Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and Drama (review)

In Stages of Evil, author Robert Lima has composed a readable and intriguing study that crosses time and space to illuminate the Western dramatic treatment of the unknown—specifically, the sociohistorical implications of common representations of evil. Through his thoughtful selection of theatrical figures and dramatic texts as points of embarkation, Lima has constructed a comparative, representative examination of Western mythological, folkloric, and religious beliefs from antiquity to the modern era that speaks to the question of how we react to that which we cannot fully explain, or how we engage theatrically in the space where the natural and supernatural meet.

Well organized and clearly conceived, Stages of Evil is accessible to an audience beyond that of the theatre or literary scholar. The study is divided into broad topoi that give a general sense of the ways evil has been embodied and (re)presented in Western dramatic literature and performance, while the individual chapters analyze a cross-section of representative texts more fully. Part 1 is devoted solely to a historic overview of the Hellmouth of the medieval stage; part 2 discusses representations of pagan gods through a genealogical treatment of the Harlequin and an analysis of the 1502 play, Tragicomedia de Calixto y Melibea by Fernando de Rojas of Spain. Part 3, which is the largest portion, chronologically traces the evolution of representations of evil via a discussion of possession, exorcism, and hysteria in its various cultural forms. Chapters include treatments of: Euripedes The Bacchae (405 BCE); An-Sky's Yiddish folklore piece, The Dybbuk (1914); O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (1920); Miller's The Crucible (1953); John Whiting's The Devils (1961) (an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun); and Francisco Nieva's Aquelarre y noche roja de Nosferatu, or Witches' Sabbath and Red Night of Nosferatu (1961). Part 4 addresses the witches of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stages through a number of well- and lesser known playtexts, and finishes off with a historical and textual analysis of the cave and magician motifs. An appendix of bibliographies brings the book to a close.

Much as in his 1995 work, Dark Prisms: Occultism in Hispanic Drama, Lima employs a broad understanding of what may be characterized as the "occult," as the term in its most basic definition refers to that which is "inexplicable," "hidden," or "beyond ordinary understanding" (OED). In light of this liberal breadth, Stages of Evil is able tentatively to relate how fear affects our beliefs in, and relationship with, the unknown—and by common association, with evil. Although we may project this tension into images of hell, demons, and monsters, Lima repeatedly (and rightfully) implies that our biggest fears reside within ourselves and our inherent aversion to basic, primal instincts. He holds that superstition is born in this anxiety in which our natural impulses collide against unnatural codes of restriction, and this concept is keenly exemplified in his treatment of the alleged demonic possession in Miller's The Crucible, and in the lesser known though also historically based work, The Devils—an intricate account of a passionate young priest who is executed for sorcery after crossing Cardinal Richeliu of France.

In his analyses of specific legends and traditions from the past, Lima consistently places theatrical and sociohistorical figures against a localized framework, and always with a steady eye toward their survival in the present. In doing so, he uses several different approaches in parsing out his material. Some chapters delve primarily into a chronotopic search for the origins of particular conventions, such as the Mouth of Hell of chapter 1 or the Harlequin of chapter 2. Others deconstruct playtexts rather fully and directly in order to clarify obfuscated ideologies, as in his studies "The Pagan Pluto" or "The Cave and the Magician," or to define the contours of a specific culture's core beliefs such as in his Emperor Jones and Dybbuk treatments. By historicizing more modern...