Is The Notion Of Love In A. S. Byatt's Possession

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 ideas 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 prosperous partnership entails. 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

in a fire and not be consumed”(213). This intense, all consuming type of love, inevitably results in destruction, as the fiery passions quickly escalate into an uncontrollable conflagration, leaving only wreckage and heartbreak behind. Instead, Byatt illustrates her ideal relationship through Maud and Roland’s tentative partnership, which gradually evolves into a romance, a result of their chaotic personal lives and mutual desire for control.
Roland Mitchell’s previous tumultuous relationship incites his eventual desire for an increasingly controlled relationship. 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 witnessed 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 with 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 glistening”(17). Val’s self-worth has deteriorated to an incredibly depressed position, she is in total despair over her failure. She responds to her predicament by retreating into her relationship with Roland. Consequently, Roland is forced to assume reluctant responsibility for her emotional state. Resentment continues to ferment between the couple as this emotional dependency is compounded by Roland’s inability to procure employment and his resulting reliance on Val’s meager salary. The resentment is evident in Roland’s inner dialogue, as he “half wished that she ...a merchant banker would take her out to dinner, or a shady solicitor to the Playboy Club”(18). He desperately desires for the relationship dissolve, but is unwilling to instigate its termination. Instead, Roland resorts to shamefully dreaming of Val leaving him for a “merchant banker...or a shady solicitor.” The couple is emotionally and financially interdependent, resulting in a chaotic and noxious relationship. Interestingly, Roland recognizes the destructive cycle that he and Val are embedded in, “If he had it in him to raise his voice, to shout ‘Don’t be so ridiculous’, and mean it, things might never have come to this”(238). However, Roland is not capable of “rais[ing] his voice” as he has simply acquiesced his control in the relationship. It is from this powerless position, that Roland begins to yearn for a clean slate, for control over his relationships and more importantly, his life.
Similarly, Maud’s previous passionate, but disastrous affair with Fergus Wolff causes her to crave a more inhibited and restrained companionship. 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 her 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 to the attraction they had both initially felt. The unavoidable fervor that had originally enthralled her, is replaced with intense resentment. Maud eventually reflects on the experience, stating, “I had a bad time, with Fergus. We tormented each other. I hate that, I hate the noise, the distraction’”(295). What started as an initial irrational passion founded on superficial attraction, eventually culminated in disaster.
Roland and Maud’s romance varies from their previous relationship, as it progresses gradually, transitioning in a controlled manner from hesitant colleagues, to an unspoken understanding, to a tentative love.

The two are thrown together by the scholastic pursuit for information regarding the previously unknown love affair between two Victorian poets. There is no instant attraction between the two intellectuals. Instead, “[t]here was a frostiness between the two of them”(143). There is a clear distinction between Maud’s first interaction with Roland and Maud’s first encounter with Fergus. Maud is not captivated by Roland’s allure, instead they are each reluctant to be entirely open with the other, resulting in the apparent “frostiness.” It is not until Roland reveals his honest aspiration, that the intangible barrier between the two is dissolved. In his confession to Maud, Roland admits, “ what I really want is to--to have nothing. An empty clean bed. I have this image of a clean empty bed in a clean empty room, where nothing is asked or to be asked”(291). Maud not only comprehends what Roland is saying, but mirrors his statements, proclaiming,“‘I know what you mean. No, that’s a feeble thing to say. It’s a much more powerful coincidence than that. That’s what I think about, when I’m alone. How good it would be to have nothing. How good it would be to desire nothing. And the same image. An empty bed in an empty room. White’”(291). The two characters who were initially

reluctant of one another, and simply tolerated each other for the sake of their academic pursuit, are now united over their mutual desire. They both crave to have a “clean empty bed in a clean empty room.” Both Maud and Roland have been in calamitous relationships, where their individuality and autonomy was threatened. The two characters desire order and stability over uncontrollable passion. They are united through their paradoxical desire to not desire. The image of the “clean empty bed” is a direct contrast to the “huge, unmade, stained and rumpled bed” that Maud relates to her relationship with Fergus. The bed that Maud and Roland desire is pure, unsullied by unfettered carnal desire.This revelation demolishes the previously uncomfortable distance between the two, as they return from their conversation “in companionable silence”, a drastic change from the “frostiness” that had preceded it (291).
In an attempt to prevent an uncontrollable descent into a lust filled physical frenzy, Maud and Roland retain a tight control on the sexual progression of their relationship.

While on an excursion for information about the poets, the two stay in “separate rooms--with the requisite white beds--[though]there was no doubt that there was a marital or honeymooning aspect to their lingering.”(456). Though there has been a definite shift in their relationship, Roland and Maud are reluctant to allow their emotional connection to transfer into anything remotely. They continue to maintain their personal boundaries, by maintaining the “white bed” as a sanctuary. Their physical relationship progressed slowly and deliberately. “They touched each other without comment and without progression. A hand on a hand, a clothed arm, resting on an arm. An ankle overlapping an ankle, as they sat on a beach, and not removed”(458). The hesitation between Maud and Roland highlight their fear of overstepping the unclear boundary between them. Their initial touches are incredibly innocent, beginning with a chaste “hand on a hand.” Each of the movements described are intentionally pure, as they emphasize the difference in their relationship as compared to Roland and Maud’s previous relationships. By being cautious and deliberate Maud and Roland are preventing themselves from losing control. “It was important to both of them that the touching should not proceed to any kind of fierceness or deliberate

embrace. They felt that in some way this stately peacefulness of unacknowledged contact gave back their sense of their separate lives inside their separate skins”(459). However, the two gradually become more relaxed with one another until, “[o]ne night they fell asleep, side by side, on Maud’s bed”(459). “On days when the sea mist closed them in a sudden milk-white cocoon with not perspectives they lay lazily together all day behind heavy white lace curtains on the white bed, not stirring, not speaking”(459). The “clean white bed”, that the two had originally so desperately desired, has transcended its literal meaning. The bed they had yearned for was a private location, meant to be a refuge and place of solace. But Roland and Maud have transformed their original bed into a shared experience. Instead of being isolated, the two of them lay together within the “white bed, not stirring, not speaking.” Roland and Maud are able to cohabitate the same bed without inciting any friction, because there journey to this point in their relationship had been done carefully, and without haste. They both end up obtaining their long desired bed, but it surpasses their initial expectations, because they are able to share the bed with someone else, without feeling stifled or threatened.
Throughout her novel, A.S. Byatt suggests that a slowly developed relationship founded upon mutual understanding is preferable to an instantaneously passionate, but transient love. Within the context of modern relationships, the question of whether it is passion or dedication that is fundamental to the formation of a healthy relationship is still present. In fact, with the emergence and growing popularity of “dating” apps this concern has an increased importance, as relationships are frequently instigated on the sole basis of pure physical attraction leading to an inevitably fleeting and ephemeral love. Perhaps, a resurgenec of gradual, instead of instantaneous, connection is the potential remedy to this current problem in contemporary relationships.