Romance and tragedy often go hand in hand. This is true for many pieces of classic literature. One of the most prominent examples of this is William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is a classic story: a guy wants a girl, but they are not allowed to be together. So she “kills” herself. The guy finds her and, in an act of complete sanity, poisons himself. Oh wait, the girl is not actually dead. However, he is; so she stabs herself, actually killing herself this time. Simple, right? People often think of Romeo and Juliet as just a love story, but by the end it is clearly not the case. Similarly, The Haunting of Hill House is often viewed as purely a tragedy; however, it can be argued that it is a romance as well.
The novel opens with the line: “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” It introduces many questions; above all, what constitutes absolute reality? The novel presents this question throughout in a variety of ways. The most prominent is regarding one character in particular, Eleanor.
Eleanor, a timid, self-conscious woman, uses her daydreams to escape the life she feels trapped in. “She might take it into her head to stop just anywhere and never leave again. She might pull her car to the side of the highway…leave it behind while she wandered off past the trees into the soft welcoming country beyond.” She often does not live in what most people would call “reality.” Her disconnect from normality is what brings her sanity into question. This is illustrated with the recurring use of the line “Journeys end in lovers meeting,” which punctuates each step of her slow descent into madness. This line stands out in particular, as it is not original to Shirley Jackson—It is much older.
The line “Journeys end in lovers meeting” is first used in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, thus furthering the parallels between Jackson’s novel and Shakespeare. Within the play, it is used as part of a song sung by the Jester Feste. The meaning of the song, and in turn the line, is urging one to live in the present and insinuates that people who are meant to be together will find each other. That once they unite with their counterpart, their journey will be over. In The Haunting of Hill House, however, it takes on a darker interpretation.
Throughout the novel, the line is said 14 times. Each time the line is repeated, it alters its meaning. The first time it is used in its entirety is just as Eleanor arrives at the house. She is trying to convince herself that she is meant to be there. Right before the line is said, she remarks that “her deep unwillingness to touch Hill House for the first time came directly from the vivid feeling that it was waiting for her, evil, but patient”. As time goes on, the line changes from being used as a mantra to convince herself to stay into the reason she doesn’t leave.
At first, she thought the house was “vile” and “evil”; however, over time she began to almost worship the house. This is illustrated by her stating, “I will relinquish my possession of this self of mine, abdicate, give over willingly what I have never wanted at all; whatever it wants of me it can have.” This line in particular stands out due to its unique wording. It almost resembles vows, as if Eleanor is promising herself to the house. Within her own “reality,” Eleanor has created a one-sided marriage, with the house as the groom. She has met her lover. However, like Romeo and Juliet, Eleanor and the house won’t be allowed to remain together whilst still alive.
Nearing the end of Jackson’s novel, Eleanor has reached her breaking point, and all of the others within the house have begun to catch on. Dr. Montague, the scientist who invited her to the house, tries to force her to leave the house. He thinks that it is no longer safe for her to be a part of his experiment, as her mental state has declined too much. Eleanor tells him that “the house wants me to stay” in protest. The doctor remains adamant in his decision to have her leave, stating, “I was so wrong to bring you here.” This is the final nail in the coffin for Eleanor. “Journeys end in lovers meeting” is repeated for the final time on the second-to-last page of the novel. It is one of the last things Eleanor thinks before slamming her foot on the gas and crashing her car into a tree. Thus, sealing her fate as a direct parallel for Juliet.
Both Romeo and Juliet and The Haunting of Hill House present themselves in drastically different ways at first: one, a romance, and one, a tragedy. In the end, they each end up taking on aspects of both categories, marrying the genres of tragedy and romance together in holy matrimony.