# Death — The Book of Jade character guide > Death in The Book of Jade by David Park Barnitz. **Role:** supporting **First appearance:** 0003-part-i-ashtoreth ## Snapshot The book's grim sovereign, whose worms are already at work in the living, and whose charnel-floor revelations expose humankind as a race of walking corpses. ## Who they are Death presides over the collection's central visions: corpses reasoning in tombs, a dead tsar riding in triumph, a dead preacher blessing the dead. In these scenes the living are declared already rotten, their hearts 'the worms lie evermore,' so that mortality is not an event but a condition. This figure gives the book its relentless logic, converting the narrator's ennui into a universal sentence passed on all flesh. ## Relationships ### [Lo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/characters/lo) _rivalry_ Death is the final obstacle Lo must overcome or embrace on the path to the Absolute. ## In the story ### [The Book of Jade](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/the-book-of-jade) Personified figure appearing in dialogues among corpses and burial scenes. ### [Ashtoreth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ashtoreth) Ashtoreth is described as a 'dead goddess,' invoking death imagery. ### [Parfait Amour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-parfait-amour) Personified as the ultimate object of the speaker's kiss, conflated with the beloved. ### [Sombre Sonnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sombre-sonnet) The savor of death clings to the things the speaker loves. ### [Languor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-languor) Implied as the force that will bring about the decay and transformation of the beloved's body. ### [Sonnet: When I Contemplate How My State Is Low](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-when-i-contemplate-how-my-state-is-low) Death is invoked as a desired end to the speaker's woe. ### [Sonnet: Be Not Cast Down My Heart, and Be Not Sad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-be-not-cast-down-my-heart-and-be-not-sad) Referenced as the realm through which Ashtoreth sought Tammuz and as the fate of Osiris and Christ. ### [Ballad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ballad) The lady is surrounded by the dead and her journey has a funereal quality, suggesting Death's presence. ### [Changelessness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-changelessness) Personified as the force that touches the beloved's body, leading to her burial and transformation. ### [Madonna](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-madonna) Death is emblazoned on the Madonna's garment, part of the strange carousal. ### [Poppy Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-poppy-song) Implied through the imagery of long-dead bodies and the desire for restful oblivion akin to death. ### [Consolation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-consolation) Personified as the throne upon which earth will rest, ruling over the buried nations. ### [Liebes-Tod](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-liebes-tod) Invoked as a lover and destroyer, the entity through whom the speaker seeks final ecstasy and the perishing of the world. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-i) Invoked as the beloved, personified as a figure of eternal union and destruction. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Invoked as the bringer of new joy after the speaker's lips have grown cold. ### [Song: She Hath Liv’d the Life of a Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-she-hath-liv-d-the-life-of-a-rose) Implied presence as the agent of the woman's end, reducing her to grass and leaves. ### [Song: Cometh a Day and a Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-song-cometh-a-day-and-a-night) Implied as the force that brings the day and night when life ends. ### [Constancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-constancy) The force to whom the beloved has gone down, personified as a destination. ### [Requiem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-requiem) The force that claims the beloved and is invoked in the final lines. ### [Autumn Burial](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-autumn-burial) Death is implied as the cause of the fair one's state, her corpse being carried and buried. ### [Sonnet of Burial](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-i-sonnet-of-burial) Death is the central event, as the beloved's body is interred and the soul departs to a place of rest. ### [Mad Sonnet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mad-sonnet) Implored by the speaker to descend and end their suffering. ### [De Profundis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-de-profundis) Implied as the presence of dead things, worms, and the grave that envelops the speaker. ### [Prayer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-prayer) Pestilence is invoked as an agent of death, bringing decay and destruction to all. ### [Sestettes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sestettes) Personified as a figure to be mocked, blasphemed, and ultimately embraced as the supreme ecstasy. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-ii) Mentioned as not distressing the beloved, but rather bringing ecstasy. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iii) Personified figure mocked by the speaker's blasphemous love. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iv) Invoked as the measure of love's intensity. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-v) Personified as the ultimate end, stripped of any romanticism. ### [Sonnet of the Instruments of Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sonnet-of-the-instruments-of-death) Referenced as the figure whose sacristy and vessels are described, and to whom the souls commune. ### [Truth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-truth) Addressed directly by the speaker, whose face is questioned as possibly fair or merely a renewal of vanity. ### [Monotony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-monotony) Referenced indirectly through the corpse and the state of being dead, central to the chapter's imagery. ### [Sepulture](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sepulture) Implied through the imagery of the tomb, corpses, and burial of the speaker's hopes. ### [Scorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-scorn) Implied as the state of the speaker, who is dead and abandoned to decay. ### [The Grave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-grave) Death is the condition that has claimed the speaker, leaving him in a state of perpetual decay and isolation. ### [Mummy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mummy) Death is the agent that petrifies and perfects the mummy, crystallizing it into a changeless state. ### [Sepulchral Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-sepulchral-life) Death is invoked as the ultimate end, with the world likened to a corpse and souls moving toward a second death. ### [Corpse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-corpse) The corpse embodies death's dominion, crowned and enthroned in decay. ### [Mankind](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mankind) Implied as the inevitable end awaiting the bodies of the dead, given to the worm. ### [The Grotesques](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-the-grotesques) The overarching presence that governs the tomb and the decay of the corpses. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-i) Implied presence through the corpse and the state of decay. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-ii) Implied as the ruler of the dead dominions where the corpse receives plaudits. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iii) Present as the state of the corpse and the surrounding dead figures, embodying decay and finality. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-iv) Presiding over the tomb and the decay of the corpse. ### [Dead Dialogue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-dead-dialogue) The corpses are dead and speak from the grave, embodying death's aftermath. ### [Envoi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-envoi) Implied through the tombwards journey and nightshade crown, though not directly named. ### [Postlude](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-postlude) Death is a central presence in the postlude, symbolizing the inevitable end and decay. ### [After-Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-after-life) The state of being after life, where the speaker lies in a house without a door and experiences eternal sleep. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/characters/death - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/characters