The Truth About Tristrem Varick · Chapter
XV explained
Tristrem Varick, after a period of mental torment and obsessive rehearsal, confronts Royal Weldon in his home.
What happens
Tristrem Varick, after a period of mental torment and obsessive rehearsal, confronts Royal Weldon in his home. He stabs Weldon with a thin knife, killing him instantly. The chapter then follows Tristrem's return journey to New York, his mechanical actions, and his internal struggle as he prepares to confront Weldon again. He ultimately goes to Weldon's house, finds him not at home, experiences a brief sense of freedom, but then encounters Weldon on the street and follows him inside, where the murder occurs.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Individuality
Tristrem feels driven by an inescapable necessity, as if fate compels him to murder Weldon despite his own resolutions and hesitation. He describes himself as 'in the lap of a necessity' and unable to set himself free.
Suffering and Redemption
Tristrem reflects on his continuous torture over the past year and believes that by killing Weldon he might prove himself worthy of Viola's love, suggesting a twisted path to redemption through violence.
Characters to notice
- Tristrem Varick
Tristrem murders Royal Weldon with a thin knife, then travels back to New York in a dissociative state. He struggles with an obsessive compulsion to confront Weldon, ultimately carrying out the killing.
- Royal Weldon
Weldon is confronted by Tristrem at his home. He is dismissive and mocking, lighting a cigarette and lounging on a sofa before being stabbed to death.
- Mrs. Manhattan
Mrs. Manhattan crosses the ocean with Tristrem and complains to her husband about Tristrem's impertinent behavior when she asks where he spent the winter.
Key passages
“I am come to ask whether, in the purlieus of your heart, there is nothing to tell you how base you are.”
Tristrem confronts Weldon, asking if he feels any guilt for his actions.
Tristrem's moral accusation against Weldon just before the murder.
“It was easier than I thought. I suppose—h'm—I seem to be nervous. It's odd. I feared that afterward I should collapse like an omelette soufflée.”
Tristrem is surprised at how calmly he feels after killing Weldon, though he notices his own nervousness.
Tristrem's internal reaction immediately following the murder.
“I cannot, and even as he said it he knew that he would. Had he not said it ten thousand times of times before? It was not what he willed, it was what he must.”
Tristrem tells himself he cannot go through with the murder, but he knows he will, as he has said so many times before; he feels compelled by necessity.
Tristrem's internal conflict and sense of fatalistic compulsion before the second confrontation.