The Gormenghast Trilogy (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Mervyn Peake
- First Published: 1946
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Gothic
- Time of Work: A mythical present
- Setting: The castle of Gormenghast and the world beyond
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Freedom, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Tradition, Politics, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, Other worlds, Brothers and sisters, Inheritance or succession, Castles, Aristocracy or aristocrats, Adventure, Fire, Twins or multiple-birth siblings, Zoos, Arson, Parallel universes or alternate dimensions
- Locales: Gormenghast (mythic)
Characters Discussed
Titus Groan, 1946
Steerpike, an ambitious kitchen-boy. With great cunning, he employs flattery and deception gradually to increase his status and influence, until he becomes the effective master of Gormenghast. He fosters the antipathy that exists between Flay and Swelter until it explodes into violence, seduces Fuschia into craven dependence, and encourages Lord Sepulchrave’s gathering madness. Initially rather pathetic in his smallness and seeming weakness, he becomes increasingly demonic as he masters the hidden byways of the castle....
[The entire page is 897 words long]
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