The King in Yellow

Mr. Wilde is the “repairer of reputations” referenced in the title of the first story. He is grotesque and eccentric. He is as small as a child, with a flat head and large, well-developed arms and legs. He has no ears, and wears wax prosthetics. He is also missing all the fingers of his left hand. He is covered in scratches from the seemingly-feral cat he keeps. According to Castaigne, Mr. Wilde is paid by powerful men to fix any problems that arise that might damage their reputations, and for which he employs a number of spies and agents around the city. However, because Castaigne is an unreliable narrator it is difficult to say how true this is. Hawberk calls Mr. Wilde a “lunatic,” as well as vicious and demented. Castaigne claims that Mr. Wilde is not only rational but a genius. The reader only sees Mr. Wilde through Castaigne’s point of view, it is impossible to say which is true.

Mr. Wilde belongs to the grotesque villains of gothic literature: his “deformity” is a horror trope and a physical manifestation of his moral corruption. As the originator of the “Imperial Dynasty” idea, his influence in the story is one of uncertain truth and morality, and the temptation of greed and power.

Alec is the narrator of the second story, “The Mask.” He is an American artist living in Paris studying at the Beaux Arts. As with several other artist characters in the book, he is rarely depicted actually studying or painting. He and his friend Boris are both in love with the same woman, Genevieve. However, when Genevieve declares her preference for Boris, Alec accepts this gracefully and stays friends with them both while keeping his jealousy hidden. It is only when he reads The King in Yellow and falls ill that he realizes the full extent of his own jealousy, and the “mask of self-delusion” he wore for years to hide this fact from both himself and the world.

Despite this, he still determines that his purpose in life is to be of some kind of support and help to Boris and Genevieve, rather than focusing on his own desires. When he recovers from his illness and discovers that both Boris and Genevieve are dead, he cannot handle the grief, and leaves the country to wander aimlessly for two years. Perhaps as reward for his restraint, he is one of the few characters to receive a happy ending at the conclusion of the story.

A variation of the character “Jack” appears in at least three of the 10 stories in The King in Yellow, with references in one other story. In the second story, “The Mask,” Jack is a close friend of the main character, Alec, who cares for Alec when he falls ill. The fourth story, “The Yellow Sign,” features a main character called Mr. Scott. Though none of the characters say the name “Jack,” the connection between this Mr. Scott and the Jack Scott from “The Mask” must be deliberate. Jack appears again in the eighth story, “The Street of the First Shell,” although his name is now Jack Trent rather than Jack Scott.

In addition, we might infer another “Jack” in “The Street of the Four Winds.” The character of Severn closely resembles the various Jacks in all respects but name. This is especially true considering the inclusion of another “Sylvia” here. Perhaps Severn is a last name, implying another Jack without using the name, as with Mr. Scott in “The Yellow Sign.”

Each variation is an American painter, and all but one of them reside in Paris. Mr. Scott is in New York City, but he did at one point live in France, having mentioned the Breton forests (Brittany in northwest France). Every version has friends or acquaintances who are also American artists, such as Alec and Boris in “The Mask,” or Braith and West in “The Street of the First Shell.”

Furthermore, all but one variation knows, and is presumably in love with, a Sylvia. The exception here is Jack Scott in “The Mask,” who does not mention Sylvia in his life. However, if we suppose that Mr. Scott is the same Jack Scott from “The Mask,” then he might meet Sylvia after the events of “The Mask,” and before returning to New York City in “The Yellow Sign.” It is interesting to note that the only Jack who gets a happy ending, or at least the possibility of one, is Jack Trent in “The Street of the First Shell.” He is the only version that does not abandon Sylvia, but learns an important lesson and returns determined to stay with her.

