Fei-Perng Law

Professor Dowd

Writing 39B

2 November 2018

“Come Lady Death” RA

          The genres horror and fantasy are quite different, but when horror and fantasy come together, the blend of the two genres work well with each other. Peter S. Beagle’s short story “Come Lady Death” embodies qualities from horror, and ties in some aspects of fantasy. He also subverts the conventions of the two genres to tell the tale of figurative death—a lack of empathy— and literal death, which shouldn’t be feared. Through these conventions and subversions, Beagle critiques society for pursuing high status that only results in emptiness.

          “Come Lady Death” integrates the convention of suspense found in works of horror to induce fear and terror in the audience. Lady Neville invites Death to one of her famous parties and anticipates on Death’s arrival, while all other guests wait in fear. The moment before Death’s arrival, “everyone, even Lady Neville and the brave Captain Compson, gave one startled little cry and then was silent again” (Beagle 440). Beagle builds up the suspense upon Death’s arrival by emphasizing the guests’ fear and attitude towards Death which then builds up the audience’s expectations as they wait for something horrifying to happen, especially since Death is personified as a human, rather than a broad concept. Beagle brings Death “to life” and the audience is free to imagine Death in any way possible, keeping the belief that death is something dark and eerie. This along with the characters’ idea of death as something frightening builds upon one another, building more and more suspense as the audience waits for the big reveal. Another example of building suspense occurs when Death is deciding who will replace her role in the afterlife. She singles out people, saying it’s “‘not Captain Compson… not Lorimond’” (Beagle 453),  ruling out who isn’t fit as Death, until she finally decides on Lady Neville because her “heart is like a dry riverbed, like a seashell” (454). She draws out her decision, keeping the audience tense as to what will happen next. Once the suspense finally reaches its peak, Beagle is able to use the resolution after Death’s choice to reveal the message of the story: a heart without empathy equals death. Lady Neville’s lack of empathy cost her her life since she is unable to form relationships with other people, and therefore a nobody. Death embodies Lady Neville, and this surprising feature— Death’s physical form— in “Come Lady Death” builds up suspense to reveal another aspect found in horror stories, supernatural beings and powers.

          Although death exists in the real world, “Come Lady Death” transforms the notion of death into a supernatural being or idea.  According to philosopher Noël Carroll, “what appears to distinguish the horror story from mere stories with monsters...is the attitude of characters in the story to the monsters they chance upon” (52). Death is a familiar construct in human lives but isn’t readily present as a form in everyday lives. When Beagle personifies death in “Come Lady Death,” death suddenly becomes a tangible object that people must face, which is out of the ordinary. The characters regard Death as something unusual, making “Come Lady Death” a horror story.  Humans only encounter death once, so to come close to death signifies that their end is near, as seen when Captain Compson’s “face and eyes were immobile with fear” while dancing with Death (Beagle 445). The unpredictability of any supernatural force is frightening, evoking fear in both the characters and audience. However, Beagle subverts these horror conventions using an anticlimactic reveal of Death’s physical form and undermining the stereotypes associated with death to provide comfort to the audience by showing that death isn’t always so scary.

          Horror is meant to induce fear in the audience, but Beagle subverts this convention at the last minute. The building of suspense before Death’s arrival leads the audience to have high expectations as to how Death will look and act: horrifying. But when Death arrives, she is the complete opposite of what was thought. This description of Death, for example, shows the human-like qualities that Death possesses, even though she isn’t technically alive:

She could not have been more than nineteen. Her hair was yellow, and she wore it long. It fell thickly upon her are shoulders that gleamed warmly through it, two limestone islands rising out of a dark goldens sea. Her face was wide at the forehead and cheekbones, and narrow at the chin, and  her skin was so clear that many of the ladies there—Lady Neville among them—touched their own faces wonderingly, and instantly drew their hands away as though their own skin had rasped their fingers (442).

Beagle undermines the stereotypical view of death and changes the audience’s perception of death into something more comforting and warm. Her looks are innocent, and certainly not something to be afraid of, so the audience accepts her for who she is, even if her role in the world isn’t necessarily pleasant. Even the process of switching roles with Lady Neville is gentle: the two of them “‘must kiss each other’” to trade places (Beagle 454). Death is no longer seen as something to be feared, but rather as a force that is natural and part of the life cycle.

