Descent into Hell: Analysis of Major Characters
"Descent into Hell" is a novel that explores complex themes of love, fear, and redemption through its rich tapestry of characters. Central to the story is Pauline Anstruther, a young orphan who grapples with her sense of identity and purpose while caring for her grandmother. Her journey is marked by the unsettling presence of her Doppelgänger, which symbolizes her internal struggles. As she engages with Peter Stanhope, the wise and benevolent playwright, Pauline learns about "substituted love," a concept that helps her overcome fear and embrace her role in a larger cosmic plan.
Other significant characters include Lawrence Wentworth, a self-absorbed scholar wrestling with vanity and jealousy, and Margaret Anstruther, Pauline's grandmother, who embodies grace and spiritual strength. Adela Hunt, a self-centered actress, serves as a foil to the noble intentions of the other characters, while Hugh Prescott represents clarity and genuine love amidst the chaos of desire. Additionally, the malevolent character of Lily Sammile represents false love and temptation, further complicating the characters' paths to salvation. Through these interactions, the novel delves into the nature of human relationships and the potential for redemption, making it a profound exploration of moral and spiritual themes.
Descent into Hell: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Charles Williams
First published: 1937
Genre: Novel
Locale: Battle Hill, a residential area near London
Plot: Moral
Time: June and July in the 1930's
Pauline Anstruther, the twenty-six-year-old orphaned heroine of the novel. She is consigned to care for her grandmother Anstruther and might have drowned in self-pity were it not for the terrifying, unpredictable appearances of her twin, a Doppelgänger. Fear, not self-pity, rules Pauline's life until she learns to exchange fear for love. Decent and good-hearted, Pauline is intellectually immature, but as she joins the cast, as choral leader, of Peter Stanhope's play, she intelligently interprets its clues about a design for human salvation. Once Pauline masters Stanhope's doctrine of “substituted love” and allows him to bear her burden of fear while she in turn bears others' burdens, not only are the sources of fear overcome but she also becomes aware of her role in a cosmic plan. Pauline's integration of active understanding with passions and will that is otherwise predisposed to goodness opens the way for her vision of the City of God, giving joy and assurance that her decision finally to “go to the City” will lead to her life's perfection.
Peter Stanhope, the author of the poetic drama in which the villagers are involved. He is extraordinarily wise, benevolent, and talented. In his character, the supernatural and angelic potential of humankind intersects with the human and natural to create a whimsical yet fulfilled Christian hero. Having created the play, he good-naturedly allows the villagers to interpret it according to their own visions of reality and art. His name, Peter, means “rock.” Stanhope, which evokes “long-standing hope,” signals his allegorical connection to enduring faith as the essential Christian virtue. He exhibits a third cardinal virtue, charity, when he carries Pauline's burden of fear long enough to allow her to deal with the Doppelgänger phenomenon and to teach her the practice of substituted love. The most theological of the characters, Stanhope is this novel's Christ figure.
Lawrence Wentworth, in his early fifties, is a bachelor-scholar of military history. He has been protected by luck and a certain kind of tactical intelligence from the pitfalls of his vanity. He finds himself in need of reassurance about his sexual attractiveness and the rightness of his scholarly opinions. His “descent into hell,” a barely perceptible spiritual journey and the subject of his strange, recurring dream, is defined by his petty and unjust hatred of his scholarly rival Aston Moffat and his pathetic lust for a woman (Adela Hunt, he supposes) who will serve his vain illusions of self-importance. He is a false and miscreant lover, betraying both Adela Hunt and himself as lover and finally as scholar. His descent begins with self-indulgence, progresses through egotistical obsessions, and ends in teeth-gnashing loathing of himself and others, a final madness, and suicide.
Margaret Anstruther, Pauline's elderly grandmother. She looks forward joyfully to the exchange of life for death. Fulfilled and saintly, Margaret sustains a working life devoted to prayers for the salvation of others. She is sweet-tempered, endlessly patient, and inevitably courteous, even to the evil Lily, who tries foolishly to manipulate her. Margaret is the most clear-headed, confident, and realistic of the female characters. Through her mediation and spiritual direction, Pauline acts to save the suicide-ghost who haunts the housing development in the suburbs where the novel is set.
Adela Hunt, the leading lady of Stanhope's play. She is desired by Lawrence Wentworth and Hugh Prescott. Vain and self-centered, with an excessive sexual egoism, she is an unworthy object for her admirers. As her name implies, she is a predatory idol. Hugh's recognition of this is key to his salvation; Wentworth's lack of acknowledgment leads him to choose damnation.
Hugh Prescott, a suitor to Adela. Hugh is the leading man in Stanhope's play, and in the novel he is the object of Wentworth's jealousy. In his habit of seeing life clearly, he functions as a foil to Wentworth.
Lily Sammile, a supernatural but evil character. She appears as a neighbor of Mrs. Anstruther but is a mere phenomenon, actually a minor and ineffective disciple of Satan. Her role is allegorical, as False Love, as her name implies. Lilith is William's stock representative of illusory love, and Sammile is probably an allusion to a demon Samael, similarly named in the occult tradition of the Zohar. Lily cannot fool the enlightened Christian characters in the novel, only narcissists such as Adela.