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The Hand of Ethelberta
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Ethelberta: Week 2 (Aug 7-13): CH 13-24
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Christopher seeks Ethelberta in her family home. Lady Petherwin has died after changing her will and leaving her daughter-in-law without income. Ethelberta shares her plans for earning enough money to support herself and her family. Christopher gets along well with her brothers, but they stipulate that they would rather not mix with him in public due to social conventions.
Ethelberta goes on the stage to good reception. She is convinced that she can only maintain the interest of society by maintaining the perception that she is one of them. Several family members come to live with her in the guise of household staff. (Her invalided mother lives with them, as well.)
Picotee travels to London to be near her crush, Christopher, and finds him visiting her sister. Over the next chapters, she observes Ethelberta’s reactions to the man. After a disappointment, Ethelberta suggests they take a break from seeing each other, but Christopher insists they see each other one more time. This visit precipitates the realization of Picotee’s feeling on the part of both Christopher and Ethelberta. All three are miserable.
Ethelberta continues to worry about money. Christopher decides to take a job across the country. They have a tearful parting, but Ethelberta arranges that Picotee will correspond with Christopher’s sister, Faith; continuing the connection between the families.
In the midst of the drama, Ladywell and Neigh admit to each other that they each have fallen for Ethelberta, in spite of the fact that she has encouraged neither gentleman.
I found the love triangle intensely frustrating-Ethelberta, who seems otherwise clever and sensitive in understanding others' feelings, seems unable to sort out her own relationship with Christopher and Picotee. Picotee drives me a bit frantic with her helplessness and general passivity. I did not understand the final arrangement-is Ethelberta trying to drive Christopher and Picotee together, believing that she has no choice but to marry money?What would Christopher's financial position be as a church organist and music teacher? Might he in fact make enough to support a wife in a simple way, and would Ethelberta accept a return to her original life station?
Ethelberta and Christopher have essentially admitted to each other that they love each other-why can't they speak openly about their situation and what each is willing to do so that they can be together? This is a contrast to (view spoiler) in The Vicar of Bullhampton
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I think that Ethelberta feels that she is responsible for supporting her family and maybe even lifting them up in return for the opportunities she has been given. This is not the first novel I’ve read where the eldest (or prettiest) daughter felt (or was told) that she must marry money in order for her sisters to do so and/or for the family to survive. It’s a common romance trope, but also the two eldest Bennett sisters in P&P. And something else I can’t put my finger on… maybe Wives & Daughters??
I am still not sure of Elthelberta’s ‘love’ for Christopher. In effect he has now been dumped twice, this second time ostensibly because he is too poor to provide for her and her large family. The relationship itself, however does not seem healthy.’ She gave him a hand so cool and still that Christopher, much as he desired the contact, was literally ashamed to let her see and feel his own, trembling with unmanageable excess of feeling. It was always so, always had been so, always would be so, at these meetings of theirs: she was immeasurably the strongest;’
Am I being cruel or does Elthelberta enjoy having the upper hand, lording it over her family and Christopher. She seems very reluctant to accept a lower station in life which would be quite possible. Only her mother and younger children are actual dependents, all the others have work even if it is poorly paid. If it was a choice between loving/marrying Christopher or not coming down in the world of society, she seems to have said goodbye to Christopher.
The way that Elthelberta almost immediately decided that she should promote Picotee’s suit for Christopher over her own, once she realised her sister’s love for him, seemed to me a way for her to get out of a situation she found increasingly difficult.
Ladywell’s regular appearances seem ominous to me despite Elthelberta’s rejections of him. I assumed that he would have paid her to sit for the painting, but nevertheless it was a clever way to have her to himself. If Ethelberta is thinking about marriage now that Christopher has been dispatched for a second time, Ladywell seems well placed.
Could Faith be the voice of reason even though she does have a vested interest in her brother.
’ Faith said nothing in reply to this. The opinions she had formed upon the wisdom of her brother’s pursuit of Ethelberta would have come just then with an ill grace. It must, however, have been evident to Christopher, had he not been too preoccupied for observation, that Faith’s impressions of Ethelberta were not quite favourable as regarded her womanhood, notwithstanding that she greatly admired her talents.
Trev wrote: "Only her mother and younger children are actual dependents, all the others have work even if it is poorly paid."Ethelberta's ambition to care for her family - all of them - does seem a bit obsessive, doesn't it? I could not make out her "deep" motivation for doing it and for paying the price - the stress of secrecy, of procuring an income, the pain of not belonging neither here nor there, the pressure to marry for convenience.
