Ideals of perfection

pp. 91-107

in: Saleel Nurbhai, K. M. Newton, George Eliot, judaism and the novels, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002

Abstract

As stated in the previous chapter, the motivation behind many a creation of a golem was control — control of the self as much as control of others or of the environment. Golem making became a need to project an ideal self on to another created specifically for that purpose. For example, Homunculus in Faust II is intended to lack no qualities of the ideal since Wagner, his creator, is flawed. A recurrent feature of golems, however, is that they have an essential "flaw" — despite the original intention of perfection — which is revealed through the creature becoming distanced from the creator, a distancing of the self from the ideal, and is often manifested in destructive acts. In the case of Romantic golems it is self-destruction (Homunculus) as well as destruction of others (Frankenstein's monster). However, in some instances to use the word "flaw" is a misrepresentation of these created beings; what the creator perceives as an imperfection is in fact an assertion of the golem's self — the wish to be other than just the puppet or idol of the creator.