Character Expansion of Gregorius from Hjalmar Söderberg’s Novel Doctor Glas in Bengt Ohlsson’s Novel Gregorius

Doctor Glas, a 20th century Swedish masterpiece, has withstood the test of time and influenced Scandinavian literature greatly to manifest itself into another piece of writing, Gregorius, written in the 21st century by Bengt Ohlsson. In this novel, which follows the same overarching narrative, we delve into a new protagonist, pastor Gregorius, who gives us insight into the inner workings of his mind and his justification behind his actions. With this new portrayal by Ohlsson, the reader sees the transformation of Gregorius from an image created by Glas to a real person, as we finally get to observe him as an actual character going through emotions such as pain, craving, and unhappiness. Struggling to find peace within himself and ultimately settle down knowing society sees him in a positive light, the constant worry encapsulating Gregorius’ thoughts forces him to take questionable actions. This meant taking advantage of his personal power in the form of both religion and his own instinctual nature to create a crutch for himself at the most necessary time of his life. The narrative ties together the foreboding thoughts of impending doom with pages of example after example regarding the abuse of power to aid the reader in the process of thoroughly dissecting Gregorius’ mental prison. This in turn, reveals the weight that power, in any form, holds in Gregorius’ life and how he utilizes it to help himself achieve his goals and as a result, eventually form his own destiny.

To understand the crutch that Gregorius creates for himself, we must first cover and give context to his psyche. The longing for a stable connection, general appreciation from others, and true love is a quest this man goes through and wishes to complete. Söderberg described this idea within his novel Doctor Glas through the lens of Glas when he stated, “We want to be loved; failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs for contact.” We see Gregorious consider these costs, as in his pursuit of happiness and love from others, Gregorius strays further and further away from his ideal self and falls into a moral black hole. This becomes multiplied after receiving news about his ailing heart, which made the clergyman feel as though his life was a ticking time bomb and he only has so much time to establish his needs. At this point, all of Gregorius’ emotions come to the forefront, letting the reader empathize for his situation because we know that he holds good intentions. This is the power of Ohlsson’s novel.

Margaret Atwood, in her analysis of Gregorius, discusses how through this new perspective it aids in the process of “rendering monsters as more worthy of consideration than their societies have been prepared to admit – or, at the very least, allowing them the courtesy of their own narrative voice.” This is clear because before reading this novel, our prior knowledge of Gregorius was that he was a pathogen that caused disease in other’s lives, but after reading this novel we begin to “render” him as an actual human on a quest to achieve his personal goals much like the rest of us.

Breaking down the complexities of human relationships, the way Gregorius spearheads his way into interaction and dominance is through the power of his social status. As a clergyman in the 19th century, it is known that those in his position then and further into the past have had major influence in society due to the reason that religion encompassed almost everyone’s lives at the time. Although he details that he would be the last person to become a pastor as he despises parts about it socially, he still is one. The fact that he still chooses to be one makes it clear Gregorius is in the position as pastor due to the power that it holds.

There are several examples of him abusing his power as a religious figure in order to be more loved. Within the novel, the pastor has an encounter revolving around the Höglund’s and their child who has fallen sick. We see early on that the pastor has slight sympathy but not total sympathy for the child; rather he just wants to visit the family to check up on the boy out of false “human kindness”, using it as a front to make himself look better to the family and more importantly, society. In doing this, Gregorius realizes his self-contempt and recognizes himself as a “master of deceit” using his position in order to feel better about himself. Even still, he does not have the decency to turn back around, and he commits to abusing his title of “pastor” with his meeting with the family to check on the sick boy. Luckily for him, it worked out for the best as after the days pass, he comes to know and sees that the boy is finally feeling better and can’t help but laugh and smile at the situation. He reacts this way, not because the boy is okay, but mainly for the reason that this will promote a more positive image of Gregorius and show his prayers for the family did “work”. This whole event is a sure sign of Gregorius’ reliance on validation and appreciation from others and how he uses his religious power as a crutch to create this appreciation from others.

This isn’t the only time we see such an abuse of religious power from this character. Another example provided is through the memories of Gregorius when he depicts his earlier life with Lydia and how he felt infatuated with Helga after seeing her nude for the first time. Soon, desiring Helga as a wife after Lydia’s death, Gregorius asks for Helga’s hand in marriage and with his position as a pastor, it is clear that Helga was compelled to accept based on the reasoning that she did not know true love and thought it was only just to follow through with a relationship with the religious figure, Gregorius.

Although not a direct use of his power, the effect of Gregorius being a major figure in society allows for an influence on other’s decisions when it regards him, creating an indirect use of his power. With these previous two examples in mind, it becomes clear how the power of religion plays a role in Gregorius’ hands and its power is vast as it is applicable to many areas of his life.

However, don’t let this argument detract from the pastor’s devotion to religion. The fact that Gregorius is very religious, yet he still commits these acts, serves to contribute to his existentialism in regard to his devotion as he sees himself waiver from a true follower’s ways due to how he begins to promote himself and his needs above God.

Looking towards God as the one figure all his life to give answers to most, if not all, of his issues in his past in one way or another, Gregorius has an existential crisis, questioning himself and whether he requires his deity to substantiate and influence his actions. Trying to form his own future rather than leaving it into God’s hands as he has before, Gregorius begins to get sucked into a moral black hole as he starts to give into the power of his instinctual nature rather than the foundations he built himself upon as a person. This becomes defined in the scene where he essentially rapes Helga no matter how much she resisted.

“[The stump] could have created life, it could have driven away my loneliness, and it could have filled my empty rooms with laughter and bright voices, with loving responsibilities and sacred duties. But as I near the end of my life I’m forced to realise that this is all it has come to…in and out in blind animal lust, with no purpose but instant gratification, and for a moment I see the man inside the doorway, and he lifts his eyes from the tart beneath him, and he looks straight at me and nods cheerfully, as if we are on close and equal terms.”

We see in this graphic example, he describes himself giving into gruesome animalistic desires while at the same time seeing “the man inside the doorway” who is assumed to be God. By seeing both at the same time in this scene it shows his existentialist crisis is at a climax as he is starting to push himself away from his religious tendencies towards his instinctual tendencies. In his small glimpse during the rape, God plays a metaphor here, approving of Gregorius’ actions and showing that he is able to give in to his wants and needs. After this scene, the power of religion and the power of man’s needs becomes a melting pot where there are no lines of division as Gregorius only wishes to form his own destiny no matter the cost.

Gregorius revolves around issues that go beyond the surface and tries to make the reader break down the mind of a man going through issues that we normally do not have to discuss. In this narrative we see Gregorius commit the act of using religion as a crutch to strengthen his standing in society and thus, build up his relationships with others. Furthermore, looking towards God rather than relying on himself to help solve most, if not all, of his issues in his past has left a void in this character’s life leaving little room for warmth and comfort as no one seems to truly want to be around him or converse with him. Thus, he is pushed away from this figure to his instinctual nature at a breaking point in which he rapes Helga showcasing that he is hanging onto life by a thread and no longer only consumed by his religious desires, but also his own livelihood’s desires. Within this novel, we see a character going through an existential crisis, taking control of both his religious power and instinctual nature in order to create his own destiny, which, unfortunately for him, was never fulfilled.