The Double Voice of Metaphor: A. S. Byatt`s "Morpho Eugenia"

Transcription

The Double Voice of Metaphor: A. S. Byatt's "Morpho Eugenia"
Author(s): Heidi Hansson
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Winter, 1999), pp. 452-466
Published by: Hofstra University
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The DoubleVoiceofMetaphor:
A. S. Byatt's"MorphoEugenia"
HEIDI HANSSON
Analogyis a slipperytool.
double voice of
-A. S. Byatt(100)
fiction
a
because it
postmodern
presents challenge
Therequires that we question
the way we read and interpretnot only
postmodernliteraturebut also literatureas a whole.' This doubleness is
noticeablein worksthatopenlydisplaytheiraffiliation
withgeparticularly
nericconventionsor older works,such asJ. M. Coetzee's Foe (1986), which
rewritesRobinsonCrusoe,PeterAckroyd'sHawksmoor
(1985), whichis structuredlikea detectivestory,
or A. S. Byatt'sPossession
(1990), LindsayClarke's
The Chymical
The
Fowles's
French
Lieutenant'sWoman
Wedding(1989), John
and
Susan
The
Volcano
Lover
which
all build on ro(1969),
(1992),
Sontag's
mance conventions.Such doublenessresemblesallegory,insofaras allegory
defines the momentwhen one text is read throughthe lens of another
(Owens pt. 1, 68). By thus allyingthemselveswithprevioustextsin their
genres and by fusingconventionaland postmodernnarrativestrategies,
these literaryhybridsdestabilizeour interpretations
of traditionalworks,
and, at least in the case of the postmodernromances,manage both to reread theirtraditionand revitalizeits twentieth-century
appearance.2Thus
the multiplenarrativevoices,the open contradictions,and the consistent
resistanceto totalizinganswersin a postmodernromancelikePossession
can
be seen as continuingthe allegoricalmode of the "high"romancesof the
late Middle Ages and the Renaissance,as questioningthe apparentuniformityof women's popular romances,and as restoringthose complex and
sophisticatedqualities thatformerlycharacterizedthe romance but seem
to have disappearedfromitstwentieth-century
manifestations.
452
BYATT'S "MORPHO EUGENIA"
in itsparodies of scholarsinfluencedbyFrench
Even thoughPossession
feminismand Lacanian psychoanalysis
containsa fairamountof critiqueof
itsignalsitsown postmodernity
and
attitudes,
poststructuralist postmodern
devices
like
narrative
paradox,ambiguity,
through
fluctuating
perspectives,
and self-reflexivity.
The shortstoriesin Byatt'sTheDjinn in theNightingale's
Eye (1994) can also be categorized as postmodern fictions,especially
structuresin apparentlyrealthroughthe inclusionof magic and fairy-tale
istictales,and thedisjunctivenarrativestyleofBabelTower
(1996) is another
of
interest
in
example Byatt's
postmodernliterarytechniques.Workslike
these,whichopenlydisplaytheirpostmodernlinks,need to be approached
in a waythatcan acknowledgethemultiplemeaningsproduced.Worksthat
narrativesmightappear to
at least on the surfacelook like straightforward
be anothermatter.But are they?Consider the novella "Morpho Eugenia"
in Byatt'sAngelsand Insects.In contrastto Possession,
"Morpho Eugenia" is
in
set
the
there
is
no
and
visible
firmly
twentieth-century
past,
perspective
in the telling.The storyis mainlytold byan omniscientnarrator,and even
thoughit is interspersedwithfictionaltextsostensiblywrittenby the various charactersin the novella,these do not representdifferent
voices and
in
to
the
extent
do
Possession.
perspectives
shifting
they
"Morpho Eugenia" opens like a women's historicalromance and continues like a Victoriannovel about love, marriage,society'sexpectations,
social injustices,Darwin, and religion.Benineteenth-century
hypocrisy,
cause thestoriesin AngelsandInsects
are setin the 1860sand 1870s and deal
withVictorianconcerns,reviewershave describedthediptychas "resolutely
mid-Victorianin tone and content" (Hughes 49), and A. S. Byattas "a
VictorianistIris Murdoch" (Butler). The postmodernconnectionis consequentlyoverlooked.One reviewer,however,sees continuitiesbetweenthe
Victoriannoveland postmodernismwhen he refersto Byattas a "postmodin "an earnest
ern Victorian"who findsthe groundsof her postmodernity
attemptto get back beforethe modernsand revivea Victorianprojectthat
has neverbeen allowed to come to completion" (Levenson 41). Like the
who continuesthe
novelists,Byattis a storyteller
greatnineteenth-century
Victoriantraditionof describingthe individualin society,but it does not
followthatshe exercisesher storywriter's
to present
automatically
authority
totalworldvisions.3"MorphoEugenia" appears to be double-voicedonlyin
itsextensiveuse of analogyin comparingtheworldof theVictorianhousehold withthatofinsects,buteventhoughthenarrativeseemsstableenough,
a struggleis going on withinthe textitself,so thatat timesnarrativeand
To read thenovellaas a postmodern
language seem to be at cross-purposes.
