Figures of Earth · Chapter
XXXVIII: Farewell to Suskind explained
Dom Manuel makes his final descent into the gray depths, kills Suskind with a lock of her own hair, and returns bloodied but victorious.
What happens
Dom Manuel makes his final descent into the gray depths, kills Suskind with a lock of her own hair, and returns bloodied but victorious. He mourns the loss of his own youthful self and the necessity of becoming a reasonable, contented man, while the Hidden Children lament Suskind's death. He then walls up the window of Ageus forever.
Themes in this chapter
The Loss of Youth and Idealism
Manuel mourns the death of his younger, discontented self and the necessity of becoming reasonable and content, falling into the 'acquiescence of beasts.'
Love and Disillusionment
Suskind's love is portrayed as the ideal of youth that cannot exist in the human world; Manuel acknowledges his long desires for her but accepts the loss.
Appearances vs. Reality
Manuel reflects that he must preserve appearances on this side of the window to stay sane, contrasting his inner loss with his outward role.
Characters to notice
- Dom Manuel
Manuel performs his grimmest deed, slaying Suskind to save his daughter Melicent, and reflects on the death of his own youthful idealism.
- Suskind
Queen Suskind is slain by Manuel, who takes a lock of her hair; she kisses him farewell and falls back into the depths.
- Melicent
Melicent appears after the event, dirty and disheveled; Manuel wipes her nose and kisses her, content that she is safe.
- Hinzelmann
Hinzelmann's voice joins the lament for Suskind, speaking of her love and the loss of youth.
- Oriander
Mentioned as dead, slain by Manuel; his son is described as having harsh seawater blood.
Key passages
“And so farewell to you, Queen Suskind... You who were not human, but knew only the truth of things, could never understand our foolish human notions. Otherwise you would never have demanded the one price I may not pay.”
Manuel bids Suskind farewell, explaining that her non-human nature made her unable to grasp human values, which is why she asked for something he could not give.
Manuel justifies his killing of Suskind by pointing to the fundamental difference between her immortal truth and human limitations.
“Weep, weep for Suskind!... for it was she alone who knew the secret of preserving that dissatisfaction which is divine where all else falls away with age into the acquiescence of beasts.”
Lubrican laments that Suskind held the secret of eternal discontent, which is divine, while humans grow complacent with age.
The theme of lost idealism is echoed in the lament that Suskind's death means the end of divine dissatisfaction.
“And that young Manuel who was in his day a wilful champion... why, that young fellow also is now silenced and dead.”
Manuel declares that his former rebellious, free-spirited self is now dead, replaced by the responsible Count of Poictesme.
Manuel explicitly mourns the death of his own youthful identity.
“I must henceforward be reasonable in all things, and I shall never be quite discontented any more: and I must feed and sleep as the beasts do... and I too fall away into the acquiescence of beasts.”
Manuel accepts that he will now live a mundane, contented life like an animal, losing his former restless ambition.
The central theme of the loss of youth and idealism is crystallized in Manuel's resignation to a beast-like existence.