68 pages • 2 hours read
Peter S. BeagleThe Last Unicorn
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Tragic Inevitability of Aging
The inevitability that everyone mortal must age and die is a theme communicated through the unicorn and her interactions with mortals and the world around her. At the beginning of the book, the unicorn has no concept of time. She is immortal, and “had no idea of months and years and centuries, or even of seasons. It was always spring in her forest because she lived there” (2). Through the unicorn’s lens, the concept of growing old and dying is examined. This theme is introduced in the first chapter when the unicorn overhears the hunters’ conversation. One hunter remarks that his grandmother would weep when she recalled meeting a unicorn, but “she was a very old woman then, and cried at anything that reminded her of her youth” (4). The hunter’s grandmother crying as she looks back on her life is a foreign concept to the unicorn, who later wonders “what it must be like to grow old, and to cry” (31). The unicorn also often worries about her forest now that she has left. She knows that seasons will pass without her presence, and she “heard autumn beginning to shake the beech trees the very moment that she stepped out onto the road” (16). The unicorn worries about how the passing seasons will affect her forest, which is a metaphor for the fear of aging. The concept of autumn carries the connotation of death and a slowing down of life in preparation for winter. Because the concept of passing time and growing old is so foreign to the unicorn, it disturbs her.
The unicorn shows her repulsion to the idea of being mortal first when she is in Mommy Fortuna’s carnival. When Fortuna disguises herself as Elli, the embodiment of old age, the unicorn:
“felt herself withering, loosening, felt her beauty leaving with her breath. Ugliness swung from her mane, dragged down her head, stripped her tail, gaunted her body, ate up her coat, and ravaged her mind with remembrance of what she had once been.” (33)
Though Fortuna’s magic is only an illusion, the unicorn is affected by it, “believing herself old and foul” (35). The horror the unicorn displays at feeling herself grow old demonstrates how terrible the unicorn believes aging and living as a mortal must be. In Chapter 4, after Schmendrick tells the story of Nikos, who transformed a unicorn into a human but never changed him back, the unicorn expresses that she “would sooner find that the Red Bull had killed them all” and expresses “How terrible it would be if all my people had been turned human by well-meaning wizards—exiled, trapped in burning houses” (58). The likening a human body to a burning house demonstrates the negative and tragic light through which the unicorn perceives mortality and humanity.
In Chapter 8, the unicorn gains first-hand experience with a mortal body. After a grueling chase with the Red Bull, Schmendrick decides that his magic cannot possibly make things worse, and he transforms the unicorn into a human woman. Upon discovering her new form, the unicorn “tore at her smooth body, and blood followed her fingers” (146). She repeatedly asks Schmendrick what he’s done to her and declares she “will die here” (146). The unicorn feels that being killed by the harpy or taken by the Red Bull “would have been kinder than closing me in this cage” (147). Though she would have died by the harpy or been captured forever by the Red Bull, the unicorn feels growing old and dying as a mortal human is a worse fate than dying as a unicorn. She clarifies this position by saying, “I would have chosen any other than this for my prison. A rhinoceros is as ugly as a human being, and it too is going to die, but at least it never thinks that it is beautiful” (148). This conveys the idea that aging is tragic, for the unicorn knows that the beauty of youth is often missed and mourned by those who grow old. Being trapped in a body that will grow older and less beautiful with time is a worse fate than death for the unicorn.
As she lives in a mortal body, the unicorn loses much of herself while her mortal spirit, Lady Amalthea, grows stronger and more human. Lady Amalthea faces her own problems with mortality in a way that subverts the theme that aging and death are tragic. When it comes time to face the Red Bull again, Lady Amalthea pleads for Schmendrick to let her remain a human. She believes, “It is good that everything dies. I want to die when [Prince Lír dies]. Do not let [Schmendrick] enchant me, do not let him make me immortal. I am no unicorn, no magical creature. I am human” (247). Having lived in a mortal body and developed human emotions, Lady Amalthea views mortality and humanity differently from how the unicorn views them. She has come to realize that humans live and feel things the way they do because they know old age and death will come for them. Though Lady Amalthea will die whether she remains a human or turns back into a unicorn, she sees growing old as a preferable fate to the death she’ll experience when she returns to a unicorn. These complex emotions, though subversive of the tragic side of aging, still suggest that death is something to be feared, and Lady Amalthea begging to remain human is a form of self-preservation, for she knows the mortal part of herself, all that she has felt and experienced as Lady Amalthea, will die the moment she becomes immortal again.
