Chuxuan (Tommy) Hou, 1

Final Essay on Neil Gaiman’s Stardust

2022 Literacy G7

A primary reason that many immigrate to Canada is to gain more political and humanitarian
freedom. As in life, one may lose a tremendous amount of happiness or courage without the
opportunity to become free. In the book Stardust, the author, Neil Gaiman, presents scenarios
where there is a lack of free will. Indeed, one can perceive that walls besiege the village of
Wall in the novel that segregates Faerie; just as in the real world, the Mexican population
possesses meagre freedom in going into the United States. Nonetheless, what does all of this
mean on an ethical level or a metaphysical one? This essay will discuss why the theme of
“Freedom versus Confinement” is the most prevalent in Neil Gaiman’s Stardust.

Freedom, for the casual eye, is the potential for an individual to perform anything to obtain a
personal or specific desire. It is an ability that most want in their lives: pushing the
boundaries, neglecting any obstructing constraints, and more. A meaningful level of free will
exercises metaphysically and ethically; being that one contemplates their thoughts through
their mind. This can result in either a positive or negative effect on society. People should
understand, nonetheless, that absolute freedom is technically impossible for any human
being. Still, there will be the freedom of certain people that will impinge on that of another
group. These potential impairments can alter the outcome and capacity of one’s liberty.
Currently, certain people convince themselves that their freedom is controlled by supernatural
forces, out of superstition. Thus, Gaiman wrote this novel to demolish this stereotypic idea of
absolute determinism, even though some details go far beyond the processes of life.

Of all the anecdotes including confinement in Stardust, an elaboration of Lady Una gives
the best sense of political freedom. Between the lines, one may also disclose a criticism of
slavery. The first appearance of Lady Una in Stardust was when she was still the slave of
Madame Semele. At that time, Tristan Thorn’s preceding generation (Dunstan) visited her
flower stand. He wished to purchase a beautiful snowdrop for his heart’s desire, which is the
impetus and foreshadowing of Tristan’s adventure later. During the ebbs and flows of
Gaiman’s bildungsroman, Madame Semele had maltreated her slave: metamorphosing her
 Chuxuan (Tommy) Hou, 2

into a bird and chiding her arbitrarily. At the resolution phase of the novel, Lady Una gained
liberty for herself since the world met her rules, giving her the keys to the gates of
emancipation. This “key” is illustrated by the quotation “I was bound to you to be your slave
until the day that the moon lost her daughter.” (Gaiman, 229) She emphatically demanded her
former master’s apology and penitence. This example highlights a central impairment to
absolute free will, as portrayed in the quote “For these things have their rules; all things have
rules.” (Gaiman, 235) Based on background knowledge from Stardust, one could infer that
Madame Semele had gone too far into her political sense of freedom. Nevertheless, Lady Una
still escaped from her servitude when the constraints took effect. The quote above clearly
proves how rules, during a range of liberty, can protect one from the addiction to free will to
an extremity per se. Consequently, the world at large will thus be safeguarded with guidelines
in place. Or else, one would neglect the ethics of an act of liberty and then harm society, even
in a petty way. This anecdote is essential evidence to the thesis, for Lady Una’s identity
creates great suspense at the end of Stardust when she is revealed as the lady of Stormhold.
This literary usage “confines” any reader to only continue on the novel to find the hindered
truth. The anecdote revolves around confinement, emphasizing how manual internment
(spiritual and physical torture) is malicious to healthy and free mindsets. Furthermore,
Gaiman used this detail to depict how pernicious slavery was in the history of humanity. As
described in the quote, “ I am a slave, and the name I had was taken from me.” (Gaiman, 21),
the sentiments of a slave are the metaphysical side of confinement; they lack freedom of
speech. Lady Una’s body was locked by chains, but this made her psychology limited too.
Secondly, the author implicated Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. This is
mainly expressed by “... as I am bid, and also I dream.” (Gaiman, 20)

Oftentimes, one may contribute their free will and privileges to tasks that are a boon to the
world. Conversely, many may prefer to spend their liberty only for themselves: only being
able to consider ethics depending on their character traits. This does not deal with selfishness
or altruism; yet it is only about how one looks at the environment. The witch-queen in Neil
Gaiman’s Stardust demonstrates a perspective of ethical confinement – or rather, a better
capacity to do evil deeds. At the outset, the witch-queen ventured into the lands of Faerie to
bring the fallen star back to her other Lilim sisters. She was able to use magical powers, but
 Chuxuan (Tommy) Hou, 3