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I don’t fully understand her motives and neither does Christopher.For example, even after the conversation below, she still contemplates a marriage of convenience.
‘(Ethelberta) ‘I understood you long ago; you have not understood me.’
‘You are mysterious,’ he said lightly; ‘and perhaps if I disentangle your mystery I shall find it to cover—indifference. I hope it does—for your sake.’
(Ethelberta) ‘How can you say so!’ she exclaimed reproachfully. ‘Yet I wish it did too—I wish it did cover indifference—for yours. But you have all of me that you care to have, and may keep it for life if you wish to. ‘ ‘
Renee wrote: "Just a few questions 1. Hardy has created a love triangle between the two sisters and Christopher. Do you find the behavior of the characters to be believable in their situation?
The only act in the triangle until Chapter 24 is on Picotee's part. She exhibits naive, immature behavior but I wouldn't call her behavior unbelievable, probably because I've run into many such emotionally truncated young women with Hardy and other Victorian novelists.
As to Frances' question, I think Berta could not perceive Picotee's attraction to Chris because Berta doesn't seem to treat her siblings as equal humans capable of the same feelings as her. Berta is not mean about it, she loves Picotee, but couldn't imagine her having the same womanly feelings toward the same man as she does. It comes like such a revelation in chapter 24
Renee wrote: ". . .
2. What do you make of Ethelberta’s scheme to create a career in which to support her family?."
It's an unusual career path but shows the part of her, which may not be vanity, but is certaintly extreme confidence in her feminine charms. I really don't see how such a career could be viable without a business manager with insights on bookings and refining and updating the act. The traveling act her sister proposed felt like a great idea, but only with a more entertainment experienced manager.
Renee wrote: ". . .
3. For what reasons might Ethelberta have insisted on a correspondence between the sisters, when she and Christopher are unlikely to be able to marry due to financial circumstances?..." ..."
Her instant reaction to her discovery that she was treating her sister as a servant not a sister was to try to make up for it. Or it could be more as Trev says, because she knows Chris and her are a no-go. If so, then her own sacrifice in offering Christopher to Picotee in this manner would be clearing her conscience toward both and not much of a sacrifice to boot.
Brian wrote: "Renee wrote: "Just a few questions 1. Hardy has created a love triangle between the two sisters and Christopher. Do you find the behavior of the characters to be believable in their situation?
Her instant reaction to her discovery that she was treating her sister as a servant not a sister was to try to make up for it. Or it could be more as Trev says, because she knows Chris and her are a no-go. If so, then her own sacrifice in offering Christopher to Picotee in this manner would be clearing her conscience toward both and not much of a sacrifice to boot.."
It could also be that, if they are not affianced, she could not decently enter into correspondence with Christopher. The device of having your sister write to your lover (or in this case your lover's sister) was one way of getting news to each other without corresponding yourselves, which Ethelberta and Christopher could not do. Ethelberta likely also feels she can't write herself as she is in a different social circle, but Picotee and Faith could.
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Brian wrote: "Renee wrote: "Just a few questions 2. What do you make of Ethelberta’s scheme to create a career in which to support her family?."
It's an unusual career path but shows the part of her, which may not be vanity, but is certaintly extreme confidence in her feminine charms. I really don't see how such a career could be viable without a business manager with insights on bookings and refining and updating the act. The traveling act her sister proposed felt like a great idea, but only with a more entertainment experienced manager.
Th..."
Yes I agree Brian. Ethelberta seems almost trapped between two strata of society. Just continuing her previous high society life is now no longer viable due to lack of money, yet her stories/talks could be considered on a similar level to those undertaken by Dickens and other authors/poets of the time.
She doesn’t want to lower herself to the level of an actress but it seems that many of her audience are coming to see her just for the spectacle of her, as a society lady, displaying herself on stage. This novelty seems to wearing off already.
Her unwillingness to tour must be linked to her wanting to maintain her society credentials in London. I am surprised that none of the society gossips have found out about her family yet. She must realise that she is playing a dangerous game.
Just a few questions to get us started but feel free to comment on any aspect of the book so far.
1. Hardy has created a love triangle between the two sisters and Christopher. Do you find the behavior of the characters to be believable in their situation?
2. What do you make of Ethelberta’s scheme to create a career in which to support her family?
3. For what reasons might Ethelberta have insisted on a correspondence between the sisters, when she and Christopher are unlikely to be able to marry due to financial circumstances?