romance---oras a postmodernVictoriannovel,ifsuch a hybridcan existhelps to account forthe ambiguitiesthisgivesriseto.
453
TWENTIETHCENTURY LITERATURE
The prominenceof comparisons,analogies,and metaphorsplaces the
a quintessentially
medievalor
novellain the traditionofallegoricalwriting,
Renaissance genre. But allegoryis also characteristicof postmodernism
(Owens pt. 2, 64). In Deborah Madsen's words,"[a]llegory flourishesat
timesof intense culturaldisruption,when the most authoritativetextsof
the cultureare subject to revaluationand reassessment"(135). Such reassessmenttakes place when a photographerlike SherrieLevine takes picturesoffamousphotographsor whenCoetzee's Foe,MarinaWarner'sIndigo
(1992), and PeterCarey'sJack
Maggs(1998) reappraiseRobinsonCrusoe,The
Great
and
Workslike thesestandin an allegoricalrelaTempest,
Expectations.
to
the
tionship
subjectstheyappropriate,butitis notaltogetherclearwhich
meanof theworksinvolvedrepresentsthe literaland whichthe figurative
is
the
texts
of
an
The
hierarchical
relation
between
unstable,
ing
allegory.
since it is equallypossible to read the modernworksthroughthe filtersof
theirpredecessorsas the reverse.
of the late twentiethcentury,
as well as of postmodern
A characteristic
is thatcertaintiesare continuouslycalled intoquestion,and thus
literature,
allegorybecomes a suitableformforexpression.The model is certainlynot
alien to postmodernism:on the contrary,
allegoryis a classic example of
double discourse,as well as a textualmode that-like postmodernliterature-avoids establishinga centerwithinthe text,because in allegorythe
unityof theworkis providedbysomethingthatis not explicitlythere.This
lastpointis wherepostmodernallegoriesdifferfromtraditionalones, however,because mostallegoriesdepend on the existenceof a recognizedand
more or less universallyaccepted frameof referenceoutside the text.But
where,forexample,a ProtestantallegoristlikeJohnBunyancould presuppose hisreader'sknowledgeof theBible,thepostmodernallegoristcan take
no referentforgranted.As a consequence, postmodernallegoryis notoriof a worklike
ouslyunstable,and a conventionalallegoricalinterpretation
becomes
no
because
"MorphoEugenia"
impossible,
singlekeycan explain
the meaningof the analogies.
The question is: who is in chargeof decoding the allegory?In contrast
to symbols,which are generallytaken to transcendthe sign and express
universaltruths,
allegoriesand metaphorsdividethesign,exposingitsarbitrariness(Smith106). Thus the allegoricalimpulsein contemporaryliteraturecan be seen as a reflectionof the postmodernemphasison the reader
as coproducer,since it invitesthe reader's activeparticipationin meaning
of authorialpower: remaking.But allegories can also be manifestations
lentlesslydidacticworksthatresolutelydirectthe reader's interpretations.
Viewed in thisway,allegoryis reactionary(Smith 120). If allegoryrequires
thepresenceofa fixed,culture-specific,
author-controlled
the noreferent,
454
tion of a postmodernallegoricalformis contradictory
indeed. If, on the
other hand, allegoriesserve to destabilizethe relationbetweenword and
meaning,betweenformand essence, such textsbecome verysuitableexpressionsof the postmoderndistrustof accurate representation.In "Morpho Eugenia" the reader can discoverseveralmeaningsin dialogue with
each other,and the hierarchicalrelationbetweena monologic "message"
and theallegoricalformthatobscuresitcollapses.This is preciselythemark
of postmodernallegory.
The comparisonsbetween,forinstance,people and insectsin Byatt's
novella are quite explicit,so much so that one revieweraccuses Byattof
"applyingthe messagewitha trowel"(Lesser), and anothersighsthat"she
him in thoughtand
followsthe readeraround witha cowhorn,instructing
reaction,ratherthan renderingan action and lettingthe reader enjoy the
illusion of freedomin his engagementwiththe text" (Tate 60). The descriptionof the clash betweenan aristocraticsocietyand a new,work-oriented one seems to invitea politicalreading,and the feminizationof the
insectmetaphorssuggestsa reading in termsof gender struggle.But the
of the comparisonsis illusory,and the meaningsof
apparenttransparency
the analogies remainunsteady.Byattuses common,even trite,metaphors,
but she uses the same metaphorin severaldifferent
ways,whichdrawsattentionto language itselfand means that readerswill have to reevaluate
theirinterpretation
of the textoverand overagain. Both thefigurative-or
the hackneyed-meaningsand theliteralmeaningsare presentat the same
time,and so metaphorsand analogies become more thanembellishments:
theybecome toolsforemphasizingthe double voice thatis an integralpart
of language.
Metaphorsare indeed highlyappropriatepostmoderndevices,because
theyare obvious vehiclesfor ambiguity.A livingmetaphoralwayscarries
dual meanings,the literalor sentencemeaningand the conveyedor utterance meaning.In "MorphoEugenia" the strainbetweenthe figurative
and
the literalmeaningis constantly
underscored,since antsand butterflies
appear bothas insectsand as metaphorsforhumanbehavior.As BrianMcHale
puts it, the hesitation between literal and conveyed meaning typifies
postmodernmetaphoricalwriting:
Postmodernist
of
writingseeks to foregroundthe ontologicalduality
metaphor,itsparticipationin twoframesof referencewithdifferent
ontologicalstatuses.This it accomplishesbyaggravatingmetaphor's
inherentontological tensions,therebyslowingstillfurtherthe alreadyslowflickerbetweenpresenceand absence. All metaphorhesitatesbetweena literalfunction(in a secondaryframeof reference)
455
TWENTIETHCENTURY LITERATURE
and a metaphoricalfunction(in a "real" frameof reference);postmodernist texts often prolong this hesitation as a means of
foregroundingontologicalstructure. (McHale 134)
Using analogydisplaysthe metaphor'sreferenceto the "real"world,and as
a consequence, Byatt'stechnique of offeringmetaphoricaldescriptionsin
the formof analogies ensuresthatthe postmodernvacillationbetweenliteral and figurativemeaningsis constantlypresentin "Morpho Eugenia."
But metaphorsare unstablenotonlybecause theyhoverbetweentwoframes
of reference:theirfigurative
meaningsare also shaky.A metaphorinduces
but
since
the
are notforevergiven,metacomparison,
groundsofsimilarity
to
freedom
of
reader
as opposed to the auserve
the
the
phors
emphasize
of
the
clear
in
writer.
This
becomes
thority
"MorphoEugenia."
particularly
Because ants and butterflies
are presentboth literallyand metaphorically,
the reader is forcedto takea closerlook at whatis embedded in the familiar comparisonsofwomenwithbutterflies
or humansocietieswithant communities.Metaphorsinvitethoughtbecause theyenforcethe understanding thatthereare at least twosides to everything.
"MorphoEugenia" mayat
timesseem overloaded withmetaphors,but since the interplaybetween
metaphoricaland literal meaning destabilizesboth the novella and the
metaphorsthemselves,thisis one of the clearestsignsof itspostmodernity.
"ThingsAre Not WhatTheySeem"
-A. S. Byatt(119)
and the controlling
N44 orpho Eugenia" takesitstitlefroma butterfly,
metaphors belong to the worlds of ants, bees, and butterflies.
WilliamAdamson,a naturalistrecentlyback fromtheAmazon,is welcomed
into theAlabasterhousehold at BredelyHall. At the beginningof his visit,
theyoungladies presentat a ball appear to him as butterflies,
shimmering
in "shell-pinkand sky-blue,
silverand citron"(3). Verysoon his interestfocuses on one of them,Eugenia, who,like all the othermembersof theAlabasterfamily,
is a "pale-goldand ivory"creature,almostalwaysdressed in
white(4). Bycontrast,Williamhimselfis "sultry-skinned,
withjaundice-gold
mixedintosun-toasting"
(3), and Eugenia's whiteness,so easilyinterpreted
as betokeninginnocence, temptshim by its differencefromthe "oliveskinnedand velvet-brown
ladies of doubtfulvirtueand no virtue"he knew
in Pari and Manios (5). Aftera period of silentlonging,Williamproposes
to Eugenia among a cloud ofbutterflies
he has raisedforher in the conserand theymarryand settleat BredelyHall.
