionally ventures into the foreboding woods outside the castle, the dense formation of trees prevents any escape. Like Frankenstein’s creature, Lovecraft’s narrator educates himself about language and the world beyond through self-taught literacy.
Eventually, the confinement becomes too much for the narrator, who decides to venture into a “single black ruined tower that reached above the forest into the unknown outer sky.” Although the climb is precarious, the narrator makes it to a small space at the top of the tower. After walking through a doorway that he observes in the tower compartment, the narrator is astonished. Instead of seeing the sky that he expected, he observes the impossible, “solid ground” and an entire world built upon it.
In an odd bit of parallelism, this new world – like the world from which The Outsider came – also has strange ruins littered throughout. Differences are apparent, however. Meadows beneath the moon, instead of haunting forests that hide the sky, serve as the narrator’s new backdrop. Words almost escape the protagonist as he observes the scene awestruck. The overwhelming pastoral scene and the protagonist’s response to it can be read as an example of the natural sublime, much like Victor Frankenstein’s response to the glaciers of Geneva.
Although the protagonist’s nighttime surroundings are lovely, they are not enough for him. Deprived of the sun for his entire life, he craves the light. While he searches his surroundings for the light, he is constantly plagued by a sense that everything is somehow familiar. This sensation, of course, is reminiscent of the uncanny and/or Freudian unheimlich that informs Frankenstein. Like the pervading sense of horror, this undertone reaches climax eventually.
After wandering for awhile, The Outsider discovers a source of light, a “castle in a thickly wooded park.” Oddly, it appears as if he’s seen it before. At the window, the protagonist observes people for the first time, engaging in festivities while dressed in finery. The light, of course, dazzles him, causing him to enter through the window. The party-goers immediately respond in horror, and run away while screaming and swooning. Although silence follows the chaotic scene, it is interrupted by a grotesque sight. Before the narrator’s eyes, he sees “a compound of all that is unclean, uncanny, unwelcome, abnormal, and detestable…the ghoulish shade of decay, antiquity, and desolation.” After reaching out towards the terrible beast, The Outsider comes to a terrible realization. After his fingers touch glass, he realizes that it was he who was the creature. Upon learning this, the protagonist resolves to wander the Earth at night, always away from humanity.
The ending serves as rich counterpoint to the reaction of Victor’s monster towards his alienation. Unlike Victor’s creature, Lovecraft’s monster does not take out his frustration at exclusion upon humanity. Unlike the former, the latter wholeheartedly embraces his outcast status. Instead of seeking the company of beings more aesthetically pleasing than himself, he is content to wander with supernatural creatures equally as horrifying as himself. Indeed, Lovecraft’s monster lacks the sense of entitlement that Victor has, which perhaps explains his reaction in part.
Administrative Notes: Samuel Ortiz, CSUF