Tamar: Analysis of Major Characters
"Tamar: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex relationships and dark themes within the story of Tamar Cauldwell and her struggling family. Tamar is depicted as a passionate and troubled young woman who engages in an incestuous relationship with her brother, Lee, leading to devastating consequences. Her manipulative nature drives her to seduce Will Andrews, attempting to mask her tumultuous family dynamics. The narrative reveals her struggles with identity and familial ties, culminating in tragic events that highlight the destructive legacy of past sins within her family.
Lee Cauldwell, her dissolute brother, embodies the cycle of dysfunction as he becomes entangled in Tamar's desires, ultimately meeting a tragic end due to their fraught relationship. The characters' actions are interwoven with themes of madness and guilt, particularly through the figure of David Cauldwell, their father, who seeks redemption too late. The character of Jinny, David's sister, adds another layer of sorrow and chaos, as her innocence inadvertently leads to catastrophic consequences for the family.
The story also introduces Will Andrews, who represents Tamar's yearning for escape, yet tragically becomes another victim of the family's destructive legacy. Overall, this analysis offers a poignant examination of complex character dynamics set against a backdrop of familial tragedy and moral failings. The narrative invites readers to reflect on the themes of love, loss, and the haunting impact of past actions.
Tamar: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Robinson Jeffers
First published: 1924
Genre: Poetry
Locale: Carmel Coast Range, California
Plot: Psychological
Time: World War I
Tamar Cauldwell, a passionate, neurotic, auburn-haired young woman. She tempts her brother Lee to deflower her and continues incest with him until she becomes pregnant. Intending to marry Will Andrews, she seduces him, hoping to hide her incest with Lee. She fails in an attempt to burn the Cauldwell home. In a wild dance on the seashore, she brings on a miscarriage that leaves her ill and embittered at her whole family. She flaunts her body before her father to rouse his enfeebled lust. Taunting her brother with the lie that her lost child was Will's rather than his, she angers Lee until he whips her cruelly. Feigning a desire to reconcile the differences between Lee and Will, she then shows Will the marks of the whip and instigates a bloody fight between him and Lee. Triumphant, she dies by fire, taking her lovers with her. The flames symbolically resemble the fleshly fires that have been consuming the Cauldwells since the old incest of David and Helen.
Lee Cauldwell, her dissolute brother. Nursed to health by Tamar after an accident, he warns Will to stay away from her, then becomes her lover and the father of the child she loses. Tamar prevents Lee from enlisting for World War I but also keeps him from escaping the burning Cauldwell home, and he dies in her locked embrace.
David Cauldwell, her father, a dotard of seventy who in repentance of old sins has turned to his Bible, but too late to save his doomed family.
Jinny Cauldwell, David's mentally disabled sister, a woman of sixty. In youth, she loved her brother, but he was drawn to Helen instead. Jinny, in her madness, innocently causes the fire that brings death to the entire family.
Stella Moreland, the sister of David's dead wife. She acts as nurse to Jinny. Through her as a medium, the voice of Helen reveals much of the sordid past to Tamar. Stella dies with the Cauldwells.
Will Andrews, Tamar's suitor, blond, freckled, and wide-shouldered. He wishes to free Tamar from her family, but she desires only the freedom of death, and Will (already mortally wounded in his fight with Lee) dies in the holocaust that destroys the Cauldwells.
Helen Cauldwell, David's dead sister, with whom he committed incest forty years earlier. After Tamar's orgiastic dance, Helen's spirit voice taunts her, predicts that she will lose her baby, and informs her that her attempt to burn her home will not destroy the corruption of the family.
Ramon Ramirez, the herdsman of the Cauldwell herds.