This article has something to say about what might be called the temptation of Lucy Carlyle, a major character in Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. books, by a whited sepulchre of a woman who goes by the name of Penelope Fittes.
The two featured temptation scenes are of particular interest because there are similar scenes in other books that I like, many of which have previously been featured or mentioned on here.
Penelope Fittes is head of the Fittes Agency, the oldest and biggest psychical detection agency; she is one of the most powerful and influential people in the country.
She is a very glamorous and elegant businesswoman. At first she appears to be a good person and well disposed towards Anthony Lockwood and his colleagues, but she is not what she seems. She is gradually revealed to be a ruthless exploiter and destroyer of people, living and dead. She has many dark secrets; she has much blood on her hands.
In The Whispering Skull, the second book in the series, a member of the Fittes Agency flatters Lucy Carlyle and tries to lure her away from Lockwood & Co.:
“Ms. Carlyle, you’re clearly the most intelligent of your team. And you’ve some Talent, too, if everything I’ve heard is true. Surely you don’t want to hang around with these losers any longer. You’ve got a career to think of. I know you had an interview with Fittes a while ago; I know they failed you, but in my opinion”— he smiled again— “they made a bad mistake. Now, I have a little influence within the organization. I can pull strings, get you a position within the company, just think: instead of eking out a living here, you could be at Fittes House, with all its power at your disposal.”
This makes Lucy very angry. She likes her life as an employee of the Lockwood Agency and she likes her colleagues Anthony Lockwood and George Cubbins, who are in any case very far from being losers. She tells her tempter that she is quite happy where she is.
This offer may seem relatively harmless if rather patronising: the Fittes man recognises talent when he sees it and just wants to recruit a good person for his team. However, it is Penelope Fittes who is behind this and further attempts to recruit Lucy: she wants to make use of her gifts, and whatever she wants she is determined to get.
The main action in The Empty Grave, the fifth and final book in the series, consists of an open war between Lockwood & Co. and Penelope Fittes. Towards the end of the book, Lucy goes alone to confront Penelope in the Fittes headquarters.
“'Why do you think you came here tonight, Lucy?' she said softly. 'Why come up here on your own? ...Why come without your friends? Without your charming Lockwood, above all? It can’t be because you truly think you’ll destroy me. No, it’s for a deeper reason. You’re lonely, Lucy—you need companionship. You need someone who can understand and share your deep desires. Your friends are valuable, of course, as far as they go. I don’t deny it. But they’re not enough. They don’t understand your fear of death. Indeed, they worsen it! You know full well that Lockwood’s recklessness is practically suicidal—that his emotional emptiness will drive him to the grave. But how would it be, Lucy, if you had in your power ways to save his life—to keep him with you always? To keep him—and you—forever young, like me?'”
This is all very clever; Penelope Fittes knows exactly which buttons to press: not only does she use the 'You deserve better' ploy, she also tries to get Lucy to sell her soul to save Anthony Lockwood and obtain eternal youth.
Once again, Lucy Carlyle resists temptation. She knows too much about Penelope Fittes, the evil things she has done and the damage she has caused to want to have anything to do with her. She declines the offer of the elixir of life and to rule London alongside Penelope!
These temptation scenes inspire commentary because they remind me of similar scenes in other books, including two by John Buchan.
In C. S. Lewis's Magician's Nephew, the witch Jadis tempts the boy Digory by offering him eternal life and the opportunity to rule the world alongside her. When he refuses endless youth for himself, she offers him the chance to restore his sick mother to health. She then makes a big mistake, which breaks the spell:
“...the meanness of the suggestion that he should leave Polly behind suddenly made all the other things the Witch had been saying to him sound false and hollow. And even in the midst of all his misery, his head suddenly cleared, and he said (in a different and much louder voice):
"Look here; where do you come into all this? Why are you so precious fond of my Mother all of a sudden? What's it got to do with you? What's your game?""
The article about cults and John Masefield's Box of Delights covers the failed attempt by the witch Sylvia Daisy Pouncer to recruit little Maria Jones into an organisation that is up to no good. Maria sees through everything and reacts rather as Digory did.
In Linwood Sleigh's Boy in the Ivy, the old witch Mother Withershins recruits good student Winnie Jago into her coven by being dismissive about the other children at Winnie's school, belittling activities such as Girl Guiding and offering to provide something much better. Winnie soon sees through it all though.
In John Buchan's Greenmantle, Hilda von Einem tells Sandy Arbuthnot that his 'friends' are inferior slaves. She wants him to join her in the great and glorious adventure that awaits; she offers him the greatest career that mortal has known and the chance to ride triumphantly beside her into Jerusalem.
In Buchan's Three Hostages, Dominick Medina disparages the life that Richard Hannay is living and suggests that he deserves better:
“He broke down, too, my modest ambitions. A country life, a wife and family--he showed that they were too trivial for more than a passing thought. He flattered me grossly, and I drank it all in with a silly face. I was fit for bigger things, to which he would show me the way.”
Same old, same old...
All of the tempters appear to be thinking of the interests of the person they target, but they really want something for themselves. It is important to look for ulterior motives and the hidden agenda when glamorous, powerful and persuasive people suggest that you deserve better and ask you to join them!
Resisting such temptation is always the right thing to do. The tempters cannot be trusted: they play the bait and switch game and will say anything to subvert people and get them to do what they want.
The tempters may speak softly and sweetly - as do for example the witch Jadis, Hilda von Einem and Penelope Fittes - while they are still trying to enlist their victims, but they show their true colours when their commands are not obeyed and their offers are rejected. They often turn very nasty indeed: coaxing and bribes are replaced by threats and acts of revenge. This for example is the reaction of Hilda von Einem to Sandy Arbuthnot's rejection:
“Then her steely restraint broke. It was like a dam giving before a pent-up mass of icy water. She tore off one of her gauntlets and hurled it in his face. Implacable hate looked out of her eyes.
“I have done with you,” she cried. “You have scorned me, but you have dug your own grave.””
The common elements and typical reactions suggest that such scenes are scripted scenarios. They need to be put into various contexts and seen as part of the total picture. They are best thought of in terms of the battle between good and evil!
The American spiritual teacher Vernon Howard has the final word with this previously quoted advice:
“When meeting anyone you should ask yourself: ‘what does he want that I must not give?’”
