Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
II: Statement of Caspar Grattan explained
Caspar Grattan, a man with no memory of his past before twenty years ago, recounts his life of wandering, poverty, and haunting guilt.
What happens
Caspar Grattan, a man with no memory of his past before twenty years ago, recounts his life of wandering, poverty, and haunting guilt. He describes a recurring dream in which he suspects his wife of infidelity, returns home unexpectedly, and strangles her in a fit of jealous rage. The dream blurs with reality, and he lives under a constant sense of crime and punishment, awaiting death as a release.
Themes in this chapter
Guilt and Retribution
The narrator is haunted by a recurring dream of murdering his wife, living in constant penance and a sense of crime and punishment.
Identity and Self
Caspar Grattan lacks a past and a true name, having given himself a name; his identity is fragmented and uncertain.
Madness and Perception
The narrator's memories are described as 'crimson dreams' and 'witch-fires,' and he cannot distinguish between dream and reality.
Characters to notice
- Caspar Grattan
The narrator, a man with no memory before twenty years ago, who lives under a burden of guilt and a recurring dream of murdering his wife.
Key passages
“Today I am said to live; tomorrow, here in this room, will lie a senseless shape of clay that all too long was I.”
I am alive today, but tomorrow I will be dead, just a lifeless body.
The narrator reflects on his impending death and the insignificance of his physical form.
“Backward beyond the beginning of this via dolorosa—this epic of suffering with episodes of sin—I see nothing clearly; it comes out of a cloud.”
Before this painful journey of suffering and sin began, I have no clear memories; it all emerges from a fog.
The narrator describes his lack of memory before twenty years ago, framing his life as a painful path.
“I seem once to have lived near a great city, a prosperous planter, married to a woman whom I loved and distrusted.”
I think I once lived near a large city as a wealthy farmer, married to a woman I both loved and mistrusted.
The narrator recalls a vague past life of prosperity and marital suspicion.
“With murder in my heart, I sprang after him, but he had vanished without even the bad luck of identification.”
Filled with murderous intent, I chased after him, but he disappeared before I could identify him.
The narrator describes his rage upon seeing a man leave his house in the night.
“Instantly my hands were at her throat, stifling a shriek, my knees were upon her struggling body; and there in the darkness, without a word of accusation or reproach, I strangled her till she died!”
I immediately grabbed her throat, silenced her scream, pinned her down, and strangled her to death in the dark without saying anything.
The narrator recounts the climax of his dream in which he murders his wife.