Vivek
asked:
Can anyone tell me what this means from Daniel Deronda please - about Gwendolen in Chapter 45? “She would have been obliged to allow, if any one had said it to her, that what she submitted to could not take the shape of duty, but was submission to a yoke drawn on her by an action she was ashamed of, and worn with a strength of selfish motives that left no weight for duty to carry.”
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Paul Of
Gwendolen submits to a yoke totally of her own making (the guilt and shame of knowingly marrying Grandcourt for his money and in spite of the fact that she also knew he already had a "wife" and kids). Gwendolen's selfish motives are her pride and sense of justice for having broken her promise to Mrs Glasher not to marry Grandcourt.
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