The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

Charles Dexter Ward
Jagoba Lekuona Huegun

Charles Dexter Ward was born an antiquarian, a word which here means “an enthusiast of old things.” Of this, the entire town of Provedence, Rode Island is aware; Ward could be seen countless times walking the streets of the town admiring the architencture and eating up all of the history about the place as he could find. Eventually he learns of a previously unknown ancestor, Joseph Curwen, and his life takes a turn to the macabre.

Joseph Curwen, it seems, was not your average man. Curwen seemed to be involved in shady buisnesses in his home, about the town, and at his farm on the Pawtuxet Road. What were the lights that glowed from his windows? What were the voices heard in the night? Why did he seem not to age? That didn’t matter much when the town put him to an end.

Much later, Charles Dexter Ward discovers Curwen’s writings and strange things begin to happen again… lights, voices, and changes in his habits. What on earth… or perhaps not of earth… did Ward find? Why has he moved to a remote house like his ancestor? What of the similarity in their appearance? Will Provedence be the same again?

What Made The Case of Charles Dexter Ward a Good Read?

Descriptive Vagueness / Suspense

I have included these to characteristics together because they truly do kind of go together. Lovecraft has a way with his descriptions that begin to lead you into an idea that you will find out exactly what is happening, but also complicate your understanding of the situation at hand. For example, he might begin describing an event which, at its climax, is satisfying to the reader but also introduces something new that the reader yearns to know more about. He is specific, but plays the reader’s curiosity for the next revelation. Now… isn’t that like suspense?

Yes and no… suspense is, more specifically a type of anxious uncertainty about what will happen next. So, depending upon how you look at the situations Lovecraft creates, they are suspenseful, but they are also descriptively vague, which heightens the suspense and interest while adding a new twist and glancing at a concrete answer. If anything, he is a true master of rising action.

A more concete example of descriptive vagueness comes even when the “end” of a certain event happens. For example, in the passages where Lovecraft is describing the “end” of Joseph Curwen when the townsmen raid his Pawtuxet farm, there are descriptions that provoke questions in the reader:

“Then the flaming thing burst into sight where the Curwen farm ought to lie, and the human cries of desprate and frightened men were heard.  Muskets flashed and cracked, and the flaming thing fell to the ground.  A second flaming thing appeared, and a sherik of human origin was plainfully distingished.” 

–The Case of Charles Dexter Ward pg. 402 

The questions provoked by this passage are “what is the flaiming thing?” in addition to the idea that the reader ought to know what the flaiming thing is. This is because Lovecraft introduces the flaming thing as “the” flaming thing versus “a” flaiming thing. The reader is, possibly, intentionally alienated to help evoke a sence of unease and mystery like the event itself. Situations like this happen many times in the story and help to create unease in the reader in addition to making one think that the events they are reading about shouldn’t be known because of their arcane and macabre nature, as described by Lovecraft. See the “Notable Quotes” for other examples.

“Notable Quotes”

“In the middle of a moonlight January night with heavy snow underfoot there sounded over the river and up the hill a shocking series of cries which brought sleepy heads to every window; and people around Weybosset Point saw a great white thing plunging frantically along the badly cleared space in front of the Turk’s Head. There was a baying of dogs in the distance, but this subsided as soon as the clamour of the awakened town became audible… The next morning, a giant muscular body, stark naked, was found on the ice jams around the southers piers of the Great Bridge…

-The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, pg. 396

“The next day Charles resumed his strict attic seclusion, drawing down the dark shades of his labratory windows and appearing to be working on some metal substance. He would open the door to no one, and steadfastly refused all poffered food. About noon a wrenching sound followed by a terrible cry and a fall were heard, but when Mrs. Ward rapped at the door her son at length answered faintly, and told her that nothing was amiss.

-The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, pg. 420

“Mercy of Heaven, what is that shape behind the parting smoke?”

-The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, pg. 461

Does the Book Pass the “So What” Test?

Yes, with terrifying effect! The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a disturbing, suspenseful, and terrifying tale that will make you look over your shoulder. While you do learn what Joseph Curwen and Charles Dexter Ward do under the ground in the middle of the night, you don’t feel like you totally understand, but you also feel like you know too much! I think this is especially the case becasue a person, according to the story, doesn’t need to have a magical bone in their body… the magic–the evil–is in the words… and some of the word are written in the book! Perhaps the reader comes closer to the unearthly and the evil than they care to believe. Read at your own risk!

Similar Reads…

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

The Whisperer in Darkness by H. P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

Works Cited

Lovecraft, H. P. “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” H. P. Lovecraft: Great

Tales of Horror, edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz, Fall River Press,

2012, pp. 372–475.

Featured Image

Ashraf. Hand of a Ghost. 30 Apr. 2013.