#thank you for this!! god i love the abraham and isaac comparison i hadn’t thought of that at all :D

[afieldinengland]

i think the fact that summerisle was so plainly enchanted by howie has something of the abraham and isaac in it. a sacrifice is only one when it's loved and known.

oh christ, absolutely, absolutely— i love this comparison so much! yes, there has to be an aspect of genuine loss to a sacrifice, of giving up something that is needed, or cherished. this would have been best fulfilled by the sacrifice of a summerisle resident, but lord summerisle isn’t (yet) willing to bloody his hands in such a way, and so has to go a-hunting for more suitable prey. while howie didn’t necessarily receive the warmest of receptions at first, the inhabitants of summerisle were undoubtedly fascinated by the peculiar, headstrong, outraged stranger on their doorstep. after all, lord summerisle had hand-picked him, and what better judge of character could there be than his lordship himself? and lord summerisle himself is clearly enamoured by the man— having followed him for so long and finally having him in his grasp (in his house, no less!) there’s a real excitement in the way he engages howie in conversation. howie is an equal to whom lord summerisle doesn’t have to play the benevolent king, and when he leads him through his eden there’s an exuberant eagerness to him, keen to impress. serpentine, salacious and charismatic, he invites howie to taste the fruits of his family’s labour— he makes an eve of adam, as it were. even when the inhabitants anele him on the clifftop, it is loving and gentle; willow and the librarian press their hair against his face, clean his hands, and anoint his chest, and lord summerisle looks on beatific. like you say, howie is loved and known (even if he has resisted the biblical definition of the latter), and that’s part of the terror— this part of the novelisation sums it up well:

#he’s their lamb— even as he’s kicking and screaming to be set free from the role. it’s potent #thank you for this!! god i love the abraham and isaac comparison i hadn’t thought of that at all :D #answered #the wicker man