Dare's Gift by Ellen Glasgow
"Dare's Gift" by Ellen Glasgow is a compelling narrative that intertwines themes of memory, betrayal, and the supernatural against the backdrop of the American Civil War. The story unfolds through the perspective of a narrator who relocates with his wife, Mildred, to a seemingly idyllic country house, Dare's Gift, in Virginia, in hopes of aiding her recovery from a nervous breakdown. As they settle into the house, Mildred experiences a profound transformation, feeling as though the space exerts a "magic spell" over her. However, her behavior grows alarming when she reveals knowledge of a confidential matter related to her husband’s law firm.
The narrative delves into the house's dark past, particularly an act of treachery involving a woman named Lucy Dare during the Civil War, whose decision to betray her fiancé to Confederate soldiers became a haunting legacy for the house. An elderly local doctor, Pelham Lakeby, emphasizes that while physical acts may fade, their thoughts and consequences endure, leaving an indelible mark on spaces like Dare's Gift. The story raises questions about the power of place and the lingering effects of historical trauma, making it a rich exploration of how the past can shape the present. "Dare's Gift" invites readers to contemplate the connections between individual choices and collective history.
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Dare's Gift by Ellen Glasgow
First published: 1925
Type of plot: Ghost story, frame story, fantasy
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Locale: Virginia
Principal Characters:
The narrator , a Washington corporate lawyerMildred , his wifePelham Lakeby , an elderly country doctorLucy Dare , a former resident of the house during the Civil War
The Story
The narrator asks himself if he is sure that the event of the previous year really happened, for he thinks "the whole episode, seen in clear perspective, is obviously incredible." He knows that haunted houses are merely hallucinations, neurotic symptoms, or optical illusions because the supernatural has been banished in the modern scientific age. However, he must admit that for once in his life as a corporation lawyer in Washington, D.C., the impossible really happened.
The story begins with the narrator's desire to find a place in the country for his wife, Mildred, who has suffered a nervous breakdown. On a fishing trip, he discovers what seems to be the perfect place, Dare's Gift, a vacant house on the James River near Richmond, Virginia. Although the narrator's wife likes the house, saying that it affects her like a "magic spell" and that entering it is like stepping into "another world," she does not seem to be herself after moving into the house. The narrator knows that her mind is unhinged when he discovers that she has written a letter to expose an illegal transaction made by his law firm that he told her about in confidence.
When Pelham Lakeby, an elderly local doctor, is brought in to examine Mildred, he strongly urges the narrator to get her away from the house as soon as possible. He tells the narrator some of his theories about old houses with memories. When the narrator asks if the house is haunted, the doctor says it is "saturated with a thought. It is haunted by treachery." The doctor argues that although an act dies, the idea is immortal. He describes an event that took place fifty years earlier.
The doctor tells the story of Lucy Dare, who lived in the house during the last years of the Civil War. He says that to understand the story, the narrator must remember that the South was dominated by an idea, a dream that commanded the noblest devotion and the most complete self-sacrifice: the Confederacy. Lucy became intoxicated by this idea, believing in it much like a religion.
Lucy broke her engagement at the start of the war because her fiancé sided with the North. During the war, her former fiancé escaped from a Confederate prison and asked to hide in her house. When Confederate soldiers came searching for him, they said that if he got away, he would give the North information that would mean the end of the Southern idea, so Lucy surrendered her former fiancé, and the Confederate soldiers shot him. The doctor says that Lucy, still alive in a nursing home, has forgotten the incident, but that the house has remembered; it was the influence of the house that has made the narrator's wife betray his confidence.
Bibliography
Godbold, E. Stanly, Jr. Ellen Glasgow and the Woman Within. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972.
Goodman, Susan. Ellen Glasgow. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
McDowell, Frederick P. W. Ellen Glasgow and the Ironic Art of Fiction. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1960.
Matthews, Pamela R. Ellen Glasgow and a Woman's Traditions. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
The Mississippi Quarterly 49 (Spring, 1996).
Rouse, Blair. Ellen Glasgow. New York: Twayne, 1962.
Scura, Dorothy M., ed. Ellen Glasgow: New Perspectives. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.
Taylor, Welford Dunaway, and George C. Longest, eds. Regarding Ellen Glasgow: Essays for Contemporary Readers. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2001.
Wagner, Linda W. Ellen Glasgow: Beyond Convention. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.