Spells and Spellbound: Multiple Personality is implied by “Spell,” as in Saul Bellow’s Herzog, and by “Spellbound,” as in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wakefield

Spell: Saul Bellow’s Herzog

As I noted in a recent post on Saul Bellow’s Herzog, Mr. Herzog explains his disturbed thinking by saying that he had been under a “spell.” What is a spell?

“A spell, charm, hex or incantation is a set of words, spoken or unspoken (prayer). Casting a spell is considered by its user to invoke some magical effect. Historical attestations exist for the use of some variety of incantations in many cultures around the world.” —Wikipedia

Thus, a spell, per se, implies that two minds are involved, the mind that casts the spell and the mind that is put under the spell. The spell that Herzog was under was not cast by a mind from outside: it was cast by a mind that was inside him, an alternate personality.

Spellbound: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wakefield

As I noted in a recent post, Mr. Wakefield is described as being “spell-bound.” As in Bellow’s Herzog, there is no outside person casting a spell.

A famous use of the word “spellbound” is the title of a movie:

“Spellbound is a 1945 American psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock…Dr. Petersen soon realizes, by comparing handwriting, that this man is an impostor and not the real Dr. Edwardes…He suffers from massive amnesia and does not know who he is…This incident had caused him to develop amnesia…He also remembers that his real name is John Ballantyne.” —Wikipedia

Thus, to be “spellbound” may mean that an alternate personality or identity is not only exerting influence from inside (as in “spell” above), but that the alternate personality has come out, taken control, and temporarily replaced the person’s regular identity in everyday life.