Gwendolin's oppression

I wondered how Henleigh Grandcourt Esq. had managed to subdue Gwendolin so oppressively, considering she was so "saucy" and high-spirited before their wedding. Chapter 45 gives a clue:

Gwendolin's heart began to beat violently. The words that she wanted to utter, as one wants to return a blow, were, 'You are breaking your promise to me - the first promise you made me.' But she dared not utter them. She was as frightened at a quarrel as if she had foreseen that it would end with throttling fingers on her neck.


Poor Gwendolin, so Grandcourt roughs her up. That does make her life seem hellish, despite her wealth and privilege.

I read another chapter (48) in which it intimates that Grandcourt throttles her. Being throttled is a very unpleasant experience, but it does not leave a mark, which is why he does it. Gwendolin is interesting, because she is not deep or saintly like Daniel Deronda. She is privileged in many ways. She is however, dependent on a man, and this man is not very nice (though not the worst). I think most of us who are not really poor are more in Gwendolin's camp than some hardtrodden working class victim's type . Most people in C19th Britain just struggled to survive, and the wives among them may have roughed up quite regularly too. I suppose Eliot's readership were a bit above that base level.

Having finished the book last night, I decided to re-read a section from the chapter on Daniel Deronda in a book called The Body Economic by Catherine Gallagher, which is the sort of book you would normally only find in a university library. She pointed out that even in the later chapters, after losing her husband, she had not gained a sense of perspective. She wants to be a better person, but to her, this seems to mean being better to her mother. And a large part of her motivation for being a better person is to win Daniel's approval. Therefore, out of the £2000 a year Grandcourt leaves her in his will, she thinks about giving her mother £800, giving away the rest, but only after taking advice from Daniel. She is still rather blinkered and self-centred. At least she has the grace to write a letter to Daniel to congratulate him on his marriage.

I still felt for her. She really has had her confidence shattered. Still, by the end of the book, she is still young, beautiful and rich. She will not meet anyone like Daniel again, but I hope Grandcourt has not put her off marriage for good.

I just read this essay, which argues Gwendolen had been sexually abused by her step-father, Captain Davilow, when she was a child. That is pretty deep, and if so, I missed most of the signs. I thought Gwendolen's distress in her marriage was caused by Grandcourt's violence towards her. He throttles her. The sexual abuse theory does make some sense. I did think it was a bit odd when Gwendolen brought up that she did not like her step-father coming home when she was unloading to Daniel Deronda after Grandcourt's death. Daniel Deronda becomes a bit of a priest/confessor to Gwendolen, but also a bit like a psychiatrist. He is sympathetic to her and he listens to her, but he never touches her. His advice does not seem very useful to me, but maybe it is sympathy and patience that she needs. In which case, I wonder whether a marriage between them could have worked. I did wonder a bit when Daniel suggested to Hans that Gwendolen might not re-marry in the last couple of chapters. Daniel does tell Gwendolen that he will continue to write to her when he is abroad, and maybe this is as much as he feels he can do for her. There was another incident that made me wonder whether Gwendolen had a fear of men. She was frightened of the Italian sailors who saved her life and their strong arms. I thought maybe she was being a bit snobbish of working class men, but maybe it was more than that. I wonder if Mr Lush looked like Captain Davilow.

The childhood sexual abuse theory is an interesting angle. Do you think it is possible that George Eliot was aware such things went on? I thought while reading Silas Marner that a story of a lone, middle-aged man adopting a little girl would raise concerns if published today in a way it would not back then. There was nothing in that book that worried me on that score. The way it is written, Silas Marner's love is pure. I just wondered whether it had occurred to George Eliot that it might not be.

I have been googling Gwendolen Harleth. There are several academic psychology papers discussing her. Unfortunately they are not free.

Another article that argues that Gwendolen had been sexually abused as a child by her step-father. I think it is a convincing argument. I never cottoned onto it while I was reading the book, and few of the reviews on Goodreads or the newspaper pieces I have read picked up on it, but I think it's there.

journals.sfu.ca/vict/index.php/vict/article/download/163/82

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kev67

Having finished the book last night, I decided to re-read a section from the chapter on Daniel Deronda in a book called The Body Economic by Catherine Gallagher, which is the sort of book you would normally only find in a university library. She pointed out that even in the later chapters, after losing her husband, she had not gained a sense of perspective. She wants to be a better person, but to her, this seems to mean being better to her mother. And a large part of her motivation for being a better person is to win Daniel's approval. Therefore, out of the £2000 a year Grandcourt leaves her in his will, she thinks about giving her mother £800, giving away the rest, but only after taking advice from Daniel. She is still rather blinkered and self-centred. At least she has the grace to write a letter to Daniel to congratulate him on his marriage.

I still felt for her. She really has had her confidence shattered. Still, by the end of the book, she is still young, beautiful and rich. She will not meet anyone like Daniel again, but I hope Grandcourt has not put her off marriage for good.

---

I can't think of Gwendolen as getting married again after being so disappointed at her marriage, and after her unrequited love for Daniel Deronda.

I just finished the novel, on my hotel balcony overlooking the Aegean sea. Deronda, it seems, has.a thing for abused women. He likes saving them. First Gwendolen, then Mirah.

Personally, I like Rex and Anna, and was sorry to see them fade out of the novel. Maybe Hans can marry Anna, and Rex, Gwendolen. Also, I hate typing on my phone, so I'll cut this short.

Is Mirah saved by her lesser talents from being like Deronda's mother?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ecurb

I just finished the novel, on my hotel balcony overlooking the Aegean sea. Deronda, it seems, has.a thing for abused women. He likes saving them. First Gwendolen, then Mirah.

Personally, I like Rex and Anna, and was sorry to see them fade out of the novel. Maybe Hans can marry Anna, and Rex, Gwendolen. Also, I hate typing on my phone, so I'll cut this short.

Is Mirah saved by her lesser talents from being like Deronda's mother?

---

I liked Rex, but can't remember Anna.

Deronda's mother: Maybe that's why they're called divas.