This view of Beloved as an incarnation of evil is supported throughout the book. Beloved takes from Sethe. Beloved becomes greed, taking and demanding constantly, and, by extension, gluttony, as she is never satisfied. Other times Beloved is Wrath, destroying and harming Sethe for no reason other than malice, often using her guilt against her. Beloved takes the form of lust as she tries to seduce Paul D, which would drive a wedge between him and Sethe. To Denver she can be seen as pride incarnate, demanding attention and admiration from her. Perhaps everyone's agoraphobic tendencies are borne of sloth, the desire to be lazy, pampering them with reasons to remain indoors. These are the 7 deadly sins, yet, despite all this harm she causes, she remains. Beloved is neither banished nor harmed, but indulged. "She is a chance to make up for and a chance to explain; she is a compensation and a retribution." This means Beloved brings good beneath her evil. She is the sister Denver lost and the child Sethe regrets killing.
My interpretation of Beloved is similar. I believe the novel is recounted through the tormented mind of Sethe. After the abuse she received through slavery, the stress of fleeing and remaining free, and the guilt of misguided infanticide, she is no longer sane. I believe Beloved to be an illusion from her mind. She accepts the illusion as her lost daughter, loving it and caring for it, yet subconsciously she causes the illusion to display the rage and revenge of an unjustly murdered child. Everyone who interacts with this illusion is just a false-memory Sethe's mind created. This would explain the unworldly ways others describe Beloved. A little boy described Beloved as, "a naked women with fish for hair(315)." "Fish for hair" could be a reference to medusa, or a demon, meaning Beloved is not human and Sethe starts to interpret her as the evil she is.
And I am content with my interpretation and believe elements of Field's interpretation are applicable to mine. I now understand the Beloved as more artistic. The characters are incarnations of good or evil. I previously believed Beloved to be an illusion of revenge and disharmony, but now I view her as fully evil. Beloved is like a demon, feeding off the dissent it sows among the characters and attacking in all forms of evil. I'm glad Field and I agree that Beloved is not quite human and not an actual supernatural entity. I enjoy how I can now appreciate the true evil of Beloved and observe all the ways she strikes. I'm pleased to receive a greater understanding of the hate between Beloved and Paul D. I do, in conclusion, agree with most everything said by Karen E Fields.
Sources
Fields, Karen E. "To Embrace Dead Strangers: Toni Morrison's Beloved." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Christopher Giroux and Brigham Narins, vol. 87, Gale, 1995. Contemporary Literary Criticism Online, go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ps/i.do?p=LCO&sw=w&u=cicctr&v=2.1&id=IXRDJZ741845311&it=r&asid=7291aadc1bac36c9ac38ae15ebbe8330. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017. Originally published in Mother Puzzles: Daughters and Mothers in Contemporary American Literature, edited by Mickey Pearlman, Greenwood Press, 1989, pp. 159-169.
