The Great Divorce

The narrator and MacDonald hear a sound so beautiful the narrator cannot think of its equal in all his earthly experience. They soon see that the sound and a bright light are coming from a procession headed their way. Human Spirits, angels, and animals alike surround a woman of almost unbearable beauty. MacDonald identifies her as Sarah Smith and says that despite her complete mediocrity from the perspective of earthly success, she has a large family and is celebrated in Heaven because of her abundant love and godliness to everyone she encountered.

Sarah comes to meet a small man whom she refers to as “Frank,” who is chained to a taller, gaunt man that the narrator refers to as “the Tragedian” because his voice and mannerisms are so ridiculously melodramatic. As the chapter goes on, it becomes clear that the Tragedian is a physical representation of the part of Frank that lives for pity and wants everyone to pay him constant attention. Sarah consistently ignores him in her conversation with Frank.

Sarah and Frank’s conversation reveals that they were married in life and that he attempted to control and manipulate her on a regular basis.