Sheridan le Fanu:in A Glass Darkly

‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am known’1 Cor. 12

The above is quoted from the scripture of St Paul, and appropriated or indeed somewhat misappropriated by Sheridan Le Fanu as the title for his collection of five short tales published in 1872 under the title ‘In a Glass Darkly’. The original quote, like most things written in scripture, is a somewhat ambiguous statement; in the generally accepted meaning, however it is taken as a reference to looking through a window pane, in a somewhat cloudy manner seeing only glimpses of that which is spiritual or indeed heavenly as analogy to life on earth. The inference being that upon arriving into the lord’s arms in heaven, the vision will become clear. As Robert Tracy notes in his excellent introduction to the Oxford world’s classics edition of ‘In a Glass Darkly’, Le Fenu was the son of a clergyman and raised in a very religious household and therefore would not have occasion to ‘misquote scripture lightly’ . The ‘glass’ of Le Fanu’s is believed a mirror in which ‘darkly’ viewed we see a darker

The tale creates an interesting and unique tension embodied in the character of Doctor Hesselius between the natural and supernatural explanations of the events that have taken place. While the doctor states that the ‘Spiritual fluid’ is of a tangible nature not unlike ‘light or electricity’, the theory is largely based upon the writings within the obscure and occult book ‘Arcana Celestia’. There is one prominent mention of a mirror within ‘Green Tea’ and it is no coincidence it occurs whilst the doctor has first discovered and is reading the ‘Arcana Celestia’. The chapter Suggestively titled ’Four Eyes were Reading the Passage’ opens with The Doctor reading the book when something catches his eye

Several explanations are offered within the text as too the cause of the reverends mental disturbances. The reverend himself believes that his over indulgence in green tea has caused too much over stimulation of mental activity and tries to correct the problem himself by smoking cigars and drinking brandy in a hypothetical attempt to refocus on the functions of the body rather than the mind. Dr Hesselius too offers green tea as the explanation among others including; that Jennings had inherited ‘suicidal mania’ and that his intense study was what is know as monomania and made him susceptible. The Doctor laments the fact the Reverend had not yet actually become his patient, in Hesselius’ conclusion he states rather unequivocally that he has no doubt that he could have been cured by the rational means of medical science. Despite this view however the Doctor puts forward a rather curious explanation for the Reverends condition, that the reverend has stimulated a ‘spiritual fluid’ in his brain that ‘by various abuses, among which the habitual use of such agents as green tea is one’ has opened his third eye and made him vulnerable to attacks from evil spirits.

Some topics in this essay:
Dr Hesselius, Doctor Hesselius, Le Fanu, Le Fanu’s, Carmilla Laura’s, Reverend Jennings, Jacques Lacan’s, Glass Darkly’, Victorian Supernatural, Passage’ Doctor, le fanu, ‘in glass darkly’, glass darkly’, ‘in glass, ‘green tea’, ‘arcana celestia’, le fanu’s, green tea, dr hesselius, sheridan le, victorian supernatural, sheridan le fanu, stories ‘in glass, ‘green tea’ ‘carmilla’, le fanu’s ‘glass’,