Victorians! discussion

Welcome to Week Four! I am finding myself more drawn into Clara’s plight as the story moves on, and am curious to hear of others feel the same.


Chapter Summaries 22-28

Chapters 22-23
Col. DeCraye, a bachelor, speculates on the joys of marriage to amuse Clara. Clara does not confide in him, but he is astute enough to realize that she is unhappy, that Willoughby does not love her, only wishes to possess her, and that she knows it. Secretly, Clara takes her fate into her own hands and plans a retreat from the Hall to the home of her friend, Lucy, away from the family and friends upon whom she has not been able to rely for help. Meanwhile, Willoughby conceives himself to be wronged by Clara and considers how he might “bring her to the understanding of the principle called mastery, which is in man.” He indulges in a little daydream of her repentance if he should allow her to go from him. (Hilarious!) He wakes to observe Clara, DeCraye, and Crossjay on their ride, and conceives a jealousy.

Chapter 24-25
Dinner at the Hall gives everyone the opportunity to both observe, consider, and speculate upon each other. The following morning Clara makes another attempt to convince her father to take her away, but he continues to consider only his own inconvenience. The aunts, Isabel and Eleanor, assure Clara on Willoughby's behalf. Clara receives Lucy’s reply and makes good in her plans to leave the Hall.

Chapter 26-28
The household becomes aware the Clara is not where she is expected and a search is made. Vernon finds her at the railway station and convinced her to go inside to get dry. Vernon leaves to distract Mrs. Mountstuart Jenkinson, but Col. DeCraye arrives and discovers Clara. The train is late and, having been discovered, Clara is compelled by Vernon’s cautions to return to the Hall.

Here are some things to consider for comment…

Questions
1. How do you find Meredith’s style at this point in the novel?
2. Clara continues to be unable to convince her father to travel with her away from the Hall and his comforts. Do you think he would put aside his convenience if she were more direct in confiding her concerns? What reasons does she have for reticence?
3. What do you make of the device where every male at the Hall seems to have fallen for Clara in some way?
4. Is Clara justified in leaving as she does? How has she compromised Crossjay? How may she have compromised herself?
5. How do Whitfield, DeCraye, and Mrs. Mountstuart Jenkinson thwart Clara’s escape?
6. Do you have any speculation on what will happen once she returns to the Hall?

Colonel de Craye suddenly sees that Clara is headed into a loveless marriage, and, because of his admiration for her, he is mad as hell.

Considering the import of Clara's decision to flee to her friend Miss Darleton, and all of the agonizing that went into it, I was not satisfied with any reason that Meredith provided for her return to Willoughby's house. Did everyone else swallow that ?

Renee wrote: "How do you find Meredith’s style at this point in the novel? "

This is Brian#2. To repeat what I said last week "So far, I'm finding Meredith's style to be George Eliot (complex sentences) Henry James (commentary and dialogue over action) and Oscar Wilde (florid wit) put in a blender." As with other complex authors, I am getting more used to his style as the book goes on.

Renee wrote: "What do you make of the device where every male at the Hall seems to have fallen for Clara in some way? "

While not stylistically similar, I'm finding a surprising similarity here to the plots of several Thomas Hardy novel: the female protagonist facing the choice of three prospective suitors. Of course, the similarity is just in the general plot as the settings, characters and tone differ substantially between the authors.
This plot is surprising as I anticipated the book would be focused on the egoist as the central character. Instead the title character, as in novels like Lorna Doone and Daisy Miller, is seen more through other eyes and is more important as the catalyst for all the characters' behavior. The main protagonist is Clara. Most of the novel is from her point of view. We rarely see inside Willoughby's perspective and see him most often from the POV of the other characters, including the two other suitors.

In answer to Renee and Brian#1's escape questions - I buy Clara's decision to return from the station but not just because of the reason stated (that Ms. Mountstuart saw her). I don't believe she wants Vernon to think she ran away with the Count. She may not be aware of why she chose to return. Also, with three people seeing her escape, she may also just be admitting the failure of an escape plan that she thought would be unseen by anyone. She hadn't anticipated having to be "allowed" to escape by the 2 other suitors.

Generally I am finding Meredith’s style to be quite witty and readable, but every so often there comes one of those chapters where he seems to labour his point with long-winded convoluted sentences and allusions which seem to escape me. Chapter 23 was one of those - the idea of Willoughby combining Temper and Policy (which I’m still not sure I understand) and then a rambling passage about of jealousy, full of Classical references. I do wonder how his readers would have taken those chapters.

Having said that, I’m enjoying the story. I find the device of all the men being attracted to Clara is made more believable by their different character traits - Willoughby’s desire to possess a woman suitable to reflect his glory, De Craye’s love of a challenge and the chance to win a contest with Willoughby, Vernon’s respect for her character and wish to see her exercise her intelligence. And of course Crossjay’s youthful crush on a beautiful lady!

I like Brian#2’s point about the reader largely seeing Willoughby through the other characters. I think this works very well as a literary technique. I enjoyed the part where De Craye is making assumptions about how Willoughby and Clara feel about each other, and if they have each noticed how the other feels!

