The Presence of Death in Christopher Priest's ‘The Prestige’ (1995)

Abstract

This paper investigates the fear of death as presented in Christopher Priest’s The Prestige, a novel published in 1995. Fear is manifested through various elements derived from gothic fiction, horror novels, science fiction, and similar narrative genres that come near the mystery of death. These elements are brought together in the text to embody humanity’s primordial fear of death in a single creative work. This attempt necessarily relies on the insights, statements, and approaches of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Part of the conclusions this research aims to achieve is that the author of this novel seeks to warn the reading public about individuals who go to extreme lengths to avoid death, prolong their lives, and escape mortality, attempting to elude the inevitable fate of all living things. They commit evil and ignoble acts to live beyond the usual span of human years, leading to dreadful and satanic consequences. The work selected and also the experiences of life and death experienced therein were selected, in a sense, to show that this novel connects with and continues a trend and a tradition started by Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker, to name but a few. This paper discusses the implications of the presence of death in Christopher Priest’s The Prestige.