The Beetle and Postcolonial

    In the 21st century, one concept that grows deeply into everyone’s mind is cultural diversity, which means that every culture has the equal right to exist and develop. The development of technology allows all cultures around the globe to meet in a friendly way. However, in the past several centuries, the encounter of different cultures always comes with violent colonization. Richard March showed the influence in his book “The Beetle”, which tells a story of an Egyptian priest’s revenge in London during the Victorian period. Characters in the story belong to two groups, the colonizer and the anti-colonialist, and each group behaves differently.  According to Lois Tyson, “postcolonial criticism seeks to understand the operations of the colonialist and the anti-colonialist ideologies” (Tyson 399). Therefore, post - colonialism is a useful tool to analyze behaviors of different characters in a psychological way. In the story, the British characters’ defense against the Egyptian priest indicates that their attitudes towards Eastern cultures are influenced by othering, orientalism and Eurocentric. The Egyptian priest’s attitude towards the British indicates othering and colonial subject.

      The first main character in the story is Robert Holt, a jobless British clerk. He was held by the priest after he broke into her house to get out of the rain. The approach he used defined the priest and his unwillingness of being naked to indicate Othering. His devaluation of women also shows patriarchal. In the story, when Holt saw the priest on the bed, he used “supernatural ugly” to describe her appearance. He also used several terms to describe her facial features: “the skin, which was saffron yellow, was an amazing mass or wrinkles” (Marsh 53).

 

Holt used “saffron yellow” to describe skin color, which indicates Asian stereotype. Besides, Holt used “blubber” to depict her lips, which implied African American. Holt’s description of the priest indicates that she was from the east, and Holt thought her appearance was of something not human (Marsh 53). According to Tyson, “The practice of judging all who are different as less than fully human is called othering” (Tyson 401). Obviously, Holt was affected by othering since he didn’t think that the priest had human appearance due to her different look. Besides his description, Holt’s unwillingness of being naked was also influenced by othering. As the story tells, Holt thought that his figure of being barefooted and bareheaded with the cloak was ridiculous (Marsh 69). Meanwhile Holt was a cultured Englishman and he had a solid intelligence of British culture. Holt believed that the oriental cloak made him naked, which is uncivilized. According to Tyson, the term of demonic othering is a belief that the savage is considered evil and immoral (Tyson 401). Obviously, the way Holt thought of nakedness was influenced by demonic othering. In addition, Holt believed that the cloak made him like a woman, and he was hypnosis by the priest then, meaning that he could not think or behave independently. Holt related his mesmerized condition to female figure because he believed that women are not capable of having independent personal and group identity, which, in Tyson’s term, is called patriarchal (Tyson 405). Apparently Holt was influenced by the belief of patriarchal as well.

    The second main character in the story is Sydney Atherton, an extraordinary British scientist. His strong belief in weapon indicates his belief in Eurocentric and his reply to the priest indicates orientalism. According to Tyson, Eurocentric treats European army conquest as the chief means of establishing world history (Tyson 402).

Reflecting on Atherton’s case, when describing his newly invented weapon, he said that “If weapons of precision, which may be relied upon to slay, are preservers of the peace---and the man is a fool who says that they are not”! (Marsh 102). Atherton’s statement on weapon indicates his strong belief that British military culture is the key to keeping the world organized and peaceful, which indicates his belief in Eurocentrism.

Besides Eurocentrism, Atherton’s conversation with the beetle priest shows his strong belief in orientalism. According to Tyson, “orientalism is to produce a positive national self-definition for Western nations by contrast with Eastern nations on which the West projects all the negative characteristics it doesn’t want to believe exist among its own people” (Tyson  402). Atherton used “dog-hole in the desert” to describe Egyptian culture, showing his belief that Egyptian culture is savage, and he contrasted London with Egypt to show that European culture is civilized. Atherton’s words show his strong belief in orientalism.

    Another main character throughout the story is Paul Lessingham, a rising star in the House of Common. His depiction of Atherton’s laboratory and his description about the human sacrifice in Egypt shows his strong belief in orientalism. In the story, he said to Atherton that his laboratory is a place where “a man is matching himself with nature, to wrest from her secret, without feeling that I am crossing the threshold of the unknown.” (Marsh 109)  Here Lessingham used the laboratory to represent science and used a female image on behalf of nature, and his word of “wrest from her secret” indicates his belief that man can use science to explore and control the nature. Reflecting postcolonial theory, science represents the European because their advance in science gives them the opportunity to conquer other countries, and nature represents eastern countries which the European colonized. At that point, Lessingham’s words also indicate his belief that Europe has an absolute control over the east, and European are superior while people in their colonized lands are closer to nature, which shows Lessingham’s strong belief in orientalism.

In addition, the story shows Lessingham’s belief in orientalism by showing his description of human sacrifice in Egypt: Lessingham witnessed a young Englishwomen being outraged and burnt alive. He thought that the process was pure horror and inhuman (Marsh 244). Besides, Lessignham described the Egyptian woman as “orgy, rather a devil than a human being.”( Marsh 244) He thought Egyptian religious cruel and inhuman and regarded the Egyptian woman as the devil, which shows his disdain and hate about Egyptian culture. This disdain and hate result from Lessignham’s belief of orientalism.

      Robert Holt, Sydney Atherton and Paul Lessingham are main characters from the colonizer group, they represent the British Empire. According to Tyson, postcolonial criticism analysis not only the colonizer’s value but also the opposition of inhabited inhabits beside their oppressors (Tyson 399). Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the beetle priest — a character from the anti-colonized group who represent the colonized people.

The beetle priest’s attitudes towards English law indicate othering from the colonized side and her appreciation about Lessignham indicates her belief of colonial subject. In the story, when Atherton advised the priest to use the law for revenge, she replied that “what has the Englishman’s law to do with me? ...Would he be shamed? ...Before all men ... And he would hang?” (Marsh 147). She also pointed out that she would like to revenge Paul using her own fashion, which is to torture him and kill him bitterly (Marsh  147) Clearly the priest’s words indicate that the British and the Egyptian have different ways for revenge due to their different cultures. Her words also show her disdain for British law and her appreciation of their own culture, which indicates her belief of othering from the colonized side. Besides her words about revenge, the priest’s appreciation about Lessignham indicates her belief of colonial subject.

According to Tyson, colonial- subject is a term that colonized people believe in British superiority (Tyson 403). The priest loved Lessingham’s white skin because her skin is “saffron yellow” and she appreciated his tall and strong body. She even thought that being his wife is the best thing. The priest appreciated Lessignham because she thought that he belongs to a more superior race than her, which indicates her belief in colonial-subject.

             Analyzing literature using postcolonial theorems allows readers to explore cultural meanings of contents in the literature. For example, in the novel, The Beetle, London represents the civilization of the colonizer. Besides, when Atherton was poisoned by the gas, he was brought back to life by science while Percy Woodville was saved by Egyptian magic. The two different ways that rescue Atherton and Woodville indicate conflicts between the western and eastern culture. These indications have more meaning than literature contents themselves. Therefore, applying postcolonial theorems to analyze literature gives reader opportunities to have a deeper understanding of the cultural influence of colonization.