The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Welcome to Week 3! A few notes along with the questions:

Mr. Vincent’s race is ambiguous, as “Creole” could mean either a fully white person born in the West Indies, or a mixed-race person born in the West Indies. Even if Mr. Vincent was fully white, Creoles were often looked down upon by British people and seen as “uncivilized.”

In the original version of Chapter 18, which I am reading, there are references to a budding romance between the farm girl Lucy and Juba, Mr. Vincent’s Black companion. The endnotes say that the revisions replaced Juba with a white farmer called James Jackson.

There are some pretty gross stereotypes in here about Black people, which would unfortunately remain common at least through the 1950s.

Who has been spreading rumors about Belinda and why?

At this point, how do things stand between Lady Delacour and her daughter, and between Belinda and Lady Delacour?

What do you think of Mrs. Freke?

What do you think about Mr. Vincent? And would he and Belinda be a good match? (For those of you reading the revisions, did he still almost declare himself?)

I found the pace (or my enjoyment of the novel) picked up in this section.

In this section I felt that Edgeworth is really pushing the contrast between the quiet, loving, stable family life we see with the Percivals, and the unpleasant, artificial, mean-spirited and competitive world of high society as epitomized by Mrs Freke. We know that Lady Delacour gave up her chance to be in the former in turning down Lord Percival's offer of marriage, however we also start to think that, if she could reconcile with her own husband, she might have a chance of reentering that world. She and Delacour have clearly not been living as husband and wife for some years (or he would know of her affliction) and yet there is some tenderness still, at least on his part.

There is in this novel the common theme of the virtuous young lady of whom false rumours are spread which threaten her romantic prospects. I am surprised that Hervey has appeared to leave the field, which would make Belinda considering Mr Vincent's proposal a greater possibility.

I am enjoying all the conversations of substance and philosophical debate. How I wish that more people talked this way today!

It didn’t surprise me that Sir Philip should be the one spreading vicious rumors about Belinda (egged on by Lord Delacour’s mischievous servant). And the progress of Lady Delacour’s suspicions seemed plausible.

Mrs. Freke really jumps off the page, and I enjoy the scenes in which she appears. I seem to recall a somewhat similar character in the Smollett book we read, and am thinking that this bluff, horsy, masculine woman may be a bit of a type in literature of this era. The fact that the chapter in which she appears at Oakly Park is titled “The Rights of Woman” implies that feminism was viewed as making women less feminine (as indeed was the case in the 1970s). Edgeworth seems to be making a case that women can be well educated and still remain traditional wives and demure ladies, not turn into Mrs. Frekes.

The Juba passages were painful to read. At least the old retired laborers are able to see him as a human being and not a caricature.

I was also interested in the way the Percival household was described, with children of all ages fully incorporated into their lives and not sequestered in a nursery. This seems very unusual especially for an aristocratic family. I am wondering if Edgeworth was able to paint such vivid portraits of children like Helena and Charles because she raised her own half-siblings.

Belinda is certainly in a precarious position, now that her aunt has disowned her.

I'm glad that Belinda has met the Percivals, a loving family with no hidden agenda, except maybe a bit of matchmaking?

Harriet Freke is an odious character!

I think that Belinda is well rid of her aunt's influence.

It's disappointing that the Pickering edition chose the later revised edition for its copy text. The 1801 version seems much livelier and more appealing to our preferences. From the textual notes, readers can reassemble to first edition, but it's a nuisance.

Abigail wrote: "I was also interested in the way the Percival household was described, with children of all ages fully incorporated into their lives and not sequestered in a nursery. This seems very unusual especially for an aristocratic family. I am wondering if Edgeworth was able to paint such vivid portraits of children like Helena and Charles because she raised her own half-siblings.."

Yes-quite a contrast to Lady Delacour and Helena. It is always fascinating to me when children such as Helena are shown to love their parents so deeply when in this case she has been so completely raised apart from her mother.

How old is Helena supposed to be? She seems very childlike but has a lot of education.

I like that Belinda isn't cowed by all the "advice" she gets from her aunt and Lady Delacour. The biggest problem is people not accepting her statements when she says what she wants and doesn't want.

I think Helena is twelve. I thought she was younger at first.

I believe it wasn't uncommon for nobility to send their children to wet-nurses, to have a nanny raise them and then to send them away to school - even in families less dysfunctional than this one. That is why the Percivals really stand out as a contrast. Even when the children were at home, they might be presented to the parents in good outfits for an hour and then taken away. They ate in the nursery area and sometimes the children and parents used formal names (in France the formal "vous"). But Lady Delacour's ignoring her child for years is pretty disturbing.

I don't know what this says about me, but I sympathize a bit with Lady Delacour regarding the Percivals. I've come across several families like them through "mom groups," and I do like them, but their brand of perfection can definitely be tiresome after a while. But of course Lady Delacour's at the complete opposite extreme. In her mind, she has a good reason for it, but it's... really not a good reason.

I think Lady Delacour has a lot of issues, but some her not her fault. She has let down by friends who the spread malicious rumours about her-and her actions are so extreme sometimes that these rumours have lots of real events to go on.

I like the way that Belinda stays true to herself.

So much of the fiction of the age featured perfect heroines and pure-evil villains, but the books that explore nuance in characters are the ones that have endured. There’s definitely room for redemption in Lady Delacour; and I may have to look at Sir Philip Baddely a little more closely!

With a name like Baddely, it's highly unlikely-but you never know.