The Curse of Time
H. P. Lovecraft displays in “The Alchemist” the importance of cherishing life with the point of view of Count Antoine de C. He learns of his family’s curse of dying at thirty-two and he begins to count each moment and attempts to make each moment worthy. He starts to educate himself in the forms of the dark magic alchemy and learns what he wants to learn. H.P. Lovecraft shows the importance of cherishing the time given to living through the point of view of Count Antoine by what Antoine does and encounters.
Count Antoine de C. tries to cherish all his time until the day he turns thirty-two. Antoine learns of the curse on his family from his guardian Pierre. “'May ne'er a noble of thy murd'rous line Survive to reach a greater…show more content… He leaves Antoine alone to face his upcoming death. “As I drew near the age of thirty, old Pierre was called to the land beyond. Alone I buried him beneath the stones of the courtyard about which he had loved to wander in life.” (Lovecraft 6). He experiences the loss of the only person he had in his life and causes distress for Antoine.
After he finds out of the curse he is forced to take his fate willingly and had moments where he tried to convince himself that he would not die.
“In unusually rational moments I would even go so far as to seek a natural explanation, attributing the early deaths of my ancestors to the sinister Charles Le Sorcier and his heirs; yet, having found upon careful inquiry that there were no known descendants of the alchemist, I would fall back to occult studies, and once more endeavor to find a spell, that would release my house from its terrible burden.” (Lovecraft 5-6).
After Pierre dies, Antoine begins to accept his fate and starts to become prepared. “Thus was I left to ponder on myself as the only human creature within the great fortress, and in my utter solitude my mind began to cease its vain protest against the impending doom, to become almost reconciled to the fate which so many of my ancestors had met” (Lovecraft