Overall, The Last Unicorn communicates the idea that aging and death are tragic truths of life as a human mortal, particularly when viewed from the perspective of the unicorn, who spends most of the book on the outside of mortality looking in. Human mortals have accepted these truths and understand the order of life and death, leading to the complex emotions that separate humanity from unicorns.
The Fear of Mediocrity
The theme of mediocrity and the way it motivates characters in The Last Unicorn is closely tied to the themes of aging and mortality. Because mortals understand that their time is limited, they strive to create a lasting legacy to prolong their impact on the world, thus creating a fear of mediocrity or a fear of being lesser and forgotten. Examples of this in the text are Mommy Fortuna’s desire to imprison immortal creatures, Captain Cully’s desire to be a famous outlaw, and most importantly Schmendrick’s desire to master his magic.
In Chapter 2, after the unicorn asks Fortuna for freedom for herself and the harpy, Fortuna falls into a rant about what her life could have been. She describes,
“Trudging through eternity, hauling my homemade horrors—do you think that was my dream when I was young and evil? Do you think I chose this meager magic, sprung of stupidity, because I never knew true witchery? I play tricks with dogs and monkeys because I cannot touch the grass, but I know the difference.” (36)
Fortuna’s words describe how she never intended to run a carnival of mediocre magic but is bound to this destiny by undescribed circumstances. She understands that her carnival legacy is not impressive to those who know magic, thus she seeks to create a legacy in another way to save herself from mediocrity. She does this by holding the unicorn and the harpy captive. She explains that “No other witch in the world holds a harpy captive, and none ever will” (34). At last, when the unicorn and harpy are freed, Fortuna relishes the idea that she held them captive and will forever be the only one to do so as she allows the harpy to deliver her death. To make up for her mediocrity, Fortuna sought another means of leaving a legacy through her imprisonment of the immortal creatures, showing the fear of mediocrity that lives within her.
Captain Cully is another character who exhibits mediocrity and strives to reconcile his ineptitude with a legacy of his own. When Schmendrick is introduced to Captain Cully, Cully is delighted to hear Schmendrick has heard of him through folksongs. Cully asks, “How do they speak of me in your country? What have you heard of dashing Captain Cully and his band of freemen?” (77). Though Schmendrick “had never heard of Captain Cully before that very evening” (77), he manages to woo Cully using standard folklore plots and archetypes. Among Cully’s men is a young minstrel whose only duty is to sing the 31 ballads Cully has written about himself and his men. These ballads detail great feats, like stealing from the rich to give to the poor, rescuing maidens, and defeating villains. However, one of Cully’s men reveals that the folk songs are full of falsehoods, arguing “they ought to be true songs about real outlaws, not this lying life we live” (82). In fact, Cully’s men don’t do any of those things. They pay off the “fat, greedy Mayor” to be left alone (83), they “turn [the oppressed] in for the reward” (84), and even the minstrel says Cully “never fought [his] brothers for any stone” (84). The great falsehoods of Cully’s songs reveal his fear of mediocrity. Cully knows that neither he nor his men have done what the songs claim they have, but he strings together these lies to hide his mediocrity. Cully admits that he hopes “to be collected, to be verified, annotated” (82), showing how he wishes the folksongs and ballads to be his legacy. Cully’s commitment to writing songs full of lies and his longing to be remembered for those lies shows his fear of mediocrity and his desire to leave a legacy greater than himself.
