The Monstrous Power of Uncertainty: Social and Cultural Conflict in Richard Marsh’s The Beetle

Abstract

The foreign and perverse monstrosity of Richard Marsh’s Beetle reveals that there were traditional and progressive cultural responses to complex social movements like colonialism, the New Woman, homosexuality, and poverty by British subjects at the fin de siècle. Paul Lessingham both condemns foreigners for their misdeeds in Britain and feels great remorse for his own bad behavior after he kills the priestess of Isis in Cairo. British conservatives (traditional members of society), like Lessingham, supported Britain’s colonial project abroad while progressives or New Liberals considered imperialism and colonialism to be unjust and worthy of repeal in the colonies where independence movements were erupting. Marjorie Lindon represents Britain’s condemnation of the New Woman and the embracing of her character after she both works in tandem with a known terrorist (the Beetle) and is ultimately responsible for bringing him to justice in the end, thereby complicating her stereotypes as rebel and role model. Ultimately, Marjorie Lindon creates a life in resistance to her constructs. She continues her work as a New Woman and advocate for women and marries Lessingham, the man of her choosing, showing that New Women are complex beings. The monster, the Beetle, also shows that homosexuality was thought to be both menacing and understandable and that poverty was both degenerate and involuntary and worthy of respect. The Beetle attacks and uses Holt sexually while Holt maintains his character as a sympathetic everyman. All the characters of the novel except for the Beetle like Holt. The Beetle and Holt’s violent sexual encounters show that homosexuality was thought to be dangerous but Marsh argues that it can also be benign. And, poverty is involuntary and should be understood and managed by laborers themselves not the government. After all, it is Holt who is the only one who looks out for his own destiny and clearly needs assistance from the other characters in the novel. The centralized relief efforts for the poor doled out by the government only left the poor, a man like Holt, on the street. When Marjorie Lindon takes care of Holt, this indicates British subjects’ indebtedness to the poor in their home communities. Ultimately, the Beetle’s violence shows that all of these social subjects are complex but also have a conservative/traditional or liberal/progressive disparity running through their interpretations and representations in society. Marsh never takes a decided position on any of the aforementioned issues because they exist in complex conflict and define the culture of the fin de siècle.