Lola

In Short

Lola is a turn-of-the-century melodrama that explores the unsettling intersection of scientific hubris and moral decay. When a brilliant scientist successfully revives his dying daughter, she returns with her life intact but her conscience seemingly erased. The narrative follows her descent into manipulation and selfishness, turning the domestic life of her father and suitor into a battlefield of emotional trauma. It remains a fascinating artifact of early twentieth-century speculative fiction, capturing the era’s anxieties about the limits of human intervention and the nature of the soul.

The Story

Dr. Barnhelm is an obsessed, impoverished scientist who has spent his life refining an electrical apparatus capable of reviving the dead. His daughter, Lola, is a radiant, beloved girl who brings warmth to their squalid tenement. When she falls deathly ill and expires, the doctor refuses to accept the finality of death. He applies his high-frequency electrical invention to her heart and successfully brings her back to life. However, the girl who awakens is not the same daughter he lost.

Lola emerges with a chilling detachment. While she retains her beauty and charm, she loses the ability to feel remorse, loyalty, or empathy. She immediately begins to exert a destructive influence on those around her, including her devoted suitor, John Dorris. Lola demands a life of luxury and excitement that her father cannot afford, forcing him to rely on the financial support of his friend, Dr. Paul Crossett, to satisfy her whims. As she spirals into a series of illicit liaisons—most notably with a man named Dick Fenway—she systematically breaks the hearts of those who adore her.

Lola’s behavior is characterized by a series of deceptions. She lies about her whereabouts, manipulates her father’s patients, and callously discards the people who have been her closest allies. When John confronts her about her infidelity and her cold nature, she remains unmoved, effectively gaslighting him until he is left questioning his own sanity and judgment. She leaves the security of her father’s home to pursue a reckless life, hopping between social scenes and leaving a trail of misery in her wake.

The narrative shifts as Lola’s past choices catch up with her. She moves through elite circles, eventually securing a divorce for her lover, Dick Fenway, but she finds no stability. Her physical health begins to fail again, and she eventually returns to her father’s doorstep, not out of love or repentance, but out of a desperate, selfish need for survival. She learns she is dying and demands that her father use his machine again to save her. Dr. Barnhelm, now broken and disillusioned, subjects her to a final, brutal interrogation. He forces her to acknowledge her lack of shame, her thefts, and her cruelty. When she confirms she feels nothing for the lives she has ruined, the story reaches its grim conclusion: the man who created a miracle finds himself forced to decide whether the "shell" he saved is worth keeping alive.

How It Unfolds

The experiment Dr. Barnhelm and Dr. Crossett debate the existence of the soul while finalizing an electrical device capable of restarting a heart. The atmosphere is thick with both intellectual vanity and the desperate hope of a grieving father.

The transformation Lola is revived from death, but her subsequent behavior marks a sharp, inexplicable break from her former self. She begins to manipulate her father’s finances, shifting their household into a world of debt and shallow social pretense.

The web of deceit John Dorris, the loyal suitor, becomes the primary target of Lola’s psychological games. He struggles to reconcile the woman he thinks he knows with the cold, dishonest stranger who drifts through his life.

The downward spiral Lola abandons her home for a life of aimless, high-society indulgence with Dick Fenway. Her trail of broken promises and cruelty reaches a climax when she encounters those she has abandoned, showing nothing but disdain for their suffering.

The final confrontation Facing a terminal heart condition, Lola returns to her father to demand another resurrection. The doctor finally strips away her facade, confronting her with the absolute void where her conscience should be.

The People

Lola is the central enigma. She begins as a cherished daughter and transforms into a creature of pure, impulsive desire. She wants only what gratifies her immediate mood, and she views others solely as tools or obstacles. She ends the story as a hollow, defiant figure who acknowledges her own lack of morality.

Dr. Barnhelm is the tragic architect of his own suffering. He wants to conquer death to save his daughter, but his scientific arrogance blinds him to the cost of his success. He ends the story as a disillusioned man, finally forced to recognize that the life he restored is devoid of the humanity he once cherished.

John Dorris acts as the emotional anchor of the book. He is a steadfast, generous man who wants only a life of honest partnership with Lola. His struggle is the inability to process the betrayal of the woman he loves, and he ends the story as a casualty of her indifference.

Dr. Paul Crossett serves as the rational, somewhat detached observer. He wants to support his friend’s brilliance but becomes increasingly alarmed by the moral vacuum that grows within the Barnhelm household. He remains a stable, if somewhat helpless, witness to the tragedy.

In Its Own Voice

"The body dies, but the soul, can that ever die? I doubt it!"

Dr. Barnhelm questions the nature of mortality while justifying his work to his peer.

"I have lived for over twenty years in the dissecting room," remarked Dr. Crossett, with rather a contemptuous smile. "I know the human body. They differ very little, each organ has its place, all is complete--I have not found a soul."

Dr. Crossett dismisses the existence of the divine, setting the stage for the book's central conflict.

What It's Really About

The book is a dark inquiry into the definition of humanity. It asks whether a person is composed merely of biological functions that can be jump-started by electricity, or if the "soul" is an essential component that, if lost, leaves behind a dangerous, soulless animal. It critiques the idea of "progress" without ethics, suggesting that scientific achievement can be a curse when it interferes with natural order. By focusing on a daughter who loses her moral compass, the story also interrogates the nature of evil: is it a learned behavior, or can it be an inherent, cold trait that emerges when the restraints of conscience are removed?

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate early science fiction and the dramatic conventions of the late Victorian and Edwardian theater will find this an interesting, if unsettling, read. The book moves with the rapid, somewhat melodramatic pacing of a film treatment, which makes sense given its origins as a photo-play script. It provides a unique window into how the early twentieth century imagined the "mad scientist" trope and the anxieties surrounding the shift from traditional religious morality to a more secular, mechanical view of life.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the period’s stiff, occasionally heavy-handed dialogue and the rigid gender roles that define the characters’ motivations. The narrative does not shy away from the cruelty of its protagonist, and the ending is stark and uncompromising, lacking the comfort of a traditional redemptive arc. If you are interested in how authors of the past used the "scientific breakthrough" to explore personal morality and the corruption of the heart, Lola offers a compelling, albeit bleak, perspective. It stays with you precisely because it refuses to provide a neat resolution to the horror of a person who looks like someone you love but has become someone entirely unrecognizable.