# The Daughter of Lebanon explained — Suspiria de Profundis

> Chapter companion for Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey.

## What happens

An evangelist returns to Damascus and encounters a fallen woman of transcendent beauty, the daughter of a prince in Lebanon. She asks to be restored to her father's house, and the evangelist promises to fulfill this within thirty days. As she converts to Christianity and is baptized, a fever descends upon Damascus. On the thirtieth day, the evangelist reveals that her twin sister has died of grief and is waiting in Paradise. The daughter chooses to die and be reunited with her sister, and she is received into heaven as a firstfruit of Christian faith.

## Themes in this chapter

### Divine and Moral Order

The evangelist acts as God's messenger, binding and loosing, and the daughter's repentance and baptism restore her to divine favor, illustrating a moral and spiritual order.

### Suffering and Grief

The daughter suffers from betrayal by her lover and rejection by her father, and later from fever and the grief of losing her twin sister, culminating in her death.

### Memory and the Past

The daughter yearns for her native hills and the memory of her twin sister, with whom she wandered among the cedars in childhood.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Describes the scene in Damascus and the story of the Daughter of Lebanon.

### Jesus Christ

Referenced as the one whose armies muster to receive the firstfruits of Christian faith.

### Levana

Not directly present, but the theme of sorrow and divine intervention echoes Levana's domain.

## Key lines

> Lord, that thou wouldest put me back into my father's house.

The Daughter of Lebanon asks the evangelist to restore her to her earthly father's home.

_This is her initial request, which the evangelist promises to fulfill within thirty days._

> O daughter! this is the thirtieth day, and the sun is drawing near to his rest; brief, therefore, is the time within which I must fulfil the word that God spoke to thee by me.

The evangelist reminds her that the promised time is ending and he must fulfill God's word.

_This leads to the revelation that her sister is in Paradise and she chooses to die._

> Oh yes—yes—yes

The Daughter of Lebanon fervently agrees to accept God's gift through apparent refusal.

_She accepts death as a means of being reunited with her sister in heaven._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se/chapters/the-daughter-of-lebanon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/suspiria_de_profundis_se/chapters