The Imagery of Abbot’s Drunkenness - “The Miser’s Children”
Sheppard Lee elucidates, “As for Abbot, this kind of recrimination was a daily thing with him. I scarce ever saw him except when inflamed with drink; and on such occasions he was wont to demand money, which being denied, he would give way to passion, and load me with reproaches still more bitter of spirit and violent of expression than those uttered by Ralph. Nay, upon my charging him with being an abandoned profligate and ruined man, he admitted the fact, and swore that I was the author of his destruction; that my niggardliness had deprived him of the opportunities that gave other young men professions and independence; that I had brought him up in idleness and ignorance, and, by still refusing him his rights, was consigning him to infamy and an early grave.”
Abbot’s existence centers on drinking. Obviously all the money he demands he invests in drinking. The intoxication elicits confrontations with Sheppard Lee which would have been averted had Abbot embraced sobriety. Abbot’s avowal that Lee is to blame for his deterioration validates that Abbot is convinced that if Lee had offered him satisfactory money, his situation would be better off. Abbot shifts culpability to Lee , regarding his situation, to appeal to Lee’s remorse which would make Lee submit to his demands for cash.
The Imagery of Abbot and a Pillow - “The Catastrophe Of A Tragedy Often Performed On The Great Stage Of Life.”
Sheppard Lee explains, “But the last raving act of all was the most horrid. He rose upon his knees with a strength that could not be resisted, caught up his pillow, thrust it down upon the bed with both hands, and there held it, with a grim countenance and a chuckling laugh. None understood the act but myself: no other could read the devilish thoughts then at work in his bosom. It was the scene enacted in the chamber of his parent—he was repeating the deed of murder—he was exulting, in imagination, over a successful parricide. In this thought he expired; for while still pressing upon the pillow with a giant's strength, he suddenly fell on his face, and when turned over was a corpse. He gave but a single gasp, and was no more.” Abbot’s bizarre actions with the pillow accentuate his insanity. He considers the pillow an object that would be used to expedite death considering that he had endeavored to suffocate Sheppard Lee with it earlier on. The obsession with death which is exemplified in the pillow becomes apparent when he kills himself by pressing it in a life threatening manner. Evidently, Abbot’s madness amplifies his Death Instinct.
