Suspiria de Profundis · Chapter
II explained
The narrator describes a dramatic and terrifying vision at sea, where a frigate carrying the lady of the pinnace narrowly avoids a collision, only to be pursued by a violent storm and monstrous waves, ultimately vanishing into the distance
What happens
The narrator describes a dramatic and terrifying vision at sea, where a frigate carrying the lady of the pinnace narrowly avoids a collision, only to be pursued by a violent storm and monstrous waves, ultimately vanishing into the distance amidst mocking laughter.
Themes in this chapter
The Sublime and the Dreadful
The chapter vividly portrays the sublime terror of the sea and storm, with towering waves, mists forming cathedral aisles, and the frigate's perilous flight.
Suffering and Grief
The lady's desperate struggle and the narrator's haunting pursuit of her image evoke profound suffering and loss.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
The observer who witnesses the frigate and the lady from his own vessel.
- Madonna
The lady of the pinnace, seen standing among the shrouds, praying and struggling against the storm.
Key passages
“The sea was rocking, and shaken with gathering wrath. Upon its surface sat mighty mists, which grouped themselves into arches and long cathedral aisles.”
The ocean became turbulent and angry, with thick mists forming shapes like cathedral arches and aisles.
Sets the scene of an approaching storm with sublime imagery.
“Down one of these, with the fiery pace of a quarrel from a crossbow, ran a frigate right athwart our course.”
A frigate shot across our path through one of these misty corridors as fast as a crossbow bolt.
Describes the sudden and dangerous approach of the frigate.
“There she stood, with hair dishevelled, one hand clutched amongst the tackling—rising, sinking, fluttering, trembling, praying; there for leagues I saw her as she stood, raising at intervals one hand to heaven, amidst the fiery crests of the pursuing waves and the raving of the storm.”
The lady stood with tangled hair, gripping the rigging, rising and falling with the ship, trembling and praying, and I could see her for miles as she occasionally raised a hand to heaven amid the storm's fury.
Highlights the lady's desperate plight and the narrator's prolonged gaze.