Zuleika's Beauty Imagery
Zuleika, the novel's main character, is stunningly beautiful, and this beauty is portrayed with every opportunity. She is described as having large eyes, dark unruly curls, a perfect mouth, apple-like cheeks, a marble neck, and "no waist to speak of" (Ch. II). The effects of this beauty on men is likewise omnipresent; every time men view her, they instantly fall in love with her, forgetting their surroundings and family members. Such imagery pervades the novel, especially as Zuleika's effect on men is the primary drive behind the events of the plot.
Water Imagery
Water is used in a symbolic, negative way in this novel. Every time the Duke contemplates suicide, he thinks about drowning himself in the river, where his troubles can be drowned and washed away. The river is the scene of the mass suicide by drowning of all the Oxford students at the end of the book, and the scene is made even more dramatically depressing by the water falling from the sky, as a torrential rainstorm coincides with the terrible event.
Supernatural Imagery
Despite a realistic setting and plot (more or less), Beerbohm includes an odd array of supernatural elements in this novel. The pearls worn by Zuleika and the Duke, for example, magically change colors to represent the state of their affections, and neither one of them is fazed by this or gives it a second thought. The reader also gets glimpses of past, long-dead ghosts roaming Oxford in the second half of the book, all of which contribute to the overall theme of supernatural imagery.
Isolation Imagery
The novel's two main characters, Zuleika and the Duke, are both profoundly isolated; the Duke considers himself above his peers and doesn't associate with them, while Zuleika can never find true companionship (romantic or otherwise) because of her striking beauty. The novel plays on this isolation by using appropriate imagery, often depicting one or the other alone in a room with their thoughts, a type of scene that occurs frequently in the story.