Finally, and most importantly, Schmendrick the Magician is the epitome of the fear of mediocrity. Throughout the book, Schmendrick grapples with his magical abilities. When Schmendrick introduces himself to the unicorn, he adds that she “won’t have heard of [him]” (27). The unicorn notes “something sad and valiant in his voice” at the time (27). Schmendrick’s addition to his introduction reveals his preoccupation with his legacy as a magician. Though his skills are subpar, Schmendrick never stops trying to perform great feats. When he is tasked with freeing the unicorn from her cage, he performs magic three separate times, but each time has an unintended result. Finally, he admits that the unicorn “deserves the services of a great wizard” (47), conceding that he is not such before unlocking her cage with the key. When the unicorn offers to grant him a boon for freeing her, Schmendrick admits that she “could never have granted [his] true wish” (59), to which the unicorn responds that she “cannot turn [him] into a true magician” (59). Schmendrick continues to struggle with his magic as the chapters progress, blundering tricks and mistakenly enchanting things, but he begins to have some success. When he leaves the magic to do as it wishes, he manages to summon an illusion of Robin Hood, and eventually he transforms the unicorn into a woman, showing the great depth of his abilities when he can manage them. In Chapter 8, Schmendrick finally reveals his curse. His master Nikos has declared Schmendrick’s “incompetence so profound, that [Nikos] is certain [Schmendrick is] inhabited by a greater power than [Nikos has] ever known” (149). Because of this, Nikos casts a spell on Schmendrick to prevent him from aging until he masters his power. The spell on Schmendrick has trapped him in a world where he is stuck with his mediocrity until he improves it. This prison of incompetence embodies the themes of the fear of mediocrity, as Schmendrick understands that the rest of his life is at stake. He will not grow old and die as mortals are supposed to until he can overcome his own mediocrity. This spell is a driving force in Schmendrick’s story, and he eventually escapes mediocrity by transforming the unicorn back into her true form—something no other wizard has ever done. Ultimately, mediocrity is part of the imperfection that mortals face in the book, but the fear of it is a driving force in the motivations and actions of characters like Schmendrick, Mommy Fortuna, and Captain Cully.
The Loss of Innocence
The loss of innocence, the lack of wonder, and the disillusionment of the world is explored primarily through the unicorn’s interactions with the world around her and through her own experiences as a human. In the world of The Last Unicorn, innocence can have multiple connotations, but for the purpose of this analysis, innocence refers to a state of guiltlessness, optimism, inexperience, and wonder about the world. As a symbol, unicorns represent innocence. The titular unicorn says that unicorns “can never regret” (54), an emotion that is closely tied to guilt.
In Chapter 1, when the hunters discuss the lack of unicorns in the world, one asks why they’ve gone away. The other hunter replies “Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?” (5). This reply suggests the world has moved away from the wonder and enchantment that allow unicorns to thrive. The lack of unicorns in the world is a direct metaphor for the way the world has shifted toward cynicism and disillusionment. Another representation of this loss of innocence is man’s inability to see the unicorn for what she truly is. After an interaction with a farmer who believed the unicorn to be a mare, the unicorn realizes that humans cannot even identify her. She muses, “If men no longer know what they’re looking at, there may well be unicorns in the world yet, unknown and glad of it. But she knew both beyond hope and vanity that men had changed, and the world with them, because the unicorns were gone” (11). Having been away from her forest for a short period, the unicorn begins to recognize the cynicism and disillusionment that grips the world. Though there are people out there desperate to see a unicorn, it takes Fortuna’s spell of illusion for the crowds of the carnival to recognize the unicorn for what she truly is. People’s inability to recognize a unicorn represents the loss of innocence that has spread throughout mankind in the absence of unicorns.
The unicorn does not go unaffected by the world around her. In Chapter 6, when a princess attempts to call a unicorn, the unicorn does not reveal herself to the princess. Molly asks why, and the unicorn replies that she has “no time for them now, princesses or kitchen maids” (103). The unicorn, determined to save her people, has stopped giving her grace to those who seek it. She says there was a time where she went to the young women who called to her but believes the princess would have been afraid if she had seen and recognized the unicorn. This represents the way the unicorn is becoming disillusioned with the world. Her own innocence is beginning to fade as she experiences the cruelties and horrors of the human world.
Finally, when the unicorn is transformed into a human in Chapter 8, the last of the unicorn’s innocence becomes endangered. The unicorn feels herself slipping away as the mortal spirit of Lady Amalthea grows stronger within her. Eventually, “she truly remembered nothing before the castle” (212), showing how the unicorn has lost herself to the mortal she’s become. This represents the loss of innocence as the last unicorn in the world forgets herself and surrenders to the pleasantries of humanity despite its cynicism. Though this is a positive for Lady Amalthea, the strength of her humanity creates a sense of hopelessness for the quest. With Amalthea no longer sure of her purpose or her nature, there is a bleak undertone to the story and added uncertainty about how things will turn out for the main characters. The loss of hope further contributes to the theme of the loss of innocence. Even when the unicorn is returned to herself, she is forever changed by the world. She explains that “no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but I do. I regret” (287). She explains that “some part of me is mortal yet” (287), showing how one can never truly recover their innocence once it is lost. Still, there is optimism, as the presence of unicorns renews the world, giving hope to future generations of humanity to find and claim innocence among a changed world.
