Mary Shelley's, "Transformation," is a story written in 1830 that is about pride and self pity. Guido, the main character, is in love with a woman named Juliet. They have known each other since they were young and they promised each other their love in the chapel when they were very little. When Guido's father was still alive, he and Juliet's father drew up a marriage contract. When Guido's father dies, Juliet's father said that it was not valid and drew up a new marriage contract. Guido was so mad about this that he suffered greatly and in the end was banished and had to leave Juliet.
Guido fled to the sea, and while he was there wondering, he met a dwarf who had supernatural powers. All the dwarf wants is a normal body for three days and after discussing a pact, a pact is made and Guido gives up his body and they switch. The dwarf gets Guido's body and Guido gets the dwarf's body plus a huge treasure. He thinks that once he has money, he can get Juliet back. The dwarf did not come back after three days, however, and Guido go very scared. He did not want to live in that body forever. He went after the dwarf and found the dwarf in his body about to marry Juliet. He was so scared that he would lose her. He got into a huge fight with the dwarf and tried to kill his own body! When he came back to life, he was back in his own boy. He tried to tell Juliet what happened, but of course she did not believe him. Guido ended up marrying Juliet and his bond with her became very strong because all of this happened. Guido comments at the end of the story, "that it might be good rather than an evil spirit, sent by my guardian angel, to show me the folly and misery of pride. So well at least did I learn this lesson"
Guido allowed a worldly thing (money) get in the way of Juliet. He got wrapped up in worldly things and had to go through humiliation and almost torture to figure out what is important in life. He seems to move into stage three by the end of the story. He was so full of pride and self pity in the beginning of the story and had to go through a horrible ordeal just to realize that money and position doesn't really matter. He had to experience a terrible event for him to wake up and see that the worldly things don't always matter so much- it is the love of Juliet that really mattered all along. I think that the dwarf must have really been there to help Guido move onto stage three because he gave up the body so easily. Guido may have almost killed him, but it seems that an evil spirit could stand a lot more than what the dwarf went through. The dwarf wanted him to see what he was missing by not accepting Juliet's father's proposal. He could have missed out on the best thing that ever happened to him.
The dwarf also seems to have had a spell over Guido. Guido comments, "His supernatural powers made him an oracle in my eyes; yet a strange unearthly thrill quivered through my frame" He knew that the dwarf had powers and he thought that the powers were evil, yet it is odd that Guido still made a pact with him. Guido is lucky for this dwarf because without him, he may have never been reunited with his love or realized that there is more to life than just earthly stuff.
