Vathek, by William Beckford. 2. Nouronihar.

CONCEPT

You can read Vathek here.

William Beckford

Looking back on Vathek, what me might define as a character's "depth" - her complexity as defined by the sophistication of her understanding of her world as modified by a range of goals and priorities - is largely missed in almost all of the major characters. As an adventure based upon a personal downfall, the story compensates for this with its characters' intensities; the grandeur and power of their passions and their commitment to complete acts. Thus, Vathek is defined by his gluttony, and we can see his tastes in his palace, his lust for power, his sexual appetite, and even his "terrible gaze" as all being subjected to his overwhelming desire for good food which usually trumps the rest. Carathis is defined by her complete corruption, the excess of her crimes and her nonsensical disregard for her own demise when she descends into Istakhar. The Gaiour is defined by his backsliding evil; the fact that he is a deceiving and incredible force that nevertheless elicits great trust in others. The same observations could be said for the supporting cast: Marakanabad is ultimate reckless loyalty. Bababalouk is practical, but is constantly obsessing over the most trivial details considering the forces that his master engages.

There is only one exception in this book, and she parallels Beatrice in Shelley's Cenci... the antiheroine is given to the same passions and intensity of all the other characters while also conforming to the more traditional "depth" as I've defined it here.

As a reader, I empathized more closely with Nouronihar than any other character, first because her motivations were more subtle than the rest, but just as significantly because she masters the forces to which the others subject herself.

Nouronihar is the only character who elicits sympathy in the end.

* * * * *

These observations rest almost entirely upon the earlier scenes with Nouronihar. She makes her appearance when Vathek and his entorage arrive at the complex belonging to the emir Fakreddin. Her first moment, however, does not involve the caliph or his promises, but an elaborate prank upon Bababalouk:

Whilst he was issuing these mandates the young Nouronihar, daughter of the Emir, who was sprightly as an antelope, and full of wanton gaiety, beckoned one of her slaves to let down the great swing, which was suspended to the ceiling by cords of silk, and whilst this was doing, winked to her companions in the bath, who, chagrined to be forced from so soothing a state of indolence, began to twist it round Bababalouk, and tease him with a thousand vagaries.

In the end, the prank is more than a little malicious, but Bababalouk is ultimately unharmed. For her next appearance, Nouronihar appears with her playmates on a bluff overlooking the caliphs picnic, and she showers him with jasmine. Later, returning to her betrothes, Gulchenrouz, she reflects:

The unexpected arrival of the Caliph, and the splendour that marked his appearance, had already filled with emotion the ardent soul of Nouronihar; her vanity irresistibly prompted her to pique the prince's attention, and this she before took good care to effect whilst he picked up the jasmine she had thrown upon him. But when Gulchenrouz asked after the flowers he had culled for her bosom, Nouronihar was all in confusion; she hastily kissed his forehead, arose in a flutter, and walked with unequal steps on the border of the precipice. Night advanced, and the pure gold of the setting sun had yielded to a sanguine red, the glow of which, like the reflection of a burning furnace, flushed Nouronihar's animated countenance.

Given the detail with which these scenes are lain out, the uncertainty of her thoughts and temerity of her actions, Nouronihar is the only character portrayed as a moral uncertainty; that is, we're not allowed to know where she stands and to what she will commit.

* * * * *

What follows drawns an intersection between Moses and the burning bush on the one hand and Macbeth and the Weird Sisters on the other, and is ultimately the turning point for Nouronihar. Following her brief encounter with Vathek she plays with Gulchenrouz and her other companions as the sun sets, at which point:

In the midst of this festive scene there appeared a light on the top of the highest mountain, which attracted the notice of every eye; this light was not less bright than the moon when at full, and might have been taken for her, had it not been that the moon was already risen. The phenomenon occasioned a general surprise, and no one could conjecture the cause; it could not be a fire, for the light was clear and bluish, nor had meteors ever been seen of that magnitude or splendour. This strange light faded for a moment, and immediately renewed its brightness; it first appeared motionless at the foot of the rock, whence it darted in an instant to sparkle in a thicket of palm-trees; from thence it glided along the torrent, and at last fixed in a glen that was narrow and dark.

Nouronihar sets out to investigate; the others, of course, head back.

Her encounter with at light is both on of the novel's eeriest and most provocative images. She is promised the same fabulous, untold riches that have been offered to Vathek, if she will aid him on his journey. In the end, the promises win over Nouronihar; she'll later abandon Gulchenrouz and will be caught up in Vathek's enterprise and partake of his downfall.

In her autonomy, prescient over her conflicting interests and great aspirations, however, Nouronihar brings more voice and presence to Vathek then any of its other elements.

END OF POST.