White argues that Hirst focuses in the “natural sublime”, saying that such an interest in the sublime has re-surged because of its “relevance as an aesthetic of terrible nature”. Hirst piece certainly carries a horrible nature. If I had not Nagini, I might have to buy myself a shark companion (living, of course) for the creatures seem absolutely horrific. Hirst manages to showcase this, the creatures fierce being and the rigidity in which it must move, without actually animating the creature whatsoever (although... I suppose sharks could make good Inferi). The shark, at first glance, appears to be in its natural element, completely submerged, but he is instead cloaked in a more alien and sublime mystique. The unnatural blue of the chemical it now soaks in, the stiffness. That death could conquer something so feared by Muggles, adds to the mystery and power of incomprehensible death. And provocation is what Hirst seeks; he “means to push his audience’s buttons”. Hirst notes how the shark, to Muggles, represents a “really powerful kind of horror” and acts as a “universal trigger”. He says “that ‘everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies’”. Although I might have to disagree with Hirst on the last point (butterflies are amongst the most irksome and useless creatures), I do say these methods are quite brilliant. To show Muggles that their society, their methods of an “opulent” lifestyle are so incomprehensible to the sensible being, are so frightful to those who truly see, through the use of nature itself, that thing they destroyed, is frighteningly fresh.
Beyond the fear of mortality, Hirst reveals that capitalistic Muggle society is just as muddled, just as terrifying as death itself. This shark, nature itself in all its beauty and raw power, is meant to symbolize nature’s “limit to human power, progress and wealth, something which even threatens to destroy us”. The shark is not only nature which Muggles so destroy. The shark is death. Floating in its grave, the shark has been conquered by the worst outcome. There is nothing more terrible or stronger than death and this terrifies Muggles, as it rightly should. So they seek to evade it. Not using their brains and creating an impenetrable slew of Horocruxes to evade off the end, they instead, White argues, turn to capitalism and their own opulence. They swallow their fears in the incomprehensible capitalistic wealth and greed. Little do they know how poorly this route ends. The Malfoys certainly didn’t. Influential and wealthy beyond belief and they still fell by my hands, their master of death. They, as all Muggles shall, ended up drowning in their own means of protection from death. The fools.
For, as Hirst depicts and White acknowledges, there is a link between the pitiful attempts of Muggles to ward off their inevitable ends by surrounding themselves with jewels and false friends and their overwhelming and consuming fear of death. Both methods they cannot understand. They understand not the final horrifying collapse. They understand not that their diamond necklaces choke their necks and make them bleed all their filthy blood until they run dry. Just as they don’t understand that though they may think the shark destroyed, death obliterated by their own chemical creation, it still stands as a symbol for what is inevitably coming for them. Their basest fears manifesting from their own means of protection. How poetic, is it not?
In his analysis of Hirst’s piece, White, although a Muggle, is able to extract what needs to be seen from the work. He sees the shark, not as other members of his pitiful race do, as their conquering of death, as their victory lap. Instead he sees it as Hirst’s warning that the macabre still lurks out there and that death can never be destroyed (by Muggle means). Death is not incomprehensible because it can’t be perceived when it is experienced. Death is impossible to grasp because in their attempts to understand, Muggles just end up destroying themselves. And they can’t see how they are ruining themselves right before their eyes.
White, Luke. "Damien Hirst's Shark: Nature, Capitalism and the Sublime." Tate
Papers 14 (2010): n. pag. Art Full Text. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
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