The Phoenix

by

Sylvia Townsend Warner

The Flames Symbol Analysis

The Flames Symbol Icon

When the phoenix bursts into flames at the end of the story in front of a paying audience, the fire represents the moral consequences of several types of bad behavior: capitalist greed, imperialist exploitation, and thirst for violent spectacle. Throughout the story, Mr. Poldero tries to exploit the phoenix for profit, caring only for the money he can earn from the bird and not at all for its wellbeing. By the story’s end, he has tortured the bird to hasten the end of its life when it will burst into flames and be reborn from the ashes. Poldero sells tickets to this spectacle, seating an audience and a film crew so that he can maximize his profits. But in the end, the phoenix’s flames are uncontrollable and they kill both Poldero and his audience. Since the phoenix burst into flames as a result of Poldero’s quest for money, the inferno at the end of the story can be seen as a moral consequence for greed. Poldero tried to profit off of the phoenix through gruesome means (torturing the bird and selling tickets to its death), but his greedy actions wound up destroying him.

Likewise, the mass death at the end of the story can also be seen as a consequence for the audience’s thirst for a violent spectacle. After all, each person in attendance eagerly purchased tickets to the phoenix’s death, but few if any of them cared to witness the phoenix’s quietly dignified life. That they’re only interested in witnessing violence comes with a consequence: “some thousand” audience members die in the blaze. And this fire is also a commentary on the British Empire’s incessant colonization of foreign lands, as the phoenix is only in London in the first place because Lord Strawberry traveled to “Arabia,” captured the phoenix, and brought it back to Britain, mirroring the flow of rare and valuable resources from British colonies to the mainland. When the phoenix bursts into flames killing its British tormentor (Poldero), this can be seen as an analog for violent revolution of oppressed colonies once they reach a breaking point.

The Flames Quotes in The Phoenix

The The Phoenix quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Flames. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Greed, Exploitation, and Capitalism Theme Icon
).
The Phoenix Quotes

“PANSY. Phoenix phoenixissima formossisima arabiana. This rare and fabulous bird is UNIQUE. The World’s Old Bachelor. Has no mate and doesn’t want one. When old, sets fire to itself and emerges miraculously reborn. Specially imported from the East.”

0011

Related Characters: Mr. Tancred Poldero, The Phoenix
Related Symbols: The Flames
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:

“Suppose,” continued Mr. Poldero, “we could somehow get him alight? We’d advertise it beforehand, of course, work up interest. Then we’d have a new bird, and a bird with some romance about it, a bird with a life story. We could sell a bird like that.”

1001

Related Characters: Mr. Tancred Poldero (speaker), The Phoenix
Related Symbols: The Flames
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:

It was not easy to age the phoenix. Its allowance of food was halved, and halved again, but though it grew thinner its eyes were undimmed and its plumage glossy as ever.

0101

Related Characters: Mr. Tancred Poldero, The Phoenix
Related Symbols: The Flames
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:

The flames streamed upwards, leaped out on every side. In a minute or two everything was burned to ashes, and some thousand people, including Mr. Poldero, perished in the blaze.

1111

Related Characters: Mr. Tancred Poldero, The Phoenix
Related Symbols: The Flames
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Phoenix LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Phoenix PDF

The Flames Symbol Timeline in The Phoenix

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Flames appears in The Phoenix. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Phoenix
Greed, Exploitation, and Capitalism Theme Icon
Imperialism and Rebellion Theme Icon
Popular Culture, Spectacle, and Cruelty Theme Icon
...take note of the label on the phoenix’s cage: the phoenix dies by bursting into <flames and from the ashes is reborn. While the phoenix appears to be in the prime... (full context)
Greed, Exploitation, and Capitalism Theme Icon
Man vs. Nature Theme Icon
Imperialism and Rebellion Theme Icon
Popular Culture, Spectacle, and Cruelty Theme Icon
But at that moment, the phoenix does burst into flames—they shoot upward and outward in all directions. Very quickly, everything is burned to the ground.... (full context)