As with the character of “Jack,” a variation of “Sylvia” appears in several stories throughout the book. There is a Sylvia mentioned in the stories: “The Yellow Sign,” “The Street of the Four Winds,” and “The Street of the First Shell.” However, the character is only physically present in the last of these. In the other stories, Sylvia is merely a memory, a phantom recalled by the male main characters. In “The Street of the First Shell,” Sylvia is a French woman married to Jack Trent, an American artist, and she has a child from a previous relationship with another American artist named Hartman. This version of Sylvia is the only one who has a history outside of the protagonist of the story.

In the other stories, the reader only knows a few things about the character, and that, based only on what the narrator tells us: she is always French, and was Jack’s lover or wife, who has since been abandoned. These versions of Sylvia are all described as “lost,” though the implication seems to be that she is dead—as Severn discovers at the end of the “the Street of the Four Winds”—and it is seems in each case that Jack feels some remorse for leaving her behind. As with all the other women in these stories, every Sylvia is merely a cipher, a blank image upon which the male characters (always artists) can place their own desires, regrets, and needs.

In, “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields,” Hastings is a newly-arrived American in Paris, come to study at the Beaux Arts. He is young and naive, born and raised in the Midwest, with no worldly experience and an idealistic view of life. At the beginning of the story, a reverend who is a family friend, helps him find a “respectable” place to live. Though he speaks fluent French, he has little understanding of French customs and the way people live in the Bohemian area of the Latin Quarter. He therefore is innocent and unaware that Valentine, the woman he meets and courts, may have some kind of scandalous past. 

The other men at the Beaux Arts (Clifford, Elliott, etc.) are surprised by his innocence and obliviousness. Some of them find it irritating and want to disabuse him of his idealism. Clifford, however, wants to protect it as long as possible. Valentine, meanwhile, enjoys the way he speaks to her like a lady. The ending of the story implies that he has come to a better understanding of Valentine’s nature. While Valentine fears that he will ignore her once he knows, he still professes his love and seems convinced they will be happy. As with Alec, Hastings is one of the few characters who seems rewarded for their good behavior with a happy ending implied for him.

Valentine is the love interest for the central character, Hastings, in “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields.” She is young, beautiful, and worldly. As she is friends with Clifford, a student at the Beaux Arts, and speaks about the art instructors with familiarity, Hastings at first mistakes her for a fellow art student. She denies this but does not offer any further information about herself regarding her profession. It is clear that Valentine has some kind of societally objectionable past, probably involving sexual or romantic indiscretions with men. Through various context clues, such as references to having appointments with various men, holding court at a restaurant where everyone knows her, and the other men at the Beaux Arts wanting to tell Hastings who she really is, it is implied that she may have been a sex worker. But this is left entirely unspoken.

Because of this reputation, Valentine is surprised and delighted when Hastings treats her with deference and respect. She fears he will find out what she really is and then “turn away” from her. At the end of the story, however, she does confess at least something of her past to him, claiming to be unworthy of his love. It is unclear precisely how much she tells him. And though Hastings insists they will be happy, the future of their relationship is ambiguous.

Clifford is an art student attending the Beaux Arts, and a character that appears in both “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields,” and “Rue Barrée.” He is one of the several Beaux Arts students mentioned in both stories—the others including Elliott, Severn, and Selby—but he is the only one who plays a significant role in both.

Clifford lives in an apartment with his roommate, Elliott, in a building across the way from Hastings’ building. He perfectly fits the libertine and bohemian lifestyle of the Latin Quarter as he drinks heavily, rarely attends art classes, and is often seen with a different woman. In “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields,” he claims that Hastings’ innocent nature is a lesson to him, though he does not appear to change his ways. Also in this story, Clifford chases after Valentine, while simultaneously courting another woman named Cecile.

However, in “Rue Barrée,” he professes to have given up on Cecile, and is now enamored of the mysterious woman they all call Rue Barrée. As Elliott observes, however, this is the same pattern as always. Elliott states that he chases after a new girl and “each and every one of those named have separately and in turn torn your heart with anguish” (170). One can therefore safely assume that following the ending of “Rue Barrée,” Clifford will merely move on to the next pretty girl he meets.