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What is the purpose of Curwen's altar?

Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked on January 26, 2021

I am re-reading H. P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. During Dr. Willet’s dungeon crawl through Joseph Curwen’s underground empire, he comes across an altar.

After a time he reached a circle of pillars grouped like the monoliths of Stonehenge, with a large carved altar on a base of three steps in the centre; and so curious were the carvings on that altar that he approached to study them with his electric light. But when he saw what they were he shrank away shuddering, and did not stop to investigate the dark stains which discoloured the upper surface and had spread down the sides in occasional thin lines. Instead, he found the distant wall and traced it as it swept round in a gigantic circle perforated by occasional black doorways and indented by a myriad of shallow cells with iron gratings and wrist and ankle bonds on chains fastened to the stone of the concave rear masonry. These cells were empty, but still the horrible odour and the dismal moaning continued, more insistent now than ever, and seemingly varied at times by a sort of slippery thumping.

The passage, in traditional Lovecraft fashion, implies horrific activity without really describing it. We consider the possibility of torture, sadism, and/or sacrifice to things which should not be, without coming to a full understanding of the exact nature of it. Is this all, or did I miss a hint as to the exact purpose or function of the altar?

Several of the other features of Curwen’s dungeon are explained.

Can the altar be specifically identified as an essential part of Curwen’s main activity, and if so, what exactly is it? If it is only tangentially related (or not related at all), what is its purpose?

One Answer

What is clear from the passages quoted in the question is that a significant quantity of blood has been spilled or poured on the altar in question. That raises the question of where the blood came from; and the story provides some suggestions but no absolute answers. Not much more is known than that blood is a critical part of Joseph Curwen's project of returning to life. Ward and Curwen are overheard arguing, soon after the latter's reconstitution and just before the stories of vampirism appeared.

The youth was arguing or remonstrating hotly with himself, for there suddenly burst forth a perfectly distinguishable series of clashing shouts in differentiated tones like alternate demands and denials which caused Mrs. Ward to run upstairs and listen at the door. She could hear no more than a fragment whose only plain words were "must have it red for three months", and upon her knocking all sounds ceased at once.

... [many pages omitted]

What hellish consciousness or voice, what morbid shade or presence, had come to answer Charles Ward’s secret rites behind that locked door? Those voices heard in argument—"must have it red for three months"—Good God! Was not that just before the vampirism broke out? The rifling of Ezra Weeden’s ancient grave, and the cries later at Pawtuxet—whose mind had planned the vengeance and rediscovered the shunned seat of elder blasphemies?

It is not ever specifically clarified what the "it" that must be red is, but the subterranean altar is one possibility—although not necessarily the most obvious one. The vampiric attacks are described (by the survivors) thusly:

Both late wayfarers and sleepers with open windows were attacked, and those who lived to tell the tale spoke unanimously of a lean, lithe, leaping monster with burning eyes which fastened its teeth in the throat or upper arm and feasted ravenously.

To make the reanimation of Curwen permanent, clearly blood of some sort is needed. The most obvious interpretation is that the lich is drinking the blood of its victims directly. However, in Lovecraft's tales (such as "The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Haunter of the Dark"), it frequently seems that the impressions of the (often foreign) urban poor are meant to be interpreted impressionistically, rather than literally. The stories that are told often capture much of the essence of what is happening, but not so much the details. In this case, it may be that some (or all) of the blood drained from the vampire's victims may have been transported to the altar for sacrificial purposes. It may not been drunk by Curwen's lich in the first place, but rather collected in a vessel; or it may have been (horrifically) regurgitated onto the altar stone. But beyond this speculation, we do not know; Dr. Willett makes no definite determination about this aspect of the situation, and so neither can we, as readers.

Answered by Buzz on January 26, 2021

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