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Our Mutual Friend
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Our Mutual Friend: Week 7: Chapters IX-XIV (Book 3)
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Rokesmith seems to sense the change in Bella. And he is pleased. It also seems that Bella desires to have Rokesmith's good opinion. It looks as if Bella is developing feelings towards him.
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Eugene is however playing a dangerous game with Headstone. He is a dangerous man capable of potent rage. And now Headstone has teamed with Riderhood. Nothing good can come from such a union. I fear for Lizzy and Eugene both.
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Lammles have understood one thing right - and that is that Mr. Boffin is protected while Rokesmith is there. So they want him out. They have found a weapon against Rokesmith and they are about to strike. I'm really curious about this outcome.
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In Eugene's case, it isn't so much a question of whether he reciprocates Lizzie's feelings--it seems that he does in his way--but a question of whether their social situations would let him express those feelings, act on them, or merely hinder him.
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Headstone is certainly the exception here-while the whole lot of others, villains or otherwise are concerned with money--from Mr Dolls and his three-penceworth of rum, to Wegg who wants to blackmail, to the Lammles who want to cheