Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
Beyond the Wall explained
The narrator visits his friend Dampier in a tower during a storm, where they hear mysterious tapping on the wall.
What happens
The narrator visits his friend Dampier in a tower during a storm, where they hear mysterious tapping on the wall. Dampier reveals he has heard the signal twice before and recounts a story of a past infatuation with a young woman living next door, with whom he exchanged taps through a party wall. After ignoring her final signal, he learns she died that night, having asked to be moved to the opposite side of the room. The tapping returns as a third visitation, completing a 'fatal triad' and leaving Dampier alone with his remorse.
Themes in this chapter
Guilt and Retribution
Dampier's guilt over ignoring the dying woman's signal leads to a supernatural retribution in the form of repeated tapping.
Death and the Supernatural
The story revolves around a deathbed request and subsequent ghostly tapping, blurring the line between life and afterlife.
Isolation and Terror
Dampier's solitary vigil in the tower, haunted by remorse and unexplained sounds, evokes a profound sense of isolation and dread.
Characters to notice
- Mohun Dampier
The protagonist and storyteller, haunted by guilt and a supernatural tapping signal from a deceased love.
- Mr. Dampier
The narrator's friend who listens to Dampier's story and witnesses the tapping.
Key passages
“mere ghost of the familiar signal. In a few moments it was repeated: one, two, three—no louder than before, but addressing a sense alert and strained to receive it.”
A faint tapping, like a ghostly echo of the usual signal, came again—three soft knocks that reached his heightened senses.
Describes the supernatural tapping that haunts Dampier.
“What reparation could I make? Are there masses that can be said for the repose of souls that are abroad such nights as this—spirits ‘blown about by the viewless winds’—coming in the storm and darkness with signs and portents, hints of memory and presages of doom?”
Dampier wonders what atonement is possible for a soul wandering in the storm, bearing omens of memory and doom.
Expresses Dampier's guilt and helplessness.
“This is the third visitation. On the first occasion I was too skeptical to do more than verify by natural methods the character of the incident; on the second, I responded to the signal after it had been several times repeated, but without result. Tonight’s recurrence completes the ‘fatal triad’ expounded by Parapelius Necromantius.”
This is the third time the tapping has come; the first two times he tried to investigate or respond, but tonight's event fulfills a prophesied triad of doom.
Reveals the pattern of supernatural events and Dampier's fatalistic interpretation.