George MacDonald's Lilith and mythic tradition
Date
1975
Authors
Newton-White, Ralph
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Abstract
Ever since George MacDonald's Lilith was published in 1895, critics and readers alike have puzzled over its meanings and felt the need of interpretation. Interpretive criticism of Lilith has been lacking, I think, mostly because MacDonald's thought is deeply religious in a Christian but esoteric sense. Most critics of the first half of the twentieth century were not prepared to give such ideas serious or sympathetic treatment. Also, Lilith is difficult. C.S. Lewis, in a letter to Arthur Greeves, remarks, "Lilith (MacDonald's figure) is still quite beyond me". Psychoanalytical interpretations of Lilith, however interesting and useful, have the disadvantage of being based upon speculation regarding MacDonald's private life for which evidence is lacking.
However, if MacDonald's images in Lilith are compared to, or identified with, similar images found in earlier mythological writings, a coherent pattern of meaning becomes apparent. The method of comparing images works well when applied to MacDonald's work because he occasionally identifies the sources of his images, or describes them in sufficient detail for us to recognize his sources. Recognition of MacDonald's sources does not imply lack of originality in his work for his method of using symbols is largely original, even though he borrows ideas for presenting them from Blake, Thoreau, and James Thomson. MacDonald's Lilith is like a painting that contains figures copied moreorless accurately from other paintings but arranged in such a manner as to make an original, even extraordinary, impact.
In this study, MacDonald's images in Lilith are not explore in great variety, detail, or depth because to do so would occupy a large book. Also, although Lilith is crowded with images, most of them portray themes that are discussed. An example is the theme of rebirth, which is illustrated with depictions that can be found on almost every page of "wombs", tombs, cottages in the moon, and references metamorphosis.
Conclusions regarding the meaning of Lilith stop short of becoming over-speculative. For instance, it would be possible from evidence presented here to propose a theory that MacDonald was working toward creating a female figure of godhead. I would predict that sooner or later someone will advance this or a similar theory to indicate that MacDonald wished to believe in a female deity. This aspect and similar questions that seem to be implied in Lilith have not been investigated because there is insufficient evidence to provide proof either way. Regarding the female deity figure, I do not believe that MacDonald had any such intention, but that he obviously wished to stress what he believed to be the female essence of spiritual experience.
The intention of this study is present evidence that the central meaning of Lilith that MacDonald wished to convey is the idea that every living thing in the universe will eventually become reunited with its creator in a state of blessedness as soon as humanity learns to replace sin with love. MacDonald's difficulties in convincing himself of the truth of his argument and in presenting it in Lilith are examined briefly.
In order to understand why MacDonald desired to give this message to the world, we need to know a little about his Calvinist background, about the impact that the writings of Novalis had upon his developing mind, the difficulties he had with the elders of his church, and the difficulty of deciding what his readers would or would not accept.