The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel
"The Purple Cloud" is a novel that follows the harrowing journey of Adam Jeffson, who joins an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole. Initially motivated by the promise of reward, Jeffson's actions lead him down a dark path of murder and despair, particularly after the death of his fiancée, Clodagh. Upon reaching the pole, he encounters a mysterious pillar and a prophetic warning of disaster. This prophecy materializes when a volcanic eruption releases a toxic purple gas, annihilating all animal life and leaving Jeffson as the sole survivor.
As he returns south, Jeffson grapples with hallucinations and the overwhelming sense of loss. Settling in London, his frustration culminates in the city's destruction, prompting a quest for meaning and purpose on the island of Imbros. Throughout his journey, he believes he is caught in a cosmic struggle between opposing forces. His encounter with a girl named Leda, who was born after the calamity, challenges his nihilism. Ultimately, Jeffson's arc reflects a profound internal conflict between despair and a reluctant acceptance of hope, as he contemplates the future of humanity amid the remnants of devastation.
On this Page
Subject Terms
The Purple Cloud
First published: 1901
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—theological romance
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Locale: Various, including the North Pole, England, and the Aegean island of Imbros
The Plot
Adam Jeffson joins an expedition to the North Pole—members of which have been promised rich rewards for its success—after his fiancée, Clodagh, murders one of the original members. He, too, becomes a murderer as the expedition nears its goal, and he becomes the only member of the party to reach the pole, a pillar engraved with unreadable characters, surrounded by a lake of living fluid.
He has heard a preacher prophesying disaster should anyone reach the pole, and the prophecy comes true. When he makes his way south again, afflicted by visual and olfactory hallucinations, he finds that all animal life has been extinguished by a cloud of purple gas released by a volcanic eruption. He searches for other survivors but finds none.
Jeffson takes up residence in London, England, but frustration ultimately leads him to burn the city and become a wanderer. He decides to build himself a palace on the Aegean island of Imbros and furnish it with the treasures of the world. This task is interrupted frequently by bouts of despair and orgies of destruction. Jeffson believes that he is being tormented by rival forces that have used him since childhood as their battleground; he characterizes them as “the white” and “the black.” More than once, he abandons himself to death, but each time he is saved.
As his palace nears completion, Jeffson is drawn away by the forces that control him. An eastward journey takes him to Pera, where he finds a young girl who was born shortly after the eruption of the purple cloud, given birth by a mother confined in an airtight chamber. Having only recently escaped this prison, she is utterly ignorant of the world. Jeffson’s first impulse is to kill her, but he is prevented from doing so by a bolt of lightning. He believes that he has been preserved by “the white” in order to repopulate Earth with the aid of this innocent Eve, but he is determined to refuse.
Jeffson names the girl Clodagh and takes her to Imbros. When he has educated her sufficiently for her to understand her situation, she demands to be renamed Eve. He refuses and begins to call her Leda instead. The end of his solitude marks the beginning of Jeffson’s slow return to sanity, but he remains insistent that he will not permit the story of humankind to be resumed. He abandons Leda and sets a time for his self-execution, but when he communicates with her by telephone for the last time, she tells him that the purple cloud is visible again, and his resolve crumbles. He submits himself to what he now recognizes as the will of God, deciding that he must trust in the goodness of Creation despite all that he and the world have been forced to suffer.