vatory,
456
thatshares her name, the shimEugenia is compared to the butterfly
The
meringsatiny-white
butterfly
imageis quite automatiMorphoEugenia.
as
a
for
femininebeautyand
understood
common
rather
cally
metaphor
but
as
William
it
is
the
male
butterflies
who exhibit
out,
flightiness,
points
colors
and
whirl
about
in
the
whereas
the
females
are drabbright
sunlight,
colored and timid.Obviouslythe butterfly
in
metaphor "MorphoEugenia"
cannotbe read traditionally,
and the titleof the novellagivesa clue: morpho
is the Greekwordfor"form,"whichsuggeststhatthe titlecould be read as
about the formof a butter"theformof Eugenia." Whatis mostsignificant
is
that
it
it
that
and thisis indeed
fly
changes,
undergoes metamorphosis,
what Eugenia-and William's conception of her-does. As the story
progresses,Williamrealizes thatEugenia's whitenessis not a reflectionof
her purityand innocence but insteadsignalsdegenerationand the impurityof incest. "Morpho Eugenia" becomes a storyabout a fall frominnocence to experience and knowledge,where William has to realize that
"thingsare not what theyseem." Beneath the orderlysurface of life at
BredelyHall are a dysfunctional
familyand a sectionof society-the counhas
lost
its
of directionand purpose.Williambesense
tryaristocracy-that
comes like Psychein the insetPsycheand Cupid story,where Psychecan
keep her husband onlyifshe promises"nevertotrytoseehim"(42). If William is allowed to see Eugenia and herworldforwhattheyare, his marriage,
like Psyche's,willdisintegrate.4
This seems to identifyEugenia as the villainof the story,but the unstablenatureof thebutterfly
metaphorcounteractsa singleinterpretation.
At BredelyHall, butterfly
laid out in displaycases,
specimensare beautifully
whichemphasizestheirstatusas objects,and in manywaysEugenia and her
sistersare objects too, withno otheraspirationin lifethan to make themselvesbeautifulfora prospectivehusband. In the worldof insects,the use
of beautyas a wayof attractingthe othersex is reservedforthemale, but as
theAlabasterrelativeMattyCromptonobserves,"thisappears to be the oppositeto human societies,when it is the woman whose success in thatkind
of performancedeterminestheirlives"(40). Eugenia is a victimof a society
thathas no use forher exceptas thebreederof thenextgeneration,and to
secure her place in thissocietyshe has to make herselfthe object of men's
admiration.
BredelyHall representsa fractionof a societythat,according to the
historybooks, was male dominated. In "Morpho Eugenia" Byattsuggests,
however,thatat least thatsociety'sdomesticlifewas controlledbywomen:
457
TWENTIETHCENTURYLITERATURE
Houses such as thiswere run forand by women. Harald Alabaster
was master,but he was,as faras thewhirringof domesticclocksand
wheelswent,a deusabsconditus,
who set it all in motion,and might
at a pinch stopit,but had littleto do withitsuse of energy.
(76)
That women have been relegatedto the domesticsphere and as a result
have been able to exerttheirpower over household mattersis no revolutionaryinsight.What givesthe observationnew lifeare the analogies with
bee and ant societies.One reviewerexpresseshis disaffection
withthe device thus:one "mustendure theelaboratecomparisonofinsectand human
societies,an idea thatI mightnot be alone in findinghackneyed"(Tate 6061). This commentfailsto acknowledgethatin the novella,as in nature,
ant and bee communitiesare predominantly
is run by
female.5Everything
and determinedbyfemales,down to the sex of the embryos.The male ants
and thedronesare sex objects,justlikethemale butterflies
thatflaunttheir
brilliantcolors to attractthe females,and fertilization
of the femalesis the
solejustification
fortheirexistence.When Byattdescribessuch a male-dominated societyas the nineteenth-century
English aristocracythroughresoof
one of the results
lutelygendered metaphors bees, ants,and butterflies,
is to challenge the conventionalpictureof thissociety.
