The Hashish Eater · Chapter
XIII: Idola Theatri and the Prince of Whales explained
The narrator takes a moderate dose of hashish and attends a theatre, where he experiences intense identification with a play's adventurer, a vision of angels from the frescoes, and a peculiar auditory separation of two violins.
What happens
The narrator takes a moderate dose of hashish and attends a theatre, where he experiences intense identification with a play's adventurer, a vision of angels from the frescoes, and a peculiar auditory separation of two violins. He then hallucinates becoming Cleopatra's Needle, fearing he will topple onto the audience. The chapter also includes a philosophical defense of hashish visions, distinguishing between intuitive truth and sensory fancy, and describes a state of spiritual cosmopolitanism where the dreamer feels deep sympathy with all peoples and ages.
Themes in this chapter
Hashish and Altered States of Consciousness
The entire chapter is a detailed account of a hashish experience, including hallucinations, sensory enhancements, and philosophical analysis of the drug's effects.
Visionary Experience and Imagination
The narrator describes visions of angels, becoming an obelisk, and a state of spiritual cosmopolitanism, emphasizing the imaginative and intuitive insights gained.
The Duality of Beauty and Terror
The theatre visions are both beautiful (angels, music) and terrifying (the fear of toppling as an obelisk and crushing the audience).
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Takes hashish and goes to the theatre, experiencing vivid hallucinations and philosophical reflections.
- Mr. Jonah
Briefly mentioned in the opening as the narrator and a companion bid him farewell before boarding the Leviathan.
- Leviathan
The ship that the narrator boards after leaving Jonah.
Key passages
“How, it will be asked, as oftentimes it has been asked me already, can you put any confidence in discoveries of unsupposed significancy in outer things, and wonderful laws of mental being, attained during the hashish state, when you have also beheld vagaries of fancy which Reason instantly pronounced absurd?”
Critics question how the narrator can trust insights gained under hashish when the drug also produces absurd fancies.
The narrator addresses skepticism about the validity of hashish-induced revelations.
“The domains of intuition and those of a wild fancy were always, in my visions, separated from each other by a clearly-defined and recognized boundary.”
In his visions, intuitive truths and wild fancies are always distinct and never mixed.
The narrator argues that hashish visions maintain a clear boundary between genuine insight and mere fantasy.
“Suddenly a hashish-voice rang clearly in my ear, 'Sit still upon thy base, Eternal Obelisk!'”
A voice from the hashish state commands the narrator to remain motionless as an obelisk.
This hallucination illustrates the narrator's fear of losing equilibrium and causing harm.