          Besides subverting horror conventions, Beagle also breaks the conventions found in fantasy works, revealing commentary about society and their pursuit of pride. Fantasy stories are set in make-believe worlds and have plots that can’t occur in the real world. Yes, death can’t be invited to a party, but the setting in which “Come Lady Death” takes place is realistic and true to history. “Come Lady Death”  is set “in England a long time ago.” (431) This was a time where kings and palaces existed, and people were either wealthy or dirt poor. This gap creates a distinct line between the rich and the poor’s values. The rich don’t care about others and have no empathy for others, such as Lady Neville’s comment about her hairdresser’s child: “‘My hairdresser has a sick child. He was telling me about it yesterday, sounding most dull and hopeless’” (435). On the other hand, the poor value what they do have: relationships and love, since “the contacts [poor people] made at work, the social skills learnt, the self esteem they derived, the support they gave and received continued throughout life, and sustained them in good times and in bad” (Cattell 1510). This also means that Lady Neville is an aristocrat in England. Beagle exaggerates how wealthy she is by saying how “she had so many servants that she could not possibly remember all their names… some she had never even seen. She had more food than she could eat, more gowns that she could ever wear” (431). Lady Neville only cares about how she projects herself to others, and wants to show off her wealth because she has nothing meaningful in her life. Beagle’s exaggeration creates an illusion that only superficial objects matter in life, and pays little attention to deeper relationships. This serves as a warning to the audience that wealth isn’t necessary to live a meaningful life, as Lady Neville has everything she wants yet still feels empty inside. The exaggeration and description of Lady Neville’s life makes her life surface-level, as if that’s all she has to her name. She has no family, no friends, no love, only money. Setting this story in reality influences the audience to believe that this is how society behaves throughout history, and reveals flaws in the human world that allows the audience to apply this critique to themselves.

          “Come Lady Death” was written in the 1960s, where a “‘narcissistic’ malady among individuals incapable of finding meaningful order within themselves or forming strong bonds to others” was spreading in America (Brick xiv). Beagle critiques the American society for only wanting to appear “cool” to others with trivial objects that won’t last in the long run. Like Lady Neville, the inability to find meaning in life causes one to become an empty shell with no purpose or impact in other people’s lives. The familiar setting in “Come Lady Death” correlates with reality, and can be seen through Beagle’s use of third person limited point of view to give insight as to how aristocrats—or people wanting to fit in— see the world. Using this perspective in this story exposes Lady Neville’s intentions with the party when Death doesn’t arrive at midnight and she thinks to herself, “I am ruined. I wanted to give a ball so grand that those who were not invited would be shamed in front of the whole city.” (441)  Lady Neville’s need for approval sheds light on how important popularity is in people’s lives and how it serves as validation to remain “cool” in society.

          Beagle also showcases the downfall of following societal standards to critique his audience using multiple literary devices. Lady Neville throws parties in her later years and becomes “known as the wisest and wittiest woman in all London.” (Beagle 431) In this example, Beagle uses alliteration to draw attention to the title that Lady Neville gains from her legendary parties.  This title gives Lady Neville an image that society likes, for she’s only noticed once she throws her parties, and this repeated behavior of throwing parties reveals that Lady Neville wants to be approved by society. She puts up a front to hide her lack of empathy in order to be well-liked by her community. The alliteration also gives the phrase some silliness, implying that societal standards are made-up constructs that give no real meaning to life. Although living up to society’s expectations is a “must” in the 1960s, Lady Neville finds no interest in her parties even if she “hired the greatest jugglers and acrobats and dancers and magicians to entertain them” as time passes. (Beagle 431) Here, Beagle utilizes polysyndeton to create a list that seems endless to mimic the routineness of Lady Neville’s life. Again, Beagle critiques the American society for this mindset that will inevitably become a cycle without any strong bonds to add variety into one’s life. Even “the most marvelous music, the most exciting feats of magic put [Lady Neville] to sleep. Watching a beautiful young couple dance by her made her feel sad.” (432) Here, alliteration is observed again with the “mm” sound, producing a humming effect, and giving the effect of monotony despite the dynamics music and magic offer. Furthermore, the juxtaposition between Lady Neville and her lively parties emphasizes the loss of passion due to to the repetitiveness of meeting society’s standards of “cool.” Living the best life on the outside doesn’t equal the best life on the inside; what is visually appealing doesn’t mean it’s emotionally appealing.

          “Come Lady Death” defies the rules in horror and fantasy genres, which also, in a way, indirectly defies the rules of society. Breaking the standards is an inspiration for Beagle’s audience, for society’s pressure upon the public pushes us to follow whatever guidelines they have set up. People aren’t meant to be followers of society, rather our own unique individual that creates a community. The idea of being wealthy constructed by society has no meaning for people. Once we are gone, our wealth is gone. Death is inevitable, so we must enjoy life with the ones we love, the ones who matter, before it’s too late.

Works Cited

Beagle, Peter Soyer. “Come Lady Death.” Unnatural Creatures, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2013, pp. 431-455.

Brick, Howard. Age of Contradiction American Thought and Culture in the 1960s. Cornell University Press, 2000.

Carroll, Noël. “The Nature of Horror.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 46, no. 1, 1987, pp. 51–59. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/431308Links to an external site..

Cattell, Vicky. “Poor people, poor places, and poor health: the mediating role of social networks and social capital.” Social Science & Medicine, vol. 52, Elsevier, 2001, pp. 1501-1516.