Tarot cards
"I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience," Eliot somewhat airily allows in his Notes on the Waste Land. In other words, he has made many of them up to suit himself.
The Hanged Man (a genuine Tarot card) is associated with the Hanged God described in The Golden Bough, the seminal work of comparative mythology and religion by Sir James George Frazer. The Hanged God myth probably has its origins in human sacrifice to the god of crops and fertility, and has obvious resonances with the images of death and resurrection which begin the poem. Eliot also explicitly links the Hanged Man to the hooded figure (presumably the resurrected Christ) at Emmaus * in the final section of the work. Madame Sosotris makes a point of saying she cannot find this card, perhaps an indication that she can offer her clients no genuine hope of renewal.
The drowned Phoenician Sailor and the one-eyed merchant foreshadow the appearances of Phlebas and Mr Eugenides later in the poem.
Belladonna (the beautiful lady) shares her name with the poisonous plant deadly nightshade.
The Wheel anticipates the crowds of people, walking round in a ring in this section; the wheel and whirlpool in Death by Water. In eastern religions, the Wheel is a symbol of the cycle of karma and rebirth.
The man with three staves is the three of wands, which Eliot "quite abitrarily" associates with the character of the Fisher King.
The Hanged Man (a genuine Tarot card) is associated with the Hanged God described in The Golden Bough, the seminal work of comparative mythology and religion by Sir James George Frazer. The Hanged God myth probably has its origins in human sacrifice to the god of crops and fertility, and has obvious resonances with the images of death and resurrection which begin the poem. Eliot also explicitly links the Hanged Man to the hooded figure (presumably the resurrected Christ) at Emmaus * in the final section of the work. Madame Sosotris makes a point of saying she cannot find this card, perhaps an indication that she can offer her clients no genuine hope of renewal.
The drowned Phoenician Sailor and the one-eyed merchant foreshadow the appearances of Phlebas and Mr Eugenides later in the poem.
Belladonna (the beautiful lady) shares her name with the poisonous plant deadly nightshade.
The Wheel anticipates the crowds of people, walking round in a ring in this section; the wheel and whirlpool in Death by Water. In eastern religions, the Wheel is a symbol of the cycle of karma and rebirth.
The man with three staves is the three of wands, which Eliot "quite abitrarily" associates with the character of the Fisher King.
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