The Wolfman and the Tragedy of its Werewolves (SPOILERS)

 

The theatrical release poster of The Wolfman 

              Since this movie made it to the number 1 spot on this blog’s list of Top 10 Werewolf Movies, it didn’t feel right to not have an in-depth look at the film included among the posts as well. So welcome to an in depth look at the werewolf characters of 1941’s The Wolfman and enjoy as we take a look at cinema’s first hit film revolving around a monster that is so well known today. And be warned readers, as the title says this will be spoiling parts of the movie and its ending. 

              As the title of this post says, the werewolf characters in The Wolfman are surprisingly tragic. I was actually rather surprised by how tragic the werewolves in this movie were when I first watched it. Since this was the first big, successful werewolf movie, I initially expected it to portray it’s werewolves as simply very savage and beastlike. And while that is certainly how the wolf aspect of the werewolves is portrayed, the human aspect of the werewolves is quite heart wrenching.

The first werewolf we meet, Bela, a traveling fortune teller, realizes he’s about to turn into the werewolf while read the fortune of a girl called Jenny Williams, a friend of the main character’s love interest, Gwen Conliff. He see the pentagram on the girl’s palm, a sign which marks her as the werewolf’s next victim. When Bela realizes this, he tries to have Jenny run, telling her to return tomorrow. But he realized too late and by the time Jenny is leaving, Bela transforms into a wolf and attacks Jenny, killing her by ripping out her throat. Bela actually tried to save Jenny from her fate, but he didn’t have the control to stop himself after becoming a werewolf. It seemed like Bela really didn’t want to hurt Jenny, but unfortunately for him, that didn’t happen.

The other werewolf of the movie, main character Lawrence “Larry” Talbot, is turned into one after attempting to fight werewolf Bela off of Jenny. Larry manages to best Bela, subduing his wolf form and beating him to death with his silver-topped cane, but he is bitten in the process, which will cause him to turn into a werewolf as well. This is just the start of Larry’s tragedy as a werewolf as he was only infected because he was trying to save someone’s life. Additionally, Larry killed someone without even knowing he was doing so and later on, when Bela’s body is found in human form with his head beaten in and Larry’s cane next to him, people start to believe Larry killed Bela. Again, if Larry hadn’t been trying to save someone from what he thought was an animal attack, none of the later tragedies involving him being a werewolf would’ve happened. It almost feels like the story is punishing Larry for trying to be a hero and that will continue as Larry’s story goes on.

Later on, Larry gets a talisman from Bela’s mother Maleva that he’s supposed to wear as it will protect him from the curse of the werewolf. However, Larry gives this talisman to Gwen, both as a present in his not-so-subtle courting of her and as a way to protect her from himself, as he is also starting to believe he is a werewolf. This is another example of Larry trying to protect others and again, it feels like he’s punished for it. Larry transforms into a werewolf when he returns home and goes out and kills a grave digger, biting his throat like Bela bit Jenny’s. This feels tragic because Larry’s attempt to protect the girl he loves got a different, completely uninvolved man killed. While we don’t know it the talisman actually worked, we never get the chance to find out since Larry gave it to Jenny. If it did work and Larry thought more about himself instead of Jenny, he would’ve kept it and maybe saved the gravedigger and all his other victims.

            After the gravedigger's death, Larry is completely othered by the surrounding community due to his potential involvement in Bela's death and how similar Bela's death was to the gravedigger's. Everyone at church stares worriedly at him when he makes his way down the aisle, not bothering to hide their looks. Larry can't even make himself go sit with father in the pews, simply leaving rather than dealing with the stareing of the people.   

            The final and most tragic part of Larry's experience as a werewolf is his final night alive. Trying to protect others from himself, Larry has his father, Sir John Talbot, tie him to a chair in the house while the other men of the town are outside hunting the beast that killed so many people. Larry is doing all he can to keep himself inside and keep everyone else safe, but it isn't enough as a werewolf can easily break through the bonds. Larry escapes and goes on the hunt for his final victim, his love interest Gwen. Larry knew he was going to attack her as the werewolf, as he saw a pentagram on her hand before, the same thing Bela saw on Jenny's hand. This also likely contributed to him having his father tie him up in the house, as the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Gwen. Sadly, he finds Gwen and attacks her, but in the one non-tragic part of Larry's experience as a werewolf, his father is able to stop him from killing Gwen. However, this non-tragic story beat is immediately overshadowed by Sir John beating Larry to death with his own silver-headed cane, the same one Larry killed Bela with. Once Larry is dead, Maleva appears and turns Larry back to his human form before Sir John's eyes, making him face the fact that he was the one who killed his son and that Larry had been right about being a werewolf the whole time. The final tragedy is that if Sir John had listened to Larry earlier, taken Larry's worry about being a werewolf seriously, he might've been able to avoid killing his last living son.

            I would highly recommend The Wolfman to anyone who hasn't seen it, though I will admit the stereotyping of the fortune teller group dates the film a bit. But the empathy the story has you feel for the werewolves is something I didn't initially expect yet thoroughly enjoyed. The dilemma of being a werewolf, shown through the eyes of the protagonist, makes the audience feel for the monster, maybe even root for it not to get caught. It makes the monster far more human than it could've been.