An Analysis of The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen

The Demon Lover, a short story by Elizabeth Bowen, incorporates both suspense-

inducing elements as well as various spectral components that prompt the reader to question

whether it is a ghost story or the narrative account of a protagonist’s hallucination. The

phenomena that the author conveys are not substantiated with enough plausible reasoning for the

reader to give any credence to the sequence of events that occur. However, with an adequate

familiarity of Elizabeth Bowen in either a literary or biographical context, the reader could

assume that the story is referencing psychological—rather than supernatural—occurrences.

An important factor to consider when analyzing the context of any work of literature is an

author’s intent. Oftentimes a character’s thoughts and suspicions are projections of an author’s

own internal sentiments. An understanding of Elizabeth Bowen is just as important, if not more

so, than of Kathleen Drover. If a reader of The Demon Lover is conversant with Bowen, the

motivations for writing such stories will seem to be of a contemplative nature concerning

reactions to the events in her own life. With this in consideration, the reader understands that

Bowen is writing about very real fears, not ghosts. One could also make this interpretation

through the general focus and tone of the story. Bowen places an emphasis on Drover’s past. A

short story—especially one only a few pages long—does not typically include content irrelevant

to the immediate plot. The very fact that Bowen chooses to elaborate on Drover’s issues with her

ex-fiancé, as well as her paranoid and unstable mentality, is evidence that the character’s

thoughts and reactions to the circumstances are of a greater significance than providing readers

with a ghost story. Despite Bowen’s extensive use of imagery, its primary purpose is to provide

an external context and for transitioning between events.

 The Demon Lover is the product of an author’s sentiments projected onto a character;

therefore any unexplainable occurrences in the story are due to Bowen’s bias. Although she

writes the story as a third-person narrator, she is simultaneously within the story as well. The

author does not separate herself from the character, causing inconsistencies in the plot to develop

around the protagonist’s unstable consciousness. Irrational fears affect one’s objective

interpretation of reality, and such a bias is not diminished by writing in third-person if the origin

of the bias is from the author’s distorted perception. Achieving omniscience in one’s narrating is

unlikely, to say the least; especially if the story is influenced by one’s own subjective perceptions

of reality. The Demon Lover is not a ghost story, in the conventional sense; but rather, a

“hallucination” of some form—personal bias.