Dr. Renard’s Lantern Symbol Analysis

The antique lantern that Dr. Renard gives to Gabriel Syme and his companions represents Chesterton’s view that modern people should cope with social and moral alienation by returning to traditional religious beliefs. After Syme’s duel with the Marquis, they and their fellow detectives try to evade the Secretary’s ominous approaching army by borrowing Dr. Renard’s car. But the car doesn’t have a light, so Renard offers them a valuable antique lantern with a cross on it. But the lantern is built into his ceiling like a chandelier, so Renard has to partially destroy his house to give it to them. Still, this lantern allows the detectives to see their way through the night—which represents the way that Christianity offers people moral guidance.

Later, when the Secretary’s army corners Syme and his companions on the beach, they start to feel like the forces of evil—or even the apocalypse—are taking over the universe. At a crucial moment in the conflict, Syme holds up the lantern to the Secretary. He points out the lantern’s Christian iconography, then notes that the traditional blacksmithing processes used to create the lantern involved using flame and iron to create something both useful and beautiful. In contrast, using the same tools, anarchists “make nothing” and “only destroy.” In other words, the lantern reflects the way that Chesterton thinks people can live meaningful lives and create something of value in the world when they embrace orderliness, knowledge, and above all, religious traditions. In contrast, the Secretary’s horde of hollow, selfish invaders represents the way that modern society makes people’s lives meaningless by destroying the moral principles and shared traditions on which they used to rely.