XIX: The Proposals of Bastin and Bickley explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Love and Sacrifice

  Bastin and Bickley both propose to Yva, sacrificing their pride and facing gentle refusal; Arbuthnot contemplates his own feelings.

• Power and Corruption

  Oro offers Arbuthnot dominion over the earth in exchange for Yva, echoing Satan's temptation; Arbuthnot reflects on the futility of ambition.

• The Search for Meaning

  Arbuthnot questions the value of fame and ambition in the face of cosmic time, and ponders the mystery of Yva's gentle nature versus Oro's ferocity.

Characters to notice

• Humphrey Arbuthnot

  Recovering from illness, experiences detached mind and heightened senses; visited by Oro at night; learns of Bastin and Bickley's proposals to Yva.

• Mr. Bastin

  Confesses to Arbuthnot that he fell in love with Yva and proposed to her, but was refused.

• J. R. Bickley

  Also proposed to Yva and was gently refused; warns Arbuthnot that Fate would prevent any marriage with Yva.

• Oro

  Visits Arbuthnot at night, speaks of ancient history and offers Yva in exchange for Arbuthnot's help in ruling the world.

• Yva

  Refuses proposals from both Bastin and Bickley; later visits Arbuthnot, dressed in more modern attire.

Key passages

• “I spoke to Bickley about the matter. He put it by lightly, saying that it was only a result of my long and most severe illness and that I should steady down in time, especially if we could escape from that island and its unnatural atmosphere.”

  Arbuthnot tells Bickley about his strange mental state; Bickley dismisses it as a temporary effect of illness that will pass once they leave the island.

  Bickley's medical rationalism clashes with the island's supernatural atmosphere.

• “I understood that he was offering Yva to me, but upon what terms? That was the question. With her was to go great dominion over the kingdoms of the earth. I could not help remembering that always this has been and still is Satan’s favourite bait.”

  Arbuthnot realizes Oro is offering Yva in exchange for helping him rule the world, and recognizes this as a classic satanic temptation.

  Arbuthnot's moral and theological awareness frames Oro's offer as a temptation.

• “The truth, which I am sure it would be wrong to hide from you, Arbuthnot,' said the former to me one day, 'is that during your long illness I fell in love, I suppose that is the right word, with the Glittering Lady.”

  Bastin confesses to Arbuthnot that he fell in love with Yva while Arbuthnot was ill.

  Bastin's proposal reveals his genuine but awkward affection.

• “To be honest, Arbuthnot, I don’t think that there will be real good luck for any one of us over this woman—not in the ordinary sense, I mean. The whole business is too strange and superhuman. Is she quite a woman, and could she really marry a man as others do?”

  Bickley warns Arbuthnot that any relationship with Yva is doomed because she is not an ordinary woman and the situation is too supernatural.

  Bickley's skepticism about Yva's nature foreshadows tragedy.