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The Spider (1908)
- 28 statements
- 4 feature instances
- 3 referencing feature instances
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The Spider (1908) | |
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| The Spider (1908) | comment |
"The Spider" ("Die Spinne") is a Short Story belonging to the genre of Gothic Horror with a sprinkling of Black Comedy. It was written by Hanns Heinz Ewers in 1908 and published that same year in Die Besessenen. At the time, Ewers was staying in Ault, Somme in France, hence why the story takes place in France and stars French characters. It's generally assumed that "The Dead Leman" and "L'oeil invisible" by Erckmann-Chatrian played a role in Ewers' creative process, to the point that similarities between "L'oeil invisible" and "The Spider" led to plagiarism allegations.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })In room #7 of Hotel Stevens in Paris, three men have hanged themselves on three successive Fridays, each time between five and six o'clock. Enhancing the mystery, each man was found hanging from a curtain cord attached to a hook embed in the window's cross-bar. Like this, their knees were as good as touching the floor, making the suicides particularly dedicated ones. The three all led fulfilling lives and the third even was an officer investigating the case. Richard Bracquemont, a student of medicine, hears of the mystery and manipulates the inspector of police into letting him be the next field agent. Once established in room #7, he begins a journal so that whatever may come will be recorded. Against all expectations, he survives the first week and with his new sense of ease he seeks contact with the spinstress behind the window across the street from his. Her name is Clarimonde, or so he is convinced. And despite not thinking himself the type for love, he's attracted to her. During this second week, he spends his hours observing her and communicating with her through the window, though never by talking. He survives the second week too, and from then on makes work of his relationship with Clarimonde by spending his days playing copycat games with her from behind their windows. Then, once more, comes Friday, and this time Bracquemont is afraid that maybe tonight he'll hang himself. Perhaps the one thing that made it not so was a timely call by the inspector, who comes over and invites Bracquemont out for the evening as a distraction from his work. Bracquemont accepts and enjoys himself, but finds himself working even harder for Clarimonde's favor during the fourth week of his vigil. By Thursday, he realizes he is completely under her control and only delaying his ultimate fate on Friday six o'clock. Yet when he goes to hang himself, what remains of his will allows him to bite down on a spider crawling in his mouth. At five past six, Bracquemont is found dead by the inspector, who storms out to the flat across the street upon reading Bracquemont's journal. As it turns out, no one has lived there for many months.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); }) | |
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| The Spider (1908) / int_106f1a77 | type |
A Form You Are Comfortable With | |
| The Spider (1908) / int_106f1a77 | comment |
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Little is certain about Clarimonde, but at least it's a safe bet that her human form isn't real, because any physical evidence denies its existence and the inability to truly memorize her appearance, fantasize her differently, or imagine her home or her life outside of her flat all point towards the human form being a facade put in the victims' mind. The human form is needed to keep the victim compliant. | |
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| The Spider (1908) / int_1f6983f7 | type |
Ambiguous Situation | |
| The Spider (1908) / int_1f6983f7 | comment |
Ambiguous Situation: Due to Clarimonde being written as a classic monster despite not being one, a lot of uncertainty remains regarding her identity, motives, and if she met her end or not. There's a vampiric element to her, firstly for sharing a name with the vampire from "The Dead Leman" and secondly because Bracquemont observes a female spider draining a male spider. But there's no hint what Clarimonde would feed on. There's no mention of the corpse's blood (or lack thereof) nor is any flesh missing. Given the curious fact a spider is twice found in a victim's mouth, she might as well be a final breath-eater. And that makes for the second big question: is Clarimonde dead with the death of the spider between Bracquemont's teeth, or is there more of her? The story seems to want to wrap up with the dead spider, but earlier the one paragraph spent on Clarimonde's spider form declines to confirm each spider sighting as the same spider. Thirdly, it is not explained why Clarimonde only kills on Fridays between five and six o'clock. The hour is given as being the time it gets dark, but while that is true for winter, the story lasts until the end of March, at which point it's no longer true yet six o'clock remains the deadline. | |
| The Spider (1908) / int_1f6983f7 | featureApplicability |
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| The Spider (1908) / int_dae5c997 | type |
Action Girl | |
| The Spider (1908) / int_dae5c997 | comment |
Action Girl: Bracquemont notes that among the twenty-seven people that tried to be picked to solve the case, there were three women. | |
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The Spider (1908) |
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