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HP Lovecraft

Herbert West, Reanimator
Howard Philip Lovecraft

The experiments of Herbert West to revive the dead as told by his faithful friend.
WARNING: This analysis contains many spoilers, and it is advisable to read the story before.

This short story was written from Septembre 1921 to June 1922 and published in "Home Brew" from February-July 1922 is one of the work of Lovecraft that were adapted to the cinema. It is rather distant from the rest of Lovecraft's works, and belongs 100% to Gothic Literature and the Myth of Frankenstein, although it contains elements that clearly belong to HP Lovecraft. According to some critics, it is in fact a parody of Frankenstein, due to some comic moments or the plot itself, dealing with resurrection, but parody is not a habit for Lovecraft.

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Natural and Supernatural explanation
During the 19th Century, readers are left with the choice of refusing the supernatural events and offered a rational explanation. In the case of Reanimator, it is not so obvious that there is a rational explanation, and the possibility only appears in Chapter 6. At the beginning of the story, his storytelling is genuine, or at least sincere, but it becomes dubious later - as if he was a madman.

Lovecraft hides carefully one element of the story: the context of the storytelling. It is not known WHO tells the story, WHERE or WHY. WHEN is nonetheless very clear from the start: after Herbert West's death. Lovecraft also states it happens before, during and after WWI. It is known at the end that the narrator is being charged with murder, but not how the storytelling takes place. Is he free? On trial? In jail? In a madhouse? In that case, giving us the choice between being a visitor... or another patient. But as he is rejecting killing West, it sounds like he is charged.

Murder
The reason why he might have murdered Herbert West is not easy to figure out. West was involved in morbid experiments, growing more morbid each time. Did the narrator fear he may be the next guinea pig as he says in chapters 5 and 6? Probably. But in spite of some ambiguous words, there is no homosexual affair between the two men: in Lovecraft, women are always absent.

Where is the evidence though? The wall in the basement is left unchanged, the ashes cannot be identified, and the narrator claims he was in such a shock that he "cannot remember the details". The living dead jailed for 16 years would be evidence, or the newspaper clip that describes his evasion. But this evidence is not presented.

It is therefore obvious that he murdered Herbert West because he was frightening him. West was indeed raving mad!

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