In mostVictorianfiction,marriage"means the end of sexual adventuresbut thebeginningof social responsibility"
(Belsey120), and thisprinto
be
down
to
its
essence
at
ciple appears
BredelyHall." But marriage
pared
seems to mean nothingmore than a sociallyacceptable wayto secure the
propagationofthespecies,and once conceptionhas occurred,thepretense
of love is not required.The men at BredelyHall lead the livesof male ants
or droneswhose existenceis directedsolelyto "the nuptialdance and the
fertilizationof the Queens" (103), and the women become "egg-laying
machines, gross and glistening,endlesslylicked, caressed, soothed and
smoothed--veritablePrisonersof Love" (102). Their abilityto produce
young gives them theirvalue, and in such a societylove becomes "an instinctualresponseleading to the formationof societieswhich [gives] even
more restrictedand functionalidentitiesto theirmembers"(116).
Pregnancyand motherhoodmetamorphosewomen's lives,but sometimes this metamorphosisis of a Kafkaesque kind. Eugenia experiences
pregnancyas a period of cocooning,but she emergesfromher cocoon not
rebornas a butterfly
but as somethingresemblingan ant queen. Witheach
she
becomes
more and more like the Queen of the Wood Ants:
pregnancy
She was swollenand glossy,unlike the mattworkers,and appeared
to be stripedred and white.The stripingwas in factthe resultof the
458
bloatingof her body by the eggs inside it,whichpushed apart her
red-brownarmour-plating,
showingmore fragile,more elastic,whitish skinin the interstices. (39)
Like the ant communitiesit is compared with,the aristocraticsocietyto
which the Alabastersbelong has no other purpose than to guarantee its
own perpetuation.That thisinvolvesinbreedingis also highlightedby the
comparison.As soon as Eugenia is pregnant,Williamis shutout of her bedroom to be let in again onlywhenit is timeto produce anotherbaby.Quite
soon it is clear to the reader thatEugenia has an incestuousrelationship
withher half-brother,
and thatWilliam'schildren,who are so "trueto typeveritableAlabasters,"may not be William'sat all (106).7 In an ant or bee
society,incestis the rule, of course,because thereare no other insectsin
the neststhanthoseproduced bythe queen.
Williamfindsout about Edgar's and Eugenia's relationshipby a message nobodyadmitsto havingsent:
"And someone
sent forme to come back to the house, today,when I
was notwanted.When I was anythingbutwanted."
"I didn't send foryou,"she said. "If thatis whatyou are thinking. There are people in a house, you know,who knoweverything
thatgoes on-the invisiblepeople, and now and then thehousesimply decides that somethingmust happen-I thinkyour message
came to you aftera series of misunderstandings
thatat some level
werequite deliberate." (154-55)
MattyCromptonimpliesthatthe house itselfwantsto put a stop to the incestuousrelationship,thatthe invisiblepeople at BredelyHall workin conjunction towardwhattheybelieve is right.Certainlythe household,as well
as the rest of nineteenth-century
society,would agree on Edgar's and
but
offers
Eugenia's guilt,
Byatt
Eugenia's side of thingsas well:
"I knowit was bad," said Eugenia. "I knowit was bad, but you must
understandit didn'tfeelbad-it grewlittlebylittle,out of perfectly
innocent,natural,playfulthings-which no one thoughtwrong--I
have never been able to speak to any other livingsoul of it, you
mustforgiveme forspeakingto you-I can see I have made you angry,thoughI triedto make you love me-if I could have spoken to
anyone,I mighthave been broughtto see how wrongit was. Buthethoughtit wasn't-he said-people like makingrules and others
like breakingthem-he made me believeit was all perfectlynatural
and so it was, it was natural, nothing in us rose up and said-it
was-unnatural."
(158-59)
459
breeding machine, but
Eugenia may appear primarilyas a self-indulgent
she is also thevictimof a hypocritical
societywheresex is not talkedabout,
and where women are not encouraged to acknowledgetheirsexual feelings.To a certainextent,Eugenia's incestuousrelationshipwithher brother
is an act ofrebellion,a wayofeludingtheconstrictions
of hersociety.There
are twosides to everything,
and whatmakesit impossibleto come to a final
conclusion about how to interpretincestin the novella is thatthe union
betweenEdgar and Eugenia produces children,whereas theirsister,who
marries"outsidethe nest,"remainschildless.
