A. S. Byatt's Possession Essay

From Shakespearean sonnets to lurid romance novels, the notion of love is a matter that has inspired art and literature since its inception. Consequently, many esteemed literary figures have attempted to contribute their own idea of what constitutes a perfect relationship. A.S. Byatt in her novel, Possession, is no exception, as she uses her story as a platform to propose her own thoughts about what composes a prosperous partnership. Though passion is generally considered to be synonymous with love, Byatt suggests differently. A commonly quoted line from her novel comes from a letter exchanged between two lovers in the midst of their swift, erotic, yet fleeting affair, “I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand

At the opening of the novel, Roland is entangled in a suffocating relationship with his college sweetheart Val. Though their love had initially been intense, issues quickly emerged. Roland reflects on the detrimental transformation that he observed occur in Val, “In the early days she had had lots of quiet opinions, he remembered, which she had offered him, shyly slyly, couched as a kind of invitation or bait...Later, Roland noticed as he himself had successes, Val said less and less, and when she argued, offered him increasingly his own ideas, sometimes the reverse side of the knitting, but essentially his”(15-16). Val becomes increasingly dependent on Roland. Her once “quiet opinions” gradually dwindle into what are essentially mere reiterations of Roland’s “own ideas”. She becomes gradually less and less autonomous, assuming an intellectually subservient role to Roland by abandoning her own individual ideas. Eventually, Val begins to associate her self-worth with her relationship to Roland. After her disastrous failed “Required Essay”, Val seeks solace in Roland, “‘At least you want me... I don't know why you should want me, I'm not good, but you do’ she told Roland, her face damp and

Even the inception of their relationship is fraught with irrationality. Maud describes their first encounter, “[Fergus] expected Maud to come to his bed. ‘We two are the most intelligent people here, you know. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen or dreamed about. I want you, I need you, can’t you feel it, it’s irresistible.’ Why had it been irresistible, Maud was not rationally sure. But he had been right. Then arguments had begun. Maud shivered”(64). Their attraction is instantaneous. Fergus panders to her vanity by complimenting outward appearance, proclaiming Maud to be “the most beautiful thing [he] had ever seen or dreamed about.” Similar to what occurred to Roland and Val, her relationship with Fergus rapidly deteriorates. Maud describes her relationship with Fergus Wolff as “an image of a huge, unmade, stained and rumpled bed, its sheets pulled into standing peaks here and there, like the surface of whipped egg-white. Whenever she thought of Fergus Wolff, this empty battlefield was what she saw”(63). The “unmade, stained and rumpled bed” represents the disorganization and chaos that her relationship with Fergus brought to her life. Instead of tranquil and clean bed, Maud is left without a personal sanctuary. The bed has transformed into a “battlefield” in which she had to spar with Fergus, a direct opposition