Forever Alive, Forever Alone

In the last section of Godwin’s St. Leon, prophecy is evident through Reginald’s thoughts as he reaches the end of his story. Section four is where Reginald understands the cost of immortality is losing the one’s you love. He celebrates that he is young again through the power of the elixir, but he realizes he is alone, and has no one to share his youth. He visits his daughters and finds them grown and well taken car of without him. Once the thought of being alone settles in, Reginald reflects on his gift saying, “I possessed the gift of immortal life; but I looked on myself as a monster that did not deserve to exist” (355). Visiting his daughters, as a man they did not recognize, leaves Reginald feeling empty and regretful of taking the elixir. His response to the gift he risked his family for shows how his thoughts on life have changed since taking the elixir. Reginald now understands that living with someone you love is better than living forever alone.

This argument is strengthened by his reunion with his son Charles, who does not recognize his father and believes him to be another young Frenchman. When they have a falling out, caused again by the magic of the elixir, Reginald leaves Charles to allow him happiness. One moment where Reginald understands the true cost of the elixir happens when he says, “It was my fate since the visit of the stranger of the lake of Constance, to rejoice for moments and to lament for years” (425). After leaving his children to live their lives without him, Reginald is left with only the memory of them, and is unable to reunite with them as their father. For the rest of his immortal life, Reginald is cursed to be a stranger to everyone. Prophecy becomes the most evident in section four because Reginald does not comprehend what he is giving up for the chance to live forever. By the end of the novel, he recognizes that the true meaning of living is sharing it with those you love.