"Gurloes shook his head. 'We have no say in the matter, Chatelaine. Nor do you. We carry out the sentences that are delivered to us, doing no more than we are told, and no less, and making no changes.' Embarrassed, he cleared his throat." (81)
What do you think Gurloes is embarrassed about in this scene?
What do you think Gurloes is embarrassed about in this scene?
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Alhaji Dada That Gurloes is one of Vodalus' spy like Thechla. But also because you would expect Thecla to know this about the torturers.
Alhaji Dada Yes. Thecla is the in House Absolute. Gurloes is the spy within the citadel. Part of Severian/Thecla's animus for Gurloes (e.g. the charge that he is a coward/.hypocrite) stems from that.
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António Pedro Marques Rather simplistically, to be speaking to an attractive woman in such a situation. But that's my original pedestrian reading.
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James Pepe I think there are at least three options and they need not be mutually exclusive. First, he is embarrassed because he has basically admitted that, even though he has achieved the highest rank in his chosen profession, he still has no real agency in thecarrying out of it, he is ultimately slavish. Second, he is embarrassed because he knows what hes saying isn't true and is embarrassed in spite of himself because he knows he is spouting bullshit just to tow the line. Third, it's a bit of dramatic irony because of what Sev is about to do.
Michael DeQuasisane Sev mentions that Gurloes is very good, politically. I think he is not truly embarassed, but is using an embarassed tone to deflect potential argument.
“Maam, I’d really like to help you, I would. I really would. But the boss... well the boss makes the rules.”
The feigned embarassment takes the focus off of the Guild and puts it onto the Autarch (whose mighty bones hold up all of the Urth).
“Maam, I’d really like to help you, I would. I really would. But the boss... well the boss makes the rules.”
The feigned embarassment takes the focus off of the Guild and puts it onto the Autarch (whose mighty bones hold up all of the Urth).
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James Pepe Yeah, he could be feigning a deferential tone. We know he has been employing little tricks like that to grease the entire interaction, talking to her about the various mechanisms in order to keep her mind (and, perhaps, his) off of what is about to happen. Maybe Sev is just reading it wrong and takes for embarrassment what is actually sadness, pity, or remorse for what he is going to have to do to her.
Patrick McEvoy-Halston It is a very detached take on what he does that conflates every torturer as one and the same in regards to their "carrying out sentences," that most people would buy, but which he uses to in fact hide the fact, the qualifier, that sometimes there are in fact options... that sometimes there is wiggle-room -- and that he himself is on the look out for them and uses them whenever he can. The particular way he uses them in regards to a rape he is required to administer, makes him seem repugnant to Severian, for he is forced to use tools and drugs to make the "abuse" happen, despite his bulk and strength. Embarrassment might indicate he is temporarily made aware that he doesn't live up to the expectations every torturer ostensibly is committed to/represents: a common reliable standard.
Patrick McEvoy-Halston He has also admitted that he doesn't "simply carry out sentences," like a stoic, like a robot, but that he can LIKE doing so... not neutral, rather, there are passions involved; one could potentially go about them eagerly, with relish -- he expects Severian... with his youth and all, would be eager to administer the abuse. When discussing an order to administer "abuse" to one of the clients, Gurloes admits to liking/prefering small women. In this discussion of administered rape, Severian too admits to sexual excitement (he is repulsed only by the consideration that Gurloes can't fulfill his duties without aids -- drugs and whatnot -- out of what appears to be fear, and maybe possibly concerns about his potency... he guesses Severian would be thinking this his central concern); he isn't at the point where he can sympathize with clients. There is some similarity here, perhaps, between the "stoic" torturers who just carry out their duties, doing no more than they are told, and no less, and the the leach at the end of Autarch, who also denatures everything he does with his "client" as on the level, as just neutral and innocuous, but which Severian gauges is in fact prurient: sadistic relish, knowing perversion, hidden through the dodge of commonplace assumptions.
“The old man pinched his cheek. "He'll recover quickly—in time to warm my bed tonight. At his age they always do. Nay, it's not what you think. I only sleep beside him because the night-breath of the young acts as a restorative to those of my years. Youth, you see, is a disease, and we may hope to catch a mild case. How stands your wound?"
There was nothing—not even an admission, which might have been rooted in some perverse desire to maintain an appearance of potency
—that could have convinced me so completely as his denial.”
Both Gurloes and the leach hide something they know is suspect about themselves, behind "truths" they know people have been trained to assume as unquestionably valid; which people feel the social pressure to agree as universally valid. For Gurloes, this might give rise to embarrassment -- at least some credit to him. As Severian says, he's a complex man -- both sides, kind of guy -- constantly requited to pretending he's more simple than he is. He is making that just-same presentation of himself to her, and maybe this too is part of the embarrassment.
“The old man pinched his cheek. "He'll recover quickly—in time to warm my bed tonight. At his age they always do. Nay, it's not what you think. I only sleep beside him because the night-breath of the young acts as a restorative to those of my years. Youth, you see, is a disease, and we may hope to catch a mild case. How stands your wound?"
There was nothing—not even an admission, which might have been rooted in some perverse desire to maintain an appearance of potency
—that could have convinced me so completely as his denial.”
Both Gurloes and the leach hide something they know is suspect about themselves, behind "truths" they know people have been trained to assume as unquestionably valid; which people feel the social pressure to agree as universally valid. For Gurloes, this might give rise to embarrassment -- at least some credit to him. As Severian says, he's a complex man -- both sides, kind of guy -- constantly requited to pretending he's more simple than he is. He is making that just-same presentation of himself to her, and maybe this too is part of the embarrassment.
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David McKinnis We don't know that Gurloes is embarrassed. We only know what Severian perceived. The question should be why is Severian seeing embarrassment?
James Pepe Or, perhaps, the question shouldn't even be why is Sev seeing embarrassment but why is Sev reporting embarrassment?
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Patrick McEvoy-Halston Another argument for saying he is embarrassed here because he himself routinely is on the lookout for exemptions-to-the-codified-rule, that more or less break the spirit of a thing but that he can justify; of him pretending to be a simple follower, someone who obeys, but actually being one to in fact take the lawyerly way out as frequently as opportunity allows: “By ancient custom, we must not use the steps (although I have seen Master Gurloes assist his vault to the scaffold with his sword, in the court before the Bell Tower)."
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