The illustration of The Great God Pan from The House of Souls by Arthur Machen, published in 1906, portrays a haunting scene in a forest. The blindfolded woman seems unaware of the mysterious creature watching her. The striking contrast between shadows and highlights creates an eerie, unsettling atmosphere. The ominous setting, along with the woman’s vulnerable position and the unseen presence observing her, heightens the sense of horror. Though the full meaning of the scenes is unclear, the tension and the foreboding mood it evokes make the illustration deeply unsettling encapsulating Machen's goal for the reader to “allow oneself to be enveloped by a feeling of mystery” (Mantrant 1).
Works Cited
Machen, Arthur. “The House of Souls (1st Edition) .” Internet Archive, January 1, 1970. https://archive.org/details/MachenTheHouseOfSouls/page/n7/mode/2up.
Mantrant, Sophie. “All London Was One Grey Temple of an Awful Rite » : Londres Dans The Hill of Dreams d’Arthur Machen (1907).” Cahiers Victoriens & Édouardiens, vol. 77, no. 77 Printemps, 2013, pp. 2-, https://doi.org/10.4000/cve.344.