An unnamed narrator, not aware of his age, past or name, has lived all his existence, as far he is aware of, in a dark, old castle. All alone, he only occasionally stumbles upon old bones, which seem familiar to him, so he is in part aware of he has had ancestors and there must be someone taking care of his basic needs, as he still is alive himself. At times, he walks outside the castle, resting under the shadow trees surrounding the castle, but each time he tries to venture further, a dread grabs him, forcing him to turn back to his dark abode.
The most visible part of the castle, a place the narrator hasn't visited, is a tall tower, rising high up in the sky. When he finally gathers enough courage to rise the tower, he is ar first stopped by the ending of the stairs, while the tower seems to rise higher above. The only way forward is the footholds on the wall, so he scurries ever upwards, clinging on the wall, preferring the possibility of falling to an eternal existence in the lonely castle.
His next stop is a trap door he manages to push open. While it clangs shut after him, he rests a while, looking at the darkness of the tower above him. He continues and finally arrives at a gate, through which, to his surprise, he sees a paved ground and a church rising in the distance instead of the dense foliage of the forest he was expecting to see opening up from the tower.
The nameless narrator continues on and finally arrives at a castle that looks familiar to him, albeit different. Instead of being empty, he sees light glow through its windows and hears the voices of merriment echo from within. As he enters the castle, he is stupefied when the people turn towards him and escape in wright. Thinking some horrifying creature has followed him, he looks around but sees nothing out of the ordinary, so he continues in.
Finally, under a golden arch, he sees a ghastly figure. A ghoulish, sunken face of an undead monster whose skeletal structure can be seen under dried skin and rotting flesh. As he stumbles closer to it, he finally realizes what he is, a ghoul risen from a grave.
The Outsider is a fine story, considered by many to be one of the best, if not the best short story Lovecraft wrote. Lovecraft himself has stated it was written, albeit unconsciously, as an imitation of one of his literary heroes, Edgar Allan Poe. Many have noted some similarities to the works of Oscar Wilde as well as Mary Shelley. Some Lovecraft scholars have noted there might be some autobiographical elements as well in the form of how the people react to the visual image of the narrator, as Lovecraft had problems with his own self-image and thought of himself as ugly.
The story has an interesting approach towards the undead, zombies and ghouls who commonly are some of the least interesting monsters devised. In the story of the Outsider, we see the world, unbeknownst, from the eyes of a creature we at first, just like he does, believe to be a human, but whose real form is revealed in a slow-burning realisation.
You can see the description of the ghouls lonely time in the castle as a metaphor for being entombed. He is alive, or unalive, and aware of himself, but has forgotten his living days, being woken up in a catacomb or a crypt. The climbing of the tower is his slow rise from the grave, towards the world he used to live in. Or perhaps, the images of the castle and the forest are his purgatory, from where he is slowly rising, after having suffered his penance. Perhaps, when he was alive, he was a popular fellow, always among friends, but after some horrible sin, he was, in death, sentenced to loneliness.
The actual castle he arrives at, the one seeming remotely familiar, is in all likelihood his old home, of which he saw echoes of during his time in the crypt: his mind tried to make his death more bearable by creating the castle as it was when he was alive, but now he sees the place in its current form, still familiar but different as ages have passed since he was alive.
Even if you aren't into zombie or ghoul fiction The Outsider is a story well worth a read. It is a well written gothic horror story, made better by its point of view.
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