To fillhis days,WilliamAdamson agrees to help MattyCromptonand
thegirlsin her chargeto make a studyof the "social insects."Togetherthey
set up a glass bee hive and a glass tank for ants in the schoolroom. The
becomes a miniaturereflectionoflifeat BredelyHall. The Victoformicary
rian household is filledwithservantswho occupy the place of the worker
ants:
The servantswerealwaysbusy,and mostlysilent.Theywhiskedaway
behind theirown doors into mysteriousareas into which he had
never penetrated,though he met them at everyturningin those
places in whichhis own lifewas led. ... Theywere as fullof urgent
purpose as the childrenof the house were emptyof it. (74)
Harald Alabasterbelievesthatthe social insectsexerciseboth altruismand
self-sacrifice;
byimplicationthesevirtuesgovernthe livesof his servantsas
well.Williamslowlyarrivesat anotherconclusion,both about the ants and
the household: "mostsocial systemsworkby mutual aggression,exploitation,the sacrificeof the manynot forthewhole,but forthe few"(Butler).
He is graduallybroughtto realize thathis situationat BredelyHall in many
waysequals thatof theWood Antswho are enslavedbythe Blood-redAnts.
The slaves lose all sense of theirorigin and identifycompletelywiththe
inhabitantsoftheirnewnest,to thepointwheretheytakepartin slaveraids
against membersof theirown species. "Men are not ants,"however,and
Williamdoes not have to be trappedin the analogy (106). Disenchanted
withEugenia, and suppliedwiththeproceeds fromthebook about antshe
has writtentogetherwithMattyCrompton,he finallybreaksout and leaves
fortheAmazon withMattyas his companion. Ultimatelythe development
and choices of the individualmatter,and as a consequence a reading that
triesto explain the analogies in universaltermscollapses.
460
Names,you know,are a wayof weavingtheworldtogether,byrelatyou
ing the creaturesto othercreaturesand a kindof metamorphosis,
whichis a figureof speech forcarrying
mightsay,out of a metaphor
one idea into another.
--A. S. Byatt(131-32)
her story"ThingsAre Not What They Seem" withWilliam,
(141).
Mattyexpressesa fearthatit mightcontain"too much message"
In certainwaysthesame is trueof"MorphoEugenia":as a reader,one sometimesfeelsthatthereisjust too much message,or too manymessages.The
and resistsit. The frequentanalogies
novella both begs forinterpretation
invitean allegoricalreadingthatis continuallythwartedbytheinstability
of
the novella'sabundantmetaphorsand symbols.At times,the politicaldrift
of thenarrativeappears to be antifeminist,
fromtherole reversalthatplaces
WilliamAdamson in the Cinderellaposition,throughthe misogynistic
deof
women
and
final
of
his
William's
wife
scriptions pregnant
repudiation
and his lifeat BredelyHall. The accentuationon ant and bee communities
as femalesocietiesdoes not counteractsuch a reading,because the emphasis on thiscould also be takento implythatit is the women who tie themselves,each other,and men to fixedgender roles.
On the otherhand, the insectanalogies are used to describea society
usuallythoughtofas completelymale dominated,whichis a challengewith
ratherfeministovertones.An importantfeministprojecthas been to reveal
thatlanguage and linguisticexpressionare not innocent,and in "Morpho
Eugenia" Byattshows that this is true of metaphor as well. Discussing
"gynocentric
writing,"
MaryDaly demonstratesthat,forinstance,hyphenation mayoperate as a means of exposingtheveiled meaningsin words,to
dis-coverlanguage, as it were (24). Judiciousinstallationof hyphenscan
revealhidden meaningsin wordsand invitesthe reader to look at common
wordsin new ways,as in the examples "his-tory,
and "re-mem""mis-take,"
ber."Similarly,
revitalization
of
common
Byatt's
metaphorspointsto a feminizationof language,so thatwhen the ant hillis presentedas a societyrun
and perpetuatedbythefemaleof the species,an overlookedcomponentin
the familiarmetaphoricalconnection of human and ant societies is laid
bare. As a result,an internalstruggleoccurs in the storybetweenthe level
of narrativeand the level of language. This instability
createsa tensionin
the novella thatrendersanysinglepoliticalinterpretation
difficult.
and
like
often
are
Metaphors
analogies,
proverbs,
givenuniversalsignificance,and largelygo unquestioned.What makes metaphoricalexpressions interesting,however,is thattheyare double signs.The discrepancy
betweentheliteralmeaningof thewordsand theutterancemeaningof the
Discussing
461
statement,thatis, whatis being conveyed,giveslifeto the metaphor.As a
consequence, metaphorsdie or lose theirvalue when the utterancemeaning is so automaticit no longercarriesdual meaning,and thisis when they
need to be reetymologized.8
Commonlyused metaphorsmayretaintheirdouble meaning--presumwhen
ablynobodywould takethe "people are ants"metaphorliterally---but
theirfigurative
demand
have
become
rethese,
too,
meanings
hackneyed,
examination.What exactlyare the groundsof similarity?
