Character or Personality
Henry Pleyel, a character who appears in the third chapter, is a friend to Wieland and also a brother to Catherine Wieland’s wife. He reveals an independent and unique character characterized by his liberal thinking. “His discernment was cute,” means that Pleyel reasoned deeply on facts and also on knowledge received. He is extremely practical in his ways and thinking. Pleyel was equally educated with Wieland and had the same religious understanding. They also had a common attachment to Latin writers. However, “their creeds were in many respects opposite.” Pleyel “found nothing but reasons for doubt,” in his discoveries. It indicates that he was rational about things and mostly accepted the guidance of his reasoning. He was an intellectual liberty champion and differed with people in his arguments and explanations as his conceptions were said to be ludicrous. Besides, Pleyel was an “inexhaustible fund of entertainment.” It depicts his humorous character (Brown, 2008, p.41).
Transformation
One of the supernatural events in Wieland’s novel is that of Carwin making disembodied voices without the characters knowing that it was him. The voice made him confused. The voice makes him reason like other people. He trusts that the voice is from his sister as it is written, “It was my sister’s voice.” “Pleyel sunk into anxious silence,” it shows how he had lost his humour (Brown, 2008 p.74). Also, he had become “the prey of gloomy and unsociable grief (Brown, 2008 p. 76),” meaning that his humorous character was no more. The event had made him think too much about it. He takes an analytical review of the issue but still believes the voice. Wieland, after the voice, speaks about the death of Pleyel’s wife; he says that “the tie that attached him to Europe, was taken away.” He uses this language to indicate that by accepting the news from the voice, he is going to be forever close to them, for he doesn’t have a reason to get back to Europe (Brown, 2008 p.76).