I agree that Clara is motivated largely by how she feels she will appear to Vernon. Losing his good opinion is unbearable for her, even more unbearable than staying at the Hall with Willoughby.

Pamela wrote: "And of course Crossjay’s youthful crush on a beautiful lady!."

That's right. My mistake as, technically, there are 4 rather than 3 suitors for young maiden Clara. Have they mentioned how old Crossjay is?

Brian wrote: "Have they mentioned how old Crossjay is?.."

Meredith says he is 12 when he joins the household.

Pamela wrote: "Generally I am finding Meredith’s style to be quite witty and readable, but every so often there comes one of those chapters where he seems to labour his point with long-winded convoluted sentences..."

When I get to these chapters I keep thinking about things like Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. While not mock-epic, Meredith does seem to be applying excessive, elevated, even effusive language to describe what amount to petty jealousies and self-indulgences. I have to wonder if these chapters are his “comedic gems?”

Now that Brian has called my attention to POV, I’m noticing that the wordier chapters seem to focus on the narrator’s take on Willoughby’s motivations.

Do any other readers see this pattern?

Pamela wrote: "Brian wrote: "Have they mentioned how old Crossjay is?.."
Meredith says he is 12 when he joins the household."

Thanks. That helps with my imaging. I think I had him at about that age, just starting puberty.

Renee wrote: "Meredith does seem to be applying excessive, elevated, even effusive language to describe what amount to petty jealousies and self-indulgences.."

In the future, I'll try to think of those 3 'E's to describe Meredith's style:
Excessive, Elevated and Effusive.

In answer to question #2, I guess we'll never know! I'm really annoyed with her inability to express herself bluntly to her father. I could understand her unwillingness to upset him before she ever broached the subject, but after he reneges on his promise to her simply because of the wine, all bets would be off if it was me! I would not be so worried about his feelings at that point.

My impression of her father, at this point, is that he doesn't want to know what she has to say. I think he suspects that he isn't going to like it and doesn't want to deal with it, so he keeps her at arm's length. He preemptively minimizes her concerns with his condescending, dismissive remarks about the fickleness and waywardness of women in an attempt to discourage her confidences. He's enjoying the comfortable nest, along with the attentions and luxuries provided by his future son-in-law, and is loathe to part with them. I may be misjudging him; perhaps if Clara ever gathers her courage and is direct with him, he'll change his attitude and support her. Right now, though, I'm thinking that Willoughby is not the only egoist residing in that house at the moment!

I'm torn about her decision to return to the Hall. I get that she didn't think through Crossjay's part in her escape and how "cross me and you're dead to me" Willoughby would punish him for that. She also would not want ANY perception that she had run away with another man, as Constantia had done and DeCraye's presence and persistence complicated that. However, I'm not sure those would have been enough to cause me to abandon the scheme and return to such an "imprisoning" atmosphere. Her father, the only person with who she could really leave honorably, refuses to even listen to her requests or support her. All the other women around her think she is the luckiest woman on Earth to have captured Willoughby's fancy, so no sympathy there. Willoughby was already suspicious of her before this episode and was trying to cling to her like a burr. He won her father over with wine and kicked his poor old maiden aunts out of their home, supposedly for her. I'm not sure what that was supposed to convey to her unless it was how ruthless he could be? The situation she returns to will certainly be (I'm guessing) even more constrained than before she left. I'm not sure what her next move will be unless it is to be confess her feelings bluntly to her father.

I’m glad you categorized Dr. Middleton as another egoist, Cindy! I’m so frustrated with his refusal to take his own daughter seriously or to consider anyone’s needs but his own.

My inner shrink wonders if there’s a part of Clara that’s afraid her father wouldn’t side with her even if she told him all. What a betrayal that would be!

Brian wrote: "Considering the import of Clara's decision to flee to her friend Miss Darleton, and all of the agonizing that went into it, I was not satisfied with any reason that Meredith provided for her return to Willoughby's house. Did everyone else swallow that ?."

Like you, Brian, I found as a reader it was frustrating that after all these chapters of laying on how unhappy she is, when she finally does takes action to leave, it ends with her returning. Instead of a triumphal escape, battling through the heavy rain, evading those who would chase her down, and reaching her train and her freedom, we are given a conversation with Vernon and a conversation with the colonel and then her getting in a carriage and returning so quickly after she ran away. Although psychologically it can be read to make sense, narratively it is hugely disappointing for me. If she was going to return it would have been more pleasing to me if she'd returned due to sudden realisation of how she'd thoughtlessly ruined Crossjay's chances, a boy she claims to love.

I am finding it a little tiresome every male wanting to be with her, but thinking of the ages of the characters, I believe she is actually closer in age to Crossjay than her suitors (?) so there is something sinister about all these older men crowing around her but none of them providing her with what she needs. My guess at the moment is that she's going to end up with Vernon, although I'd imagine breaking an engagement with one man to marry the cousin you met while in his house would be social death.