Toilers of the Sea · Chapter
The Great Tomb explained
Gilliatt walks along the seashore, avoiding people, and eventually reaches the Gild-Holm-’Ur seat.
What happens
Gilliatt walks along the seashore, avoiding people, and eventually reaches the Gild-Holm-’Ur seat. He sits in the niche as the tide rises, watching the Cashmere sail away with Déruchette and Caudray on board. As the vessel disappears on the horizon, the water covers him completely, and he drowns.
Themes in this chapter
Solitude and Isolation
Gilliatt deliberately avoids people, walks alone, and ultimately dies in solitude, watched only by birds.
Love and Sacrifice
Gilliatt silently watches Déruchette and Caudray together, accepting his loss and sacrificing his own life as the tide rises.
The Sublime and Terrible Ocean
The sea is both beautiful and deadly, rising peacefully yet inexorably to claim Gilliatt, while the Cashmere sails away into the horizon.
Characters to notice
- Gilliatt
Walks along the shore avoiding others, climbs to the Gild-Holm-’Ur seat, watches the Cashmere depart, and drowns as the tide rises.
- Déruchette
Seen on the deck of the Cashmere, sitting with Caudray, her head on his shoulder, as they sail away.
- Rev. Mr. Caudray
Sitting with Déruchette on the Cashmere, his arm around her waist, as the vessel departs.
Key passages
“He knew the bye-paths, and favoured solitary and winding routes; he had the shy habits of a wild beast who knows that he is disliked, and keeps at a distance.”
Gilliatt preferred hidden paths and avoided people, like a timid animal that stays away because it senses hostility.
Describes Gilliatt's habitual avoidance of others due to feeling unwelcome.
“It was there that Déruchette once wrote with her finger the name of Gilliatt in the snow. Many a day had passed since that snow had melted away.”
That was the spot where Déruchette had traced Gilliatt's name in the snow long ago, but that moment was now far in the past.
A poignant memory of a happier time, now lost.
“Gilliatt heard the tender and musical voice of Déruchette exclaiming: 'Look yonder. It seems as if there were a man upon the rock.'”
Déruchette's sweet voice called out, pointing to the rock where Gilliatt sat, though she did not recognize him.
Déruchette sees Gilliatt but does not realize who he is, highlighting his invisibility to her.
“At the moment when the vessel vanished on the line of the horizon, the head of Gilliatt disappeared. Nothing was visible now but the sea.”
As the ship faded from sight, Gilliatt's head sank beneath the waves, leaving only the ocean visible.
The simultaneous disappearance of the ship and Gilliatt symbolizes his final surrender to the sea.