Eliot introduces a famous clairvoyant, Madam Sosostis, who is known for her reading of tarot cards. When the narrator visited her, she had a ‘bad cold’, but still layed out the cards for him. The cards she revealed were the drowned Phoenician sailor, Belladonna – the lady of the Rocks, the lady of situations, the man with three staves (who is a symbolism of the Fisher King), the Wheel, a one-eyed merchant and something blank which he carries. There is no hangman card, which suggests the client ought to fear death by water.
The clairvoyant sees people walking around in aimless circles and ends the session abruptly, requesting that if Eliot sees another of her customers, he’d tell her that she was coming round that day to do her horoscope.
Many of the cards mentioned, such as the sailor and the merchant, are not real cards but invented by Eliot to continue the theme of The Waste Land. Water brings death, as the drowned sailor and the missing hangman represent. The Lady of the Rock suggests both the sirens from the Odyssey who sang sailors to their death, and to DaVinci’s Madonna. The legend of the Fisher King tells of a King who ruled over great and prosperous lands, but was wounded in the genitals. His lands consequently dried up and faded into a desolate desert.
The one-eyed merchant carries something Madam Sosostris cannot see; he is already half blind and what he holds is hidden from sight. Death is a fear lurking in the background, but the futility and uncertainty of life provide a greater fear. Death is almost seen as beautiful, as the quoted line from the Tempest suggests. In Shakespeare’s play, the spirit Arial tells Prince Ferdinand that his father is drowned and is transformed into something rich, strange and beautiful. It is life that is more dreadful. The clairvoyant sees the aimlessness of people, the crowds, and feels depressed – here she is similar to the sibyl of the prelude, who has the ability to do wondrous things but is trapped, old and sick of the futility of life. She is bound by her duty (she will go see Mrs. Equitone to tell her her horoscope) and cannot get out.
Amandina Brook 