Gormenghast
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Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake.
Gormenghast is also commonly used in reference to this series, even though the castle is present for a very small amount of time in Titus Alone. In fact, Peake intended to write a "biography" of protagonist Titus Groan, not the castle's history, so it would make more sense to name the series after him. (In fact, an earlier collected edition was entitled The Titus Books).
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Works in the Series
The cycle consists of three novels, Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). A novella, Boy in Darkness (1956), shares the setting without specific allusion.
Peake intended to write a series of books following Titus's life and his relationship with the castle. At least two other books, tentatively titled Titus Awakes and Gormenghast Revisited, were planned, but Peake's health complications and ensuing death prevented him from writing down more than a few rough chapters and ideas for these. Only three pages of Titus Awakes were coherently written, and these appear in the Overlook Press omnibus edition of the main novels (ISBN 0-87951-628-3).
Dramatic adaptations
In 1984, BBC Radio 4 broadcast two 90-minute plays based on Titus Groan and Gormenghast, adapted by Brian Sibley and starring Sting as Steerpike and Freddie Jones as the Artist (narrator). A slightly abridged compilation of the two, running to 160 minutes, and entitled Titus Groan of Gormenghast, was broadcast on Christmas Day, 1992. BBC 7 repeated the original versions on 21 and 28 September 2003.
In 2000, the BBC and the PBS station WGBH of Boston produced a miniseries, titled Gormenghast, based on the first two books of the trilogy.
The 30-minute TV short film A Boy In Darkness (also made in 2000 and adapted from Peake's short story Boy in Darkness) was the first production from the BBC Drama Lab. It was set in a 'virtual' computer-generated world created by young computer game designers, and starred Jack Ryder (from EastEnders) as Titus, with Terry Jones (Monty Python's Flying Circus) narrating.
Irmin Schmidt, founder of seminal German 'Krautrock' group Can has written an opera called Gormenghast, based on the novels, and a number of early songs by New Zealand rock group Split Enz were inspired by Peake's work.
Genre and Style
The series is usually described as a fantasy work. However, there is no magic and no intelligent races other than humans, as is usual in high fantasy such as The Lord of the Rings. Another valid classification would be to place Gormenghast in the genre of the fantastic, with marked gothic and surrealist influences.
Gormenghast has a much less focused plot than is usual for most novels. Though Titus and Steerpike are often considered the main characters, they share the narrative with many of the other denizens of the castle.
Gormenghast Castle
Gormenghast Castle is the setting for the first two books in the series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast. It incorporates many of the elements of both mediæval castles and Regency period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. Among the countless buildings and rooms are libraries, a huge kitchen (thirty-six men are required just to scrub the walls), outer walls, an art gallery (specifically carvings), a dining hall, a lake and a school. Vast areas of the castle are abandoned.
Ritual plays a large part in the daily life of all characters in the castle, most of all the Earl of Gormenghast, whose days are largely spent adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law becomes one of the main themes in the series.
It has become synonymous with large, sprawling buildings and has been used as a reference point in other works of fiction.
Story
Titus Groan
The story follows the somewhat bizarre inhabitants of Gormenghast Castle, and chronicles the rise to power of Steerpike, a scheming kitchen boy, in the decaying monarchy of the house of Groan. The eponymous Titus is only an infant in this novel, and plays a minor role.
Gormenghast
The second book follows Titus from the age of seven to seventeen. As the 77th earl and lord of Gormenghast, he dreads the life of pre-ordained ritual that stretches before him. Steerpike continues his rise to power, but is eventually unmasked as a traitor and murderer.
Titus Alone
The story follows Titus as he travels far from Gormenghast Castle; he finds a steampunk world of industrialists and advanced technology. This novel is more random than the other two, without a strong lead character or a fixed setting.
Inhabitants of Gormenghast
Peake populated his imaginary castle with a large cast of extraordinary characters. These include:
The ruling family
Titus Groan: The main character of the series. Heir to the Earldom of Gormenghast. He succeeds to the title while still a child, but as he grows older, he develops ambivalent feelings toward his home. He is torn between pride in his lineage and the desire to escape from the castle and its traditions. Eventually, he flees Gormenghast.
Lord Sepulchrave: Titus's father. He is a melancholy man who feels shackled by his duties as Earl, even though he never questions them. His only escape is reading. However, when the castle's Library burns down, he is driven insane and comes to believe that he is one of the death-owls that live in the abandoned Tower of Flints. He joins them, whereupon he is eaten.
