The Bottle Imp

 

ENGLISH COACHING CENTER

Based on JAC BSEB CBSE ICSE SKMU and TMBU

 

The Bottle Imp

Paper Viii

 

The theme of the bottle imp can be found in the German legend Spiritus familiaris by the Brothers Grimm as well.[1] At the time of publication in 1891, the currency system of the Kingdom of Hawaii included cent coins that circulated at par with the U.S. penny.

The novel reflects Stevenson's impressions gained during his five-month visit of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1889.[2] Part of the storyline takes place in the little town Hoʻokena at the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii, which the author visited.[3] In a scene which takes place in Honolulu Stevenson mentions Heinrich Berger, the bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band.[4] The name of Keawe's wife refers to the Hawaiian word kōkua,[5] which means help. In 1889 Stevenson also visited the leper colony on the island of Molokaʻi and met Father Damien there. Therefore, he had a first-hand experience from the fate of lepers.[6] Several times Stevenson uses the Hawaiian word Haole, which is the usual term for Caucasians, for example describing the last owner of the bottle.[7]

The story could be considered as both a continuation of and a rather light-hearted counterpoint to the theme of selling one's soul to The Devil, manifested in the numerous depictions of Doctor Faust as well as in such stories as "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet.

The premise of the story creates a logical paradox similar to the unexpected hanging paradox. Clearly no rational person would buy it for one cent as this would make it impossible for it to be sold at a loss. However, it follows that no rational person would buy it for two cents either if it is later to be sold only to a rational person for a loss. By backward induction, the bottle cannot be sold for any price in a perfectly rational world. And yet, the actions of the people in the story do not seem particularly unwise.[11]

The story shows that the paradox could be resolved by the existence of certain characters:

• Someone who loves the bottle's current owner enough to sacrifice his or her own soul for that person.
• Someone who believes he or she is inevitably destined for Hell already.
• Someone who believes he or she will never die.
• Someone who believes there is someone else willing to make an irrational decision to purchase the bottle.

Since the exchange rates of different currencies can fluctuate with respect to one another, it is also possible that the value of the bottle could increase from one transaction to the next even if the stated price decreases. This leads to an endless staircase-type paradox which would make it possible, in theory, for the bottle to keep getting sold infinitely many times. However, this might be forbidden depending on how the bottle imp interprets the idea of "selling at a loss".

 

By Manoj Sir