"How does Peter Ackroyd evoke the atmosphere of setting in order to explore the themes of the novel, 'Hawksmoor'?"

Fiction Magazine on the publication of Hawksmoor described it as 'renewing a dark romanticism that colours the London landscapes...' In the novel, Ackroyd creates an atmosphere associated with its setting, not only as a feature of his prose, but as a necessary foundation to the plot. However, before this is examined, it is important to set the context. The plot is divided along two lines. The first concerns the work of Nicholas Dyer, an architect who is commissioned to design seven new Parish Churches in the Cities of London and Westminster in the early eighteenth century. However, Dyer is an adherent of the 'old religion,' and the design of the churches is to reflect this. Furthermore, at the founding of each building, it is necessary for him to perform 'sacrifices.' The second strand is set in the late Twentieth Century and follows the investigations of Detective Chief Superintendent Hawksmoor into a series of murders which parallels those committed by Dyer 250 years previously. The actual relationship between the two sets of murders remains ambiguous, as does the connection between the characters of Dyer and Hawksmoor.

Yet in one aspect, there is a distinct continuity between the two different periods and strands of the plot. This facet of the book is its setting, which remains central to the pattern of events. The use of place is not simply employed to convey an atmosphere befitting of a supernatural thriller, but to reflect both symbolic and literal themes with which the story is concerned. To address the first of these, Ackroyd uses the book to examine the nature of the motivation for evil. Throughout the story there are demonstrations of how one act of evil engenders another, and how corruption spreads, contaminating both people and place. Dyer expressing this, 'as the Inke stains the Paper on which it is spilt and slowly spreads to Blot out all the Characters, so the Contagion of darkness and malefaction grows...' Most obviously, there are the crimes committed by Dyer. Dyer murders for the sake of his art, and not only must he murder for each building he designs, each act drives him to the next. Hence, his paranoia at being discovered causes him to murder Yorick Hayes, in order to silence the rival he mistakenly believes has found him out.

Hawksmoor considers, 'a house... in which three separate murders had been perpetrated over a period of eight years, and the building itself gave such an impression to those who entered it that it had stayed empty since the last killing.' This is taken from the second of two passages, echoed in both the Dyer and Hawksmoor narratives respectively. Both of these list the depravities known to have been committed in the location in which the book is set. This addresses the issue of the effect that place has upon evil, and the effect evil has upon place. Ackroyd is aware of this duality and expresses it as an irony. Dyer builds his churches as monuments to evil, and believes it is the place itself which is responsible for encouraging its perpetuation. On the other hand, in Hawksmoor's strand, it is the evil which taints the place and it is this which the detective must witness. The modern series of murders are a reflection of Dyer's actions, not of the churches themselves. This irony is summed up in the inscription placed in the church of Little St. Hugh, Moorfields, 'I Have Endured All These Troubles For Thy Sake.' Dyer has endured having to commit atrocities for the sake of the place, his church. Hawksmoor has had to endure witnessing the consequences of these actions upon the place. As he is, in a way, a shadow of Dyer, this was endured for the sake of that architect.

Only on the arrival of Hawksmoor at the church of Little St. Hugh at the novel's conclusion is the pattern resolved. These final three paragraphs both affect a resolution of the story, and clearly demonstrate Ackroyd's skill in using language to convey atmosphere, and in turn symbolism. When Dyer talks of practicing the 'art of Shadodowes,' it has several different meanings. On the literal level it is his 'ability to handle large abstract shapes and his sensitive lines of mass and shadow.' Dyer himself intends this to reflect the base side of life, which he perceives and glorifies. More obscurely, it refers to the way in which Hawksmoor and the murders of the modern tract of the book are shadows of what has gone before. All these meanings are expressed in the conclusion, and although none are clearly elucidated, the author allows the language to suggest them.

The scene is set in this way. Although the use of shadow in the church, for which Dyer was renowned, is not explicitly commented upon it is implied. As Hawksmoor approaches the church of Little St. Hugh through the courtyard, his progression is sequentially charted. Each sentence begins with a 'He...' and describes each features as he comes across it. The effect of this is to place Hawksmoor in a spotlight, which only reveals his surroundings as he comes upon them. For the rest of the time, they are veiled in shadow. Much of the description conveys the subtlety of the shades of the church. There is a reference to the 'weak sun,' and that 'the half-light was strewn across the floor like rushes.' The consequence of this shadow is described upon those who experience it. The bleakness of 'the darkness of wood, stone and metal' is emphasised by repetition, whilst its quality is oppressive so that 'Hawksmoor looked for relief from the darkness...' The weight of the literal darkness is used as a metaphor for the burden upon Hawksmoor and Dyer, of the darkness they have witnessed and committed. That Dyer took little pleasure in his work can be assumed from earlier assertions such as, 'I am in the Pitte, but I have gone so deep that I can see the brightness of the Starres at Noon.'

The burden is equally conveyed in the statement 'I Have Endured All These Troubles For Thy Sake,' and if this means in the case of Dyer, for the sake of the church, it is a further contribution to the personification of the place, which is palpable in these paragraphs. Whilst the relationship between Dyer and Hawksmoor across the ages may remain enigmatic, the background against which their stories takes place remains a consistent character throughout. A window is described as 'like an eye,' whilst Hawksmoor enters 'the body of the church. Which seemed to spring to life around him.' With regard to the duality of interaction between evil and place, Hawksmoor 'allowed it to grow dark.' This is another statement which can be taken literally, or as suggesting that it is the influence of people, as they 'allow' things to slide into malfeasance, which taints a place.

A final interpretation of the way in which Ackroyd uses language to characterise the setting, is to imply the nature of the correlation between the narratives of Dyer and Hawksmoor. Again, the concept of the literal shadow is representative of much more. This conceit is illustrated in the passage, 'for when there was a shape there was a reflection, and when there was a light there was a shadow, and when there was a sound there was an echo, and who could say where one had ended and the other had begun.' Accordingly, the relationship between the two is likened to that between a thing and its shadow. This is similarly described in the corresponding passage in the Dyer narrative, when he has entered the church of Little St. Hugh, 'I knelt down in front of the Light, and my Shaddowe stretched over the World.' The hallucinatory ambience of the concluding 'meeting' between Dyer, and his 'shadow' Hawksmoor, is emphasised by the description of light and shadow, and also by the use of similes. This has the intention of painting the place as if it were almost indescribable and indistinct, which represents the atmosphere of the event, and also corresponds with the ambiguity which the author seeks to maintain.

The churches which the book 'Hawksmoor' imagines Nicholas Dyer building are renowned for their use of shadow. Peter Ackroyd draws upon this characteristic of the setting to express a number of subjects. It is a device he employs on an immediate level to create atmosphere. Whilst this may occur on a superficial level, its usage is essential to the book. On one hand, it creates the required mood of what is, after all, a ghost story. Yet, it is a tenet of the book that it can be the very character of a place that is responsible for the events it hosts. The stage on which the events of Hawksmoor occur, the landscape of London, remains a constant subject against which this is explored. Was it the environment of London and his churches which influenced Dyer in his evil deeds, or was it those actions which polluted the environment? Did the shadow create Dyer, or did Dyer create the shadow? It is the shadow and the place it shrouds which act as a bridge between the two parallel narratives, the second of which can be seen as a 'shadow' of the first. Hence, the causes and consequences of evil are depicted in relation to the space in which they are perpetrated.