In whichwaysdo
people resembleants? Female gendered, the metaphorobtains new life,
but theanalogy'smore conventionalmeaningsare also present.The meanings of metaphorsand analogies are alwaysin flux,and Byattdrawsattention to thisin "Morpho Eugenia" when she uses identicallinguisticfigures
in quite divergentways.
The main metaphorsin "Morpho Eugenia" are all inherentlycontradictory.The "people are butterflies"metaphor contains meanings like
beauty,fickleness,and metamorphosis,as well as the observationthatthe
perceivedsimilaritiesbetweenwomen and butterfliesare actuallyillusory,
because onlymale butterflies
flaunttheirbeautifulcolors.The "people are
ants" metaphoris questioned in the same way:ants are insignificant,
they
female,
specialize,theyformrigidsocieties,but theyare also predominantly
unlike the human societyto which theyare compared. By genderingthe
Does thismean thatthese
metaphors,Byatthas enhanced theirinstability.
should
be
taken
as
as homonyms,words that
words,
expressions
separate
sound the same but mean different
I
not thinkso. I would sugdo
things?
that
the
is
there
to
gest
ambiguity
provokethoughtand to offerquestions
withoutfinally
the
answers.
Thus,thelavishuse ofmetaphordraws
providing
attentionto the extentto whichwe are unaware of the attitudeswe perpetuate throughlanguage itself.The "people are ants" metaphor,forinstance,functionsas a provocationand questionsthe male-dominatedsocietyit describes.It also questionsthe kind of separatistfeminismthatadvocates single-sexcommunities,in thatit describesa femininesocietythatis
both thoroughlyhierarchicaland extremelyrigid.More conventionally,
it
functionsas a means of "forcingthe thoughtthat seen from a height,
watchedacross centuries,we humans creep and crawl,scratchand burrow
like any other low creature moving close to the surface of the planet"
(Levenson 42).
The ratherblatantclue givenin the name "Alabaster"emphasizesthe
significance of references to color, "white" in particular,in "Morpho
Eugenia." To William,Eugenia's whitenesssymbolizesan innocence tiedup
withhis dreamsofEngland and preciousbyitscontrastto the browncolors
of theAmazon.The "whitelilies"and the "snowybedspread" (8) in his bed462
room suggestan Englishcleanness verydifferent
from"the earth-floored
hut"thatused to be his home in thejungle (12). On his weddingnight,he
is "afraidof smutchingher [Eugenia], as the soil smutchedthe snowin the
the color brown
poem" (67). Ifthe colorwhiteis seen as an image ofpurity,
becomes an image of dirt,impurity,
in
perhaps guilt, consequence. If,on
theotherhand,"brown"representshealthand vigor,themeaningof"white"
has to change.
When MattyCromptonis introducedintothestory,
the darknessofher
featuresis foregrounded:
She stood in the shadowsin the doorway,a tall,thindarkfigure,in
a mustyblack gown withpracticalwhitecuffsand collar. Her face
was thinand unsmiling,her hair dark under a plain cap, her skin
(27)
duskytoo.
Mattyhas "a quick step" (36) and her movementsare "quick and decisive"
(96), a contrastboth in coloringand mannerto the languid Eugenia. Her
to Williamwithhis "mane of dark,shininghair" (9) is obvious,
similarity
and as William'sfondnessforMattygrows,the whitenessof the Alabasters
takeson a more sinistermeaning.
One ofWilliam'stasksin theAlabasterhousehold is to organizeHarald
Alabaster'scollection of insectsand other specimens,which he does, but
withdiminishingenthusiasm,because William"wantedto observelife,not
dead shells,he wantedto knowthe processesoflivingthings"(73). Bredely
Hall is a dyingsociety,and Williamrealizesthisas he triesto completehis
apparentlyendless chore. William'sreactionas he looks at Harald Alabaster'shands illustratesthat"white"standsfordeath,too:
The hands were ivory-coloured,the skin finelywrinkled everywhere,like the cruston a pool of wax, and under it appeared livid
bruises,arthriticnodes, irregulartea-brownstains.Williamwatched
the hands fold the waveringpapers and was filled with pityfor
them,as for sick and dyingcreatures.The fleshunder the horny
nailswas candlewax-coloured,
and bloodless. (90)
"White"and "dark"are thuscontrastedwitheach otherthroughout"Morpho Eugenia,"but the meaningof the contrastchanges.
is white,and the Amazon brown,witheverything
this
England,finally,
mightsuggestof racism and colonialism. At the beginning,the novella
seemsto takean imperialist
butsuch an interpretation
perspective,
collapses
as the reversalof the relationbetween "white"and "dark"becomes clear.
