She's Stealing More Than Just Your Man

Sex can traumatize a person. Rape and molestation especially can affect someone so much that they behave abnormally, and even dehumanize themselves. Pamela E. Barnett’s article, “Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved” psychologically critiques Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved; Barnett’s thesis revolves around the concept that the character “Beloved is not just the ghost of Sethe's dead child,” but instead symbolizes a “succubus, a female demon and nightmare figure that sexually assaults male sleepers and drains them of semen” due to the fact that most of “the memories that haunt Morrison's characters. . .involve sexual abuse and exploitation [which] hold particular power” over them. Because Beloved is the embodiment of succubus--or even  a ghostly presence of past memories of sexual assault--in two different assaults she takes “vitality” from Sethe as “Beloved [grew] bigger” with her “basket-fat stomach:” Sethe’s flesh begins to “fade” (285)--and “steals” Paul D’s semen to produce life.

Beloved symbolizes a succubus in multiple ways, but one quality that Beloved possesses which makes this theory even more concrete is her strong sense of sexuality. Paul D especially takes note of Beloved’s sexuality when Beloved starts to settle in 124. He does not trust Beloved one bit, and he senses that she is aroused all the time, but this arousal is not directed towards him because Beloved is not “shining” for him. Instead, she has this appetite only for Sethe, who "licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved's eyes," which Barnett correlates to a supernatural sexual violation.

Another quality Beloved owns that resembles a succubus is her behavior. Succubi are known for sexually violating their victims at night. Beloved shows her true desire to “consume” Sethe to Paul D when she tells him that "[Sethe] is the one [she] [has] to have" (89). This desire of Beloved’s causes her to act out; Sethe experiences Beloved’s desire during the night: Sethe is "sliding into sleep when she [feels] Beloved touch her. A touch no heavier than a feather but

loaded, nevertheless, with desire" (69). Just like a succubus, Beloved acts on her impulsive desires in the night, violating her prey in a vulnerable state of mind, as if her presence where like an eerie dream.

The final reason why Beloved symbolizes a succubus is the several sexual assaults she commits. Beloved violates Sethe during her stay at 124, by molesting Sethe as she “[slid] into sleep,” and violates her further when she kisses Sethe passionately on her neck. Unlike the time when Sethe was partially unconscious, Sethe stops Beloved and tells her that “[she’s] too old for that” (115). Beloved also assaults Paul D when she has sex with him because he resisted her offer to “touch [her] on the inside part,” yet Beloved “hoisted her skirts” and Paul D just went along with it (137). Since they engaged in ciotus, Beloved both violated Paul D by forcing him to “fuck” her and by doing so, she--just like a succubus--stole semen from him. By stealing Paul D’s semen, Beloved feeds her growing “basket-fat” stomach with Sethe’s vitality, further proving Barnett’s point. So, if a strange, young woman appears out of water and is always aroused, she might just be a succubus trying to steal semen and sucking the life out of her victims.