“Take my advice, don’t appreciate any man too highly. In the book of every man’s life there is a page which he would wish to keep turned down.”
-Sydney Atherton, The Beetle
In this quote, we see a theme that has been recurring in many of the novels we have read. This is the idea that man has both a presentable and honorable side, as well as an immoral side. In this case, Atherton is referring to Paul Lessingham, a man who is highly regarded by other members of society and who is thought to not have a dishonorable notion in his body. However, as has been the case in all of the monster stories we have read, no one is truly free of guilt. At this point in the novel, we are still trying to understand if the Arab (beetle) or Lessingham is the true “monster”. In this quote by Atherton, we see him suggesting that maybe Lessingham has some skeletons in his closet that he doesn’t want to be revealed, supporting the theory that Lessingham might be the monster.
Question: Is Lessingham truly as noble a person as everyone believes, or does this “turned down page” of his book have secrets that would point to him as the monster?
