Death by Silver is a Metaphysical book that is written by veteran Free Essay Example

Death by Silver is a Metaphysical book that is written by veteran writers Mellissa Scott and Amy Griswold. The book explores the activities in Victorian London where all the activities happening in and around the city are affected by Magic. Metaphysics is essentially about what is there and how it is. Magic and the activities of the underworld are considered as part of metaphysics due to their lack of empiricism. The book mainly focusses on using magic to come up with solutions for problems that the people of Victorian London are facing.

This is mainly done through the use of magical spells. These spells are most effective in achieving their objectives; however, there are some fundamental limitations and shortcomings for these spells. This essay will focus on the limitations and shortcomings of the spells.

The ineffectiveness in physical problems. In as much as the spells used in this book are effective in achieving the goals and objectives of the people casting them, there is a limitation when it comes to offering solutions to physical problems.

There are various instances in the book that explicitly outline this problem. The first case was in the first encounter between Lynes and Harry Digby. Harry Digby had a swollen tooth; when Lynes notices that the young Harry Digby was experiencing problems with her swollen tooth, he advises him to go to the hospital and seek the services of a physician. However, young Harry declines citing that his mother will not allow him to do that.

He then asks Lynes to perform a spell to him. Lynes declines Harry’s request claiming that no spell will be better than a dose of laudanum and the tooth needs to be pulled (Scott and Griswold 14). This means that magic and spells cast in this case are limited in ability when it comes to casting spells that are aimed at performing something physical. In the case of Harry pulling out a tooth using magic was something that could not be done. On the same note, when Jack has been poisoned and Hatton is looking for a remedy for his situation, Hatton asks Mathey if there is a spell that can help Jack with the poisoning. Mathey claims that he must first know the poison before thinking of a spell. Given that in this case, the need is for a spell that can pull out the poison from Jacks body, which is a physical activity, follows necessarily that it is not possible.

The small interaction between the real, magical world and spell castors. In the story Death by silver, magical spells are the most used dilution to solve problems in Victorian London. However, the abilities of magic, in this case, are linear. The person that is casting the spell must understand the problem that he is trying to solve before attempting a spell. Essentially, magic is incapable of helping him understand a physical situation and is therefore up to him to figure it out. This case is well shown in the case of the interaction between Hatton and Mathey when Jack has been poisoned. Mathey tells Hatton that in order to be able to help Jack with his poison case, he must first understand what kind of poison he has taken to perform the correct spell pulled (Scott and Griswold 19). This means that the spell is limited in as far as the determination of a problem is concerned. This also means that spellcasters may have the ability to solve a problem in the society through magic but their failure to understand the problem may cause devastating impacts like in the case of Jack.

The shortcomings and limitations of magic, in this case, are double-sided. Magic, as portrayed in the book Death by silver, is capable of inducing the occurrence of natural phenomena but not capable of reversing the impacts that come with the occurrence of a natural phenomenon (Weiner 697). For instance, after Mathey examined Jack’s body he realized that he had been poisoned through magic. He alleges that the opium pills that Jack took acted as the trigger to release opiates in his body which led to his death. This means that magic is capable of influencing death which is a natural phenomenon. However, after Jack is dead, the idea of raising him from up from the dead never came up. This is because there exist a shortcoming and limitations on magic in as far as reversing the impact of a natural phenomenon.

Looking at the limitations and shortcomings of the spell as shown in the book, spells are not all-powerful as we think. Spells are limited by various factors in the environment including physicality and forces of nature. Spells are clearly incapable of functioning where they are expected to reverse the impacts of a force of nature or carry out a physical activity.

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