“The Beast in the Cave” by H.P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft was born in August of 1890. The manuscript is marked with the date “4/21/05,” meaning Lovecraft was still 14 when he wrote this story. It’s a very impressive fiction for a teenager to have written.
This is the first Lovecraft story featuring a monster…or is it? It is certainly his first work featuring the stereotypical Lovecraftian themes and language we associate with the author, as opposed to his earlier juvenilia, which is more pulp/adventure/detective influenced. It’s his first story written in a first person perspective. It’s his first story in which a monetary amount or a treasure is not present. It was also his longest work to date. It’s impressive his writing improved so much in just 2-3 years. Compare the text of “The Mysterious Ship,” written in 1902, to “The Beast in the Cave.”
It’s Lovecraft’s first story featuring an underground society (the “consumptives.”) Consumption is an old-timey word for tuberculosis, and there really was a consumption sanatorium in the Mammoth Cave system. I’m surprised Lovecraft knew about this, given the sanatorium was from the 1840s and in Kentucky, and he was a kid living in the late 1800s/early 1900s Rhode Island. I wonder if this sanatorium was the thing that inspired his other subterranean societies, especially the one features in “The Rats in the Walls.”
It’s his first work featuring usage of language like “grotto,” “sepulchre,” and “ghastly,” which are common in works in the Gothic mode.
I’m surprised that Lovecraft didn’t draw parallels between his protagonist’s assumption that the beast was feline and the story of Daniel and the lion. Both stories feature men stuck underground or in caves with big cats. Maybe he was leaving it up to the reader to draw that parallel, or maybe it was just a coincidental choice of animal.
It is also the first story in which we see the mental state of a character decline. Lovecraft does a great job of establishing the character as someone who believes they are rational and logical, with the protagonist bragging about having an “unimpassioned demeanor,” the same protagonist who describes himself as later “gibbering” and admits having had a “boasted reserve” at the start of the story. The character has a great capacity for self-reflection. However, the protagonist does not end up in a mental institution and doesn’t seem to have sustained any permanent damage from his adventure in the cave. He’s just taken down a peg.
The “beast” obviously acts as a sort of foil to the main character but also begs the question: was the “beast” really looking to kill the protagonist? The actions of the beast, following sounds through a cave to a reach a person, mirror the actions of the protagonist, who follows the guide’s sounds to find the guide in the cave. Technically, what the protagonist engaged in was just an act of murder, given the beast never actually attacked the protagonist. That also makes this Lovecraft’s first story with a murderer for a protagonist.
I know that the Fandom page lists the beast as an example of devolution in the works of Lovecraft. I think it’s an edge case. It might be atavism (another term for devolution.) But, the “beast” having a large black pupils? That’s what happens to anyone who has been down in the dark for a long time. Getting white hair? Being thin? That’s called getting old. Devolution involves transformation. We do not actually see the “beast” transform. We only saw it once. There’s no other reference points for its appearance that would link it to devolution. If there were animal traits on the person, like a tail, or gills, or scales, sure, let’s call it devolution. But it’s not clear here.
