Monday, May 3, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
"Soul Making" and Paradigm of the Immortal
"Soul as distinguished from an Intelligence-- There may be intelligences or sparks of the divinity in millions--but they are not Souls till they acquire identities, till each one is personally itself." ~Keats
This comment I find most intriguing, granted what I find intriguing about it is not directly related to Keats and what we have been discussing in class per se, but it does hold relevance to my final essay topic, if I do end up continuing with my original plan. (Also, this is several days late as a post... apologies! Many. My brain is... well not back to "normal" but... back to functionality, at least, after... he who mustnotbenamed's thesis assignment.)
Immediately when reading through this remark it made me think of the aspect of Vampire folklore that says that they do not hold a reflection. (I have seen in recient Vampire stories where this notion is considered a lie created by the Vampires themselves to protect their identies as Vampires while among the living. Which I thought was ingenious... haha.) However, if we want to continue believing that they do not have reflections then Keats' comment (atleast how I am perceiving it) implies that the vampire/immortal would not know themselves and so therefore has no reflection, for as to know thyself and thy reflection (oh... crud... Milton thesis reference.... God's creations as images of the self via Lacan and Freud to define "others" and "self-hood") is to know the "self". Before I get too far on this tangent... in Anne Rice's the Vampire Lestat, we see firstly, a narcissistic immortal however, he does not know himself. He spends his immortal undeath searching for the answers as to WHAT he is supposed to be doing, and WHAT existence means when you live forever (I know it sounds cliche now... but in 1985 that was GOLD). Keats' comment suggests that Lestat, and his Vampire aquaintances, do not have a soul for the reason that he does not have an identity.
To me, being fresh from my thesis concerning "othering" and identity, this suggests that Lestat has some how re-entered the (oh the pun!) "Mirror-stage" (the mirror stage is where the child first associates the image it sees in a mirror, with itself and that image becomes the "self" This is also where "othering" begins.... but I dont want to talk about that ANYMORE! Haha.) For Lestat, or ANY vampire to be lacking a mirror image, definitely (at least in my sore mind) indicates a lack of identity and association with the "self"
Coming back around to the original quote by Keats, a being does not have a soul until it forms identity. In the case of the visage-challenged Vampire, identity will NEVER be actualized in the terms that Lacan requires in infancy, and by Keats' musings, will NEVER again have a soul. Which, at least to me, poses a very valid theory as to why the vampire cannot see himself or be seen reflected in a mirror and is considered soulless. (One, if not both, cause and perpetuate the other condition.)
This comment I find most intriguing, granted what I find intriguing about it is not directly related to Keats and what we have been discussing in class per se, but it does hold relevance to my final essay topic, if I do end up continuing with my original plan. (Also, this is several days late as a post... apologies! Many. My brain is... well not back to "normal" but... back to functionality, at least, after... he who mustnotbenamed's thesis assignment.)
Immediately when reading through this remark it made me think of the aspect of Vampire folklore that says that they do not hold a reflection. (I have seen in recient Vampire stories where this notion is considered a lie created by the Vampires themselves to protect their identies as Vampires while among the living. Which I thought was ingenious... haha.) However, if we want to continue believing that they do not have reflections then Keats' comment (atleast how I am perceiving it) implies that the vampire/immortal would not know themselves and so therefore has no reflection, for as to know thyself and thy reflection (oh... crud... Milton thesis reference.... God's creations as images of the self via Lacan and Freud to define "others" and "self-hood") is to know the "self". Before I get too far on this tangent... in Anne Rice's the Vampire Lestat, we see firstly, a narcissistic immortal however, he does not know himself. He spends his immortal undeath searching for the answers as to WHAT he is supposed to be doing, and WHAT existence means when you live forever (I know it sounds cliche now... but in 1985 that was GOLD). Keats' comment suggests that Lestat, and his Vampire aquaintances, do not have a soul for the reason that he does not have an identity.
To me, being fresh from my thesis concerning "othering" and identity, this suggests that Lestat has some how re-entered the (oh the pun!) "Mirror-stage" (the mirror stage is where the child first associates the image it sees in a mirror, with itself and that image becomes the "self" This is also where "othering" begins.... but I dont want to talk about that ANYMORE! Haha.) For Lestat, or ANY vampire to be lacking a mirror image, definitely (at least in my sore mind) indicates a lack of identity and association with the "self"
Coming back around to the original quote by Keats, a being does not have a soul until it forms identity. In the case of the visage-challenged Vampire, identity will NEVER be actualized in the terms that Lacan requires in infancy, and by Keats' musings, will NEVER again have a soul. Which, at least to me, poses a very valid theory as to why the vampire cannot see himself or be seen reflected in a mirror and is considered soulless. (One, if not both, cause and perpetuate the other condition.)
Labels:
1985,
Anne Rice,
immortality,
Keats,
Lacan,
Lestat,
mirror-images,
Othering,
Vampires
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