# LXXXIV explained — Lavengro > Chapter companion for Lavengro by George Borrow. ## What happens The narrator experiences a profound physical and mental collapse after completing his self-imposed task in the dingle. Overcome by exhaustion, poor nourishment, and lingering effects of Mrs. Hearne's poisoned cake, he is seized by a terrifying, inscrutable horror—a recurrence of the dark visitations he felt in boyhood. He struggles violently, seeks comfort from his horse, and eventually falls asleep. The next morning, he reads the story of Saul in the Welsh Bible and finds a deep sympathy with Saul's own dark hours. The chapter ends with the narrator bracing for the return of the fear, finding some solace in the fire and his horse's company. ## Themes in this chapter ### Honor and Morality The narrator's refusal to seek help from townspeople despite his terror, driven by shame and a desire not to be seen as a maniac, highlights his personal code of honor and moral struggle. ### Religion and Priestcraft The narrator's attempt to pray and his reading of the Bible, particularly the story of Saul, underscore the role of religious texts and practices in confronting existential fear and seeking solace. ## Character check-ins ### Lavengro The narrator is the central figure, experiencing a severe mental and physical crisis in the dingle, wrestling with a recurring horror, and finding temporary relief through his horse and reading the Bible. ### Mrs. Hearne Mentioned as the source of the poisoned cake whose lingering effects contribute to the narrator's physical distress and the onset of his horror. ### Saul The biblical king whose story of dark visitations the narrator reads and with whom he deeply sympathizes, seeing a parallel to his own experience. ## Key lines > Heaviness had suddenly come over me, heaviness of heart, and of body also. I had accomplished the task which I had imposed upon myself, and now that nothing more remained to do, my energies suddenly deserted me, and I felt without strength, and without hope. A sudden weight of despair, both emotional and physical, overwhelmed me. With my self-assigned work finished, my motivation vanished, leaving me weak and hopeless. _Describes the onset of the narrator's crisis after completing his task._ > I had thought that it had forsaken me; that it would never visit me again; that I had outgrown it; that I might almost bid defiance to it; and I had even begun to think of it without horror, as we are in the habit of doing of horrors of which we conceive we run no danger; and, lo! when least thought of, it had seized me again. I believed the horror had left me for good, that I had grown beyond it, but it returned unexpectedly and seized me once more. _Reflects the narrator's shock at the recurrence of his childhood horror._ > I rushed amongst the trees, and struck at them with my bare fists, and dashed my head against them, but I felt no pain. How could I feel pain with that horror upon me! I ran into the trees, hitting and bashing my head against them, but felt nothing because the horror numbed all physical sensation. _Illustrates the intensity of the narrator's mental anguish overriding physical pain._ > I flung myself down by him and put my arms round his neck; the creature whinned, and appeared to sympathise with me; what a comfort to have anyone, even a dumb brute, to sympathise with me at such a moment! I embraced my horse, who whinnied as if understanding my pain; it was a great comfort to have any living creature, even an animal, share my distress. _Highlights the narrator's reliance on his horse for emotional support during his crisis._ > I had come to the visitations of Saul—those dark moments of his when he did and said such unaccountable things; it almost appeared to me that I was reading of myself; I, too, had my visitations, dark as ever his were. I read about Saul's dark episodes and felt I was reading about my own life, as I also suffer from similar terrifying visitations. _Shows the narrator's identification with the biblical figure Saul._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/lxxxiv - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters