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Sepulchrave, Earl of Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels ''Titus Groan'' . == Character == Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake. He is father to Titus Groan and Fuchsia Groan, brother to Cora and Clarice Groan, and estranged husband to the Countess Gertrude. He is afflicted by an intense melancholia that leaves him psychologically paralyzed for most of the novel. The movements of his every waking hour are dictated by the “immemorial rites set down in the books of the lore of Groan”, a canon of meaningless, endlessly cross-referenced and encoded ritual that forms the foundation of the decaying Gormenghast society. This lore is interpreted for Sepulchrave by his Master of Ritual, Sourdust, who meets him at a lavish breakfast every morning; a breakfast that is never eaten and which is left to waste. Sepulchrave has no appetite and is moved by no emotion other than weary and unrelenting depression. However, his frozen heart is mildly stirred at the outset of 'Titus Groan' by the news of the birth of his son. The only relief afforded to Sepulchrave from his misery is literature. He is variously described as having a powerful but listless intellect. His imbecile sisters Cora and Clarice remark; “He’s very clever but he learns it all from books.” His sanctuary or fortress of solitude is the Library, a building in Gormenghast to which he retires every night after his ceremonial duties have been discharged and in which he remains reading until the small hours of the morning. The Library is located in the shadow of the Tower of Flints, the heart of Gormenghast and a Dark Tower that comes to dominate Sepulchrave's mind. His melancholia infects the very air of the library; ‘imparting its illness on either side.’ He reads of every subject but he is drawn particularly to poetry. Fragments of the fictional poets that he reads allow Peake to exercise his considerable poetic gifts within the novel. And his appearance, as described in Titus Groan: Sepulchrave’s appearance and age are ambiguous. He is described almost entirely in terms of his emotional state. However, we learn that he possesses a fine aquiline nose and seems to be a tall, slender, elegant and quixotic figure, with a pale complexion and large expressive eyes. He dresses in the robes and vestments prescribed by the rituals of Gormenghast; they may be rags or silk. He sometimes wears the iron crown of Groan, with its four arrowhead points from which depend slim linked chains. After his library burns down, Sepulchrave goes mad, believing himself to be the ‘The Death Owl’; this affects his appearance: his nose becomes “more forceful”, his eyes become round and devoid of all emotion, his mouth “might as well not be there”. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sepulchrave」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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