she grows a little bit older every time she exercises her strengths in the bewitching domain.
The witch-queen complains about the burden of old age and how unfair it is to live with
threatening aftermath at length. In many cases during the storyline, the witch-queen is
described as older and older, progressively. One illustration of the Lilim’s feedback after
casting magic was delineated by the quote, “There were streaks of grey now in her
raven-black hair and dark pouches beneath her eyes.” (Gaiman, 147) One may agree with
people who think that the strenuous onus of old age is well deserved for the witch-queen, as
she is technically the antagonist. She had done several inhumane things to society: from
transforming Brevis into her slave billy goat to cursing Madame Semele. Naturally, it is
reasonable to assert that the Lilim utilizes magic in Stardust with greedy and somewhat evil
intent. This example proves that consequences should never be deleted from the world, for
they explain the theory of why humans cannot achieve total freedom. The proverb, “What
goes around, comes around.” accentuates limited free will, or soft determinism. Gaiman
suggests that one decision made by an individual can cause something else that determines
one’s other thoughts about what is moral or ethical. For instance, there will always be people
who will show gratitude towards you only if you appreciate them first. The same goes for the
negative sides of things; one needs to endure hardship after the ruthless deeds they’ve done.
Suffice to say, the message is that the attempt to break already determined consequences
makes a cause harder to mitigate. One way to avoid this is to simply seize every opportunity
to become or act free, under what one has in mind and what is righteous in society.
Determinism will always exist among us and in our minds, but that does not impede freedom
and the responsibility one may take that are caused by it. This concept correlates to the
central argument, as the Lilim’s ethical perception and false interpretation of what are
mandatory constraints are causing her to appear like an antagonist.

On a metaphysical platform, to be free from psychological confinement consists of

numerous cases and effects afterwards. The author consistently promotes his arguments about
the clash between freedom of desire, the rules, and the status quo for freedom from decisions.
Victoria Forester, in the novel, had made a promise to Tristan Thorn: she would give him
anything he desired if he succeeds in obtaining a fallen star outside of Wall. In order to satiate
 Chuxuan (Tommy) Hou, 4

his heart’s desire, Tristan made an errand across the forbidden land to encounter many a
challenge and adversity – bringing the star back to her. Unfortunately, Victoria soon became
in affection with another mesmerizing man named Mister Monday. She endeavours to
become free from her promise to Tristan, as he was not her dominant aspiration. When
Victoria finished her thoughtful conversation with Tristan and that he was comfortable with
her marrying Mister Monday, she “exhaled in one low shuddering breath of release.”
(Gaiman, 226) This quotation emphasizes how anxious she was before deciding to absolve
herself from the oath. The quote can be elucidated as a weight lifted off one’s shoulder.
Victoria’s narration proves how a freely made metaphysical decision can easily make oneself
benefit from it; yet it is not invariably positive towards other people in the world at large. The
Greek philosopher Epicurus once proclaimed that “The just man is the most free disturbance”
and vice versa. This means that a reasonable amount of freedom is to avoid or drop away
most of one’s anger, misery, or futile emotions and desires. After all of this is gone, the
person can spend all of their privileges or liberty on wanting something moral, personally and
socially. According to Victoria’s scenario, she attempted to delete the promise to Tristan,
which she considers an impairment to her new free will – to marry Mister Monday. With the
bargain removed, she can be fully potent in performing the “freedom to something” desire
that she needs for life. Moreover, this example shows that a promise dwindles one’s space of
liberty to attain that thing. This can result in malicious sentiments towards that particular act
doing so or a change in character. These impairments, or free will with social determinism,
are the root of “Character v.s. Faith” conflicts. This is very pertinent to the thesis, as peoples’
metaphysical decisions of “freedom from something” may obstruct others’ rights. In this
context, Victoria Forester’s pledge withdrawal caused Tristan’s freedom of marriage to
diminish. Humans in society should understand that when ethics clash with spiritual freedom,
each party’s thoughts are from unique perspectives of what is humane or beneficial.

Although many essential characters in Stardust either behold youth or personalities of young
age, youth is not the main theme in this novel for various reasons. Returning to an elaboration
of the witch-queen’s quest for freedom from a burden, she desires to live forever young to
perform an “ethical act in liberty” only for the sake of herself. One may argue that this
 Chuxuan (Tommy) Hou, 5

anecdote revolves around the importance of youth, yet it only used that concept to imply a
more meaningful idea. The witch-queen’s ethical side mostly belongs to the contemplation of
neglecting rules, which therefore goes to the theory of “freedom from” a particular burden or
impairment. On the other hand, the protagonist in Stardust is a youthful boy, particularly for
the reason that Gaiman’s book is a bildungsroman. A closely related fantasy series, Harry
Potter, also resides in the bildungsroman category. Conversely, Lord Voldemort, who is
likewise another important character, neither desired adolescence nor possessed jejunity.
Hence, the notion of youth only occurs as a requirement of a bildungsroman story; it doesn’t
have a profound meaning. Multiple appearances of young age are encountered throughout the
reading of Stardust. Per contra, these details claim solely to be a superficial regulation to
every coming-of-age book. Therefore, it is rational to conclude that the greater message of
Neil Gaiman’s novel will not alter if childhood isn’t there.

In the bildungsroman Stardust by Neil Gaiman, there was a myriad of scenes where a
character experienced either metaphysical, ethical, and political free will or confinement. The
ethical point of view for every individual depends on what they think is correct. Thus, it also
affects how society will change with the consequences of that freedom. Rules and promises,
on a second approach, are considered soft determinism impairments; one can still act with
liberty, only that they have to regard these regulations. Alas, no one can yet reach the
pinnacle of freedom, nor can they manage to hinder no one’s decisions in maintaining their
metaphysical privilege. The large theme of “Freedom v.s. Confinement” demonstrates how
different people play their roles in this magical, thrilling, and wonderful story that is written
by Neil Gaiman.