"Morpho Eugenia" could verywell be interpretedas a storyabout Eden
463
sinceWilliam'slastname is Adamson.Butwhereis
and thefall,particularly
Eden? In Brazil,Williamthoughtof England as paradise,but in England,
theAmazon is "theinnocent,the unfallenworld,thevirginforest,the wild
people in theinteriorwho are as unawareofmodernways-modern evilsas our firstparents"(30). On the otherhand, theAmazon is unsafe-there
is uncheckedgrowth,unbridledsex,strongfeelings,snakesand dangerous
insects-but it is alive. If the comparisonsbetweenBredelyHall and the
femalesocietiesofantsand bees suggestan antifeminist
politics,thisis counteredbythe contrastwiththe Amazon,a place-namewithexplicitfeminist
connotations.
You mayargue anythingby analogy,Sir,and so consequentlynothing.
-A. S. Byatt(89)
is a precariousdevice,because it givesthe appearance of uniand ifWilliamAdamson is taken to represent"man in genversality,
eral" as his last name seems to suggest,it would seem as if the reader is
asked to findan authoritativeanswerabout man's place in societyin the
text.But politicalreadingsof "Morpho Eugenia" break down because evelse. The narrativepointsone way,
erythingseems to contradicteverything
an allegoricalinterpretation
of the analogies another,and the fluctuating
meaningsof the metaphorsin yetother directions.This ambivalenceis a
featureof postmodernliterature,since postmodernart is concerned with
not offeringsolutions.As Linda Hutcheon pointsout:
problematizing,
Most of the issues raised by postmodernismare actuallydoublyencoded. Most are bydefinitionambivalent,thoughit is also truethat
thereare fewnotionswhichcannot be formulatedin opposing politicalterms. (205)
The metaphorsand analogies in "MorphoEugenia" embodythese"opposingpoliticalterms,"and thusthe politicsofthe storyremainunclear.As
a postmodernallegory,"Morpho Eugenia" does not guide the reader toward the disclosureof a finalanswerbut operates on severallevelsat the
same time,introducingmeaningsthatconflictwithone another,replacing
themonologicmessageofconventionalallegorywithdialogue. Postmodern
allegoricalwritingspeaks in at least twovoices,both of which need to be
heard.
Analogy
464
NOTES
I use the termpostmodern
rather than postmodernist,
avoiding the association between a postmodern aesthetic and the philosophies and literaturesof
"high"modernism,whetherthisrelationis viewedas a continuationor a replacement of modernistideas. Even though I believe that "postmodernism"is best
seen as a phenomenon of the late twentiethcentury,the existenceof a postmodern allegorical formsuggestsa connection between postmodern attitudesand
literaturefromthe Renaissance and before.
2 See Hansson fora more thoroughdiscussionof postmodernromances and
their relationship to the chivalric,historical,and women's popular subcategories of the genre, as well as to some influentialindividual romances.
3 This is not to say that Victorian novels are necessarilyauthoritarian,or
that the worldviewstheypresent are absolute. One effectof Byatt'sreworking
of the genre is to indicate that there is considerable ambiguityin the Victorian
models.
meta4 The reference to Psyche is yet another way in which the butterfly
phor is expanded, since Psyche,as a personificationof the human soul, is often represented as a butterfly.
5 The observation that the societies of bees and ants are female societies
is overlooked in all the reviewsquoted in this article,despite the emphasis on
it in the novella.
6 The similaritybetween the sounds of the words "breeding" and "Bredely
Hall" is certainlynot coincidental.
7 "Morpho Eugenia" is the "insect"novella in the diptychAngelsand Insects,
and to a certain extent the storycan be read as an elaborate pun on "insect"
and "incest."
I For a discussion of
dyingmetaphors,see, for instance,Traugott.
WORKSCITED
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466

The Double Voice of Metaphor: A. S. Byatt`s "Morpho Eugenia"

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