Summary and Analysis of “The Eyes”
Originally published in the June 1910 issue of Scribner’s Magazine, Edith Wharton’s “The Eyes” tells of a man’s encounters with his own personal ghosts. The main paranormal element in this short story is a pair of grotesque, disembodied eyes which appear during times of conflict and guilt for the protagonist, Andrew Culwin. Wharton uses this “obsessive and obtrusive image” (McDowell 577) to only drive the plot forward, but also as a symbol for moral corruption. As a story within a story, the creative exploration of the human conscious draw attention to “the blindness of the aesthetic temperament” (McDowell 577).
The ghost tale is broken into four parts: part one details the setting in which Culwin tells friends about his supernatural encounters; part two describes the two occasions where Culwin abandons people who admire and rely on him, thus instigating the appearance of the eyes; part three further explains his troubled relationship with Noyes, his apprentice of sorts; and part four suggests that the haunted eyes were actually his own eyes staring back at his past self. The final and arguably most haunting part of the story is Culwin recognizing the eyes as his own:
“As he did so, the light of the lamp on the table fell full on his congested face, and I caught its reflection in the mirror behind Frenham’s head. Culwin saw the reflection also. He paused, his face level with the mirror, as if scarcely recognising the countenance in it as his own. But as he looked his expression gradually changed, and for an appreciable space of time he and the image in the glass confronted each other with a glare of slowly gathering hate.” (Wharton 829)
Wharton’s ghost story holds readers in suspense throughout the verbose discussion of Culwin’s failed relationships, leaving both the audience of characters and those reading the story to interpret whether the eyes “are a result of [Culwin’s] own faulty vision, whether they are a hallucination, or whether they are ‘a projection of [his] inner conscious’” (McDowell 577). Ultimately, the haggard eyes represent Culwin’s present state as he looks into his own past decisions and transgressions. Wharton uses the literal and metaphorical inclusion of a mirror to show the severity of self reflection as well as Culwin’s own realization upon seeing his eyes.
Margaret McDowell further elaborates on “The Eyes” in her research and analysis for “Edith Wharton’s Ghost Stories” published in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism:
“She is concerned in this tale with the ramifications of Andrew Culwin’s moral deficiencies as they have undermined his own life and the lives of others. A gracious, wealthy, cultured man, Culwin surrounds himself with disciples and does help them to mature intellectually and to define their own ideas; and yet his interest in these young men is that of the amused spectator, not that of the deeply-concerned friend and mentor. Passively, he is also able to to satisfy the homosexual bent of his emotional nature which he never frankly acknowledges.” (577)
Many instances in the text support McDowell’s theories about the homosexual undertones of “The Eyes.” Culwin quickly leaves his female fiancée, which shows how he may not be inclined to a relationship with a women. Later, he spends much time with Noyes, a dashing young man studying Culwin as a writer. Culwin, however, views his apprentice as more of an aesthetic object than an actual friend or student. Wharton alludes to homosexuality in her descriptions of Culwin’s perception of Noyes:
“He was so charming — he continued to be so charming — that he called forth all my charity in support of this argument; and for the first few months I really believed there was a chance for him . . .
Those months were delightful. Noyes was constantly with me, and the more I saw of him the better I liked him. His stupidity was a natural grace — it was as beautiful, really, as his eyelashes. And he was so gay, so affectionate, and so happy with me, that telling him the truth would have been about as pleasant as slitting the throat of some gentle animal.” (Wharton 821)
His fascination and eventual annoyance with Noyes shows how Culwin never really cared for his work, but only wanted Noyes’ company and perhaps his attractive appearance.
Homosexual undertones add to the uncanny feelings Wharton invokes throughout the text. The eyes themselves are uncanny, because they are Culwin’s own eyes staring at him, which alludes to the concept of doppelgängers. Additionally, homosexuality was, and to some extent, is viewed as uncanny because of the unfamiliarity with which people perceive same-sex attraction.
