Can Such Things Be? · Chapter
V explained
The narrator reveals that Margaret Corray is now his wife and was unaware of his ordeal, living in Oakland.
What happens
The narrator reveals that Margaret Corray is now his wife and was unaware of his ordeal, living in Oakland. He references a newspaper article about Professor Valentine Dorrimore, a hypnotist who claims that highly susceptible subjects can be kept in a state of illusion for extended periods, suggesting the narrator's experience may have been a hypnotic delusion.
Themes in this chapter
Madness and Perception
The chapter questions the nature of reality, suggesting the narrator's entire experience may have been a hypnotic illusion imposed by an external operator.
Characters to notice
- Margaret Corray
Now the narrator's wife; she was living in Oakland during the events, unaware of his whereabouts.
- Dr. Dorrimore
Professor Valentine Dorrimore, the hypnotist mentioned in a newspaper article, whose methods and claims about prolonged hypnosis are highlighted.
Key passages
“Professor Valentine Dorrimore, the hypnotist, had a large audience last night. The lecturer, who has lived most of his life in India, gave some marvelous exhibitions of his power, hypnotizing anyone who chose to submit himself to the experiment, by merely looking at him.”
A hypnotist named Valentine Dorrimore, who spent much of his life in India, demonstrated his ability to hypnotize volunteers with just a glance.
Introduces the possibility that the narrator's experiences were induced by hypnosis.
“His assertion that a peculiarly susceptible subject may be kept in the realm of the unreal for weeks, months, and even years, dominated by whatever delusions and hallucinations the operator may from time to time suggest, is a trifle disquieting.”
He claims that a highly suggestible person can be trapped in a world of illusion for extended periods, controlled by the operator's suggestions, which is unsettling.
Directly parallels the narrator's own prolonged ordeal, implying it may have been a hypnotic construct.