The Countess Gertrude: Titus's mother. An obese woman with dark red hair, she pays no attention to her family or the rest of Gormenghast. Instead, she spends her time locked away in her bedroom, in the company of a legion of cats and birds, the only things toward which she shows affection. However, once given the chance to use her intelligence she turns out to be one of the cleverest people in the castle, when (along with Flay and the doctor) she recognizes and investigates the worrying changes in Gormenghast's life.
Fuchsia: Titus's sister. At times snobbish and self-absorbed, she can also be extremely warm and caring. At first, she resents Titus, but soon develops a deep bond with him. Of all Titus's family, she is the one he loves most.
Cora and Clarice Groan: Titus's aunts. They are twins and virtually identical to each other. Both suffered from spasms in their youth, so the left half of their bodies are paralyzed. They have virtually the same personalities and neither of them is very intelligent, although Cora is slightly cleverer than Clarice. Both crave political power and dislike Gertrude, who they believe robbed them of their rightful place in the hierarchy of Gormenghast. Their mindless ambition and thirst for revenge lead them to become Steerpike's pawns.
Other major characters
Steerpike: A youthful outsider, beginning as a kitchen boy, who worms his way into the hierarchy of Gormenghast for his own personal gain. Ruthlessly murderous, with an extremely Machiavellian mind and a talent for manipulation, he can appear charming and sometimes even noble. He has natural personal enmity with Titus.
Flay: Lord Sepulchrave's personal servant. He believes in strictly holding to the rules of Gormenghast. Nevertheless, he is not completely hard-hearted and cares a great deal for Titus and Fuschia. He is eventually exiled from Gormenghast for throwing one of the Countess's cats at Steerpike.
Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor: The castle's resident physician. He is an eccentric individual with a high-pitched laugh and a grandiose wit which he uses on the castle's less intelligent inhabitants. Despite his acidic tongue, he is an extremely kind and caring man who also is greatly fond of Fuchsia and Titus. In a few places in the text, Dr. Prunesquallor is given the first name of Bernard.
Irma Prunesquallor: Doctor Prunesquallor's sister. Though she is anything but pretty, she is considerably vain. She desperately desires to be admired and loved by men.
Abiatha Swelter: The fat, sadistic chef of Gomenghast. His profound hatred for Flay leads him to attempted murder.
Nanny Slagg: An ancient midget who nurses infant Titus as she nursed Fuchsia before him. She is somewhat senile and has a inferiority complex.
Sourdust: The Master of Ritual when the series begins. He is the one who coordinates the various arcane rituals that make up daily life in Gormenghast. After his death, his position is taken up by his son Barquentine.
Barquentine: Follows his father into the role of Master of Ritual. He is lame in one leg, hideous, and unbelieveably dirty. He is a consummate misanthrope who only cares for the laws and traditions of Gormenghast. He makes the grievous error of allowing Steerpike to become his assistant.
Bellgrove: One of Titus's teachers, who eventually ascends to Headmaster of Gormenghast. He is incredibly ancient. In many respects, he is the standard absent-minded professor who falls asleep during his own class and plays with marbles. However, deep inside him there is a certain element of dignity and nobility. He begins a rather unusual romance with Irma Prunesquallor.
Keda: One of the Outer Dwellers who lives just outside the walls of Gormenghast. She is chosen to be Titus's wet nurse, but eventually leaves this position. She has two lovers who eventually kill themselves over her, but not before one of them impregnates her.
Thing: The daughter of Keda. Due to her illegitimacy she is an outcast who becomes a feral child living in the wilderness surrounding Gormenghast. Believing that she is in every way the opposite of Gormenghast, Titus becomes infatuated with her.
Minor characters
Rottcodd: Curator of the Hall of Bright Carvings, and the first character introduced in the series. Rottcodd lives the life of a recluse in the castle, rarely speaking to anyone, and, when not dusting the statues at exactly seven o' clock, is usually sleeping in his hammock by the windowside.
Pentecost: Head gardener of Gormenghast, always busy tending the palace orchards or filling vases with fresh water and bright flowers.
The Poet: Known only by his professional name, The Poet holds a relatively important function of ritual in the castle. He is described as having a wedge-shaped head and a voice "as strange and deep as a lugubrious ocean". After Steerpike's death, he is hastily appointed as the new Master of Rituals.
Rantel & Braigon: Keda's lovers, whose rivalry eventually leads to their death in a nighttime duel.
External links
- Homepage of the BBC mini-series
- Gormenghast: A Fantasy Opera, written by Irmin Schmidt
- The Mervyn Peake FAQ, which clarifies the inconsistency in Prunesquallor's given name.
- Gormenghast series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
