# II: The Vision of Sudden Death explained — Suspiria de Profundis > Chapter companion for Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey. ## What happens The narrator reflects on the philosophical and religious implications of sudden death, contrasting Caesar's desire for a swift end with the Christian Litany's plea for deliverance from it. He then recounts a personal experience as a passenger on the Manchester and Glasgow mail coach, where a near-fatal collision with a young couple in a gig becomes a haunting vision of sudden death. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Sublime and the Dreadful The sudden appearance of Death amid a peaceful summer night exemplifies the sublime terror of mortality. ### Time and Mortality The chapter meditates on the nature of sudden death and the fleeting moments before a fatal collision. ### Dreams and the Subconscious The narrator notes that the vision of the young woman's despair is swept into his dreams forever, linking the event to the subconscious. ## Character check-ins ### The Narrator The narrator is the solitary spectator on the mail coach, reflecting on sudden death and recounting the harrowing incident. ### Cyclops the Charioteer The one-eyed, monstrous coachman who drives the mail and is described as a 'monstrum horrendum'. ### Caesar Caesar the Dictator is cited for his opinion that sudden death is the most eligible. ### Thomas De Quincey The author and narrator, who took laudanum before the incident and whose dreams are haunted by the vision. ## Key lines > What is to be taken as the predominant opinion of man, reflective and philosophic, upon sudden death? What do thoughtful people generally think about dying suddenly? _The narrator opens with a philosophical inquiry into sudden death._ > Sudden death is here made to crown the climax in a grand ascent of calamities; it is ranked among the last of curses; and yet by the noblest of Romans it was ranked as the first of blessings. The Litany places sudden death at the top of a list of horrors, while Caesar considered it the best possible death. _Contrasts Christian and Pagan views on sudden death._ > In the twinkling of an eye, our flying horses had carried us to the termination of the umbrageous aisle; at the right angles we wheeled into our former direction; the turn of the road carried the scene out of my eyes in an instant, and swept it into my dreams forever. In an instant, the horses turned the corner, and the scene vanished from sight, but it became a permanent part of my dreams. _The narrator describes how the traumatic vision of the young woman became an enduring dream._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se/chapters/ii-the-vision-of-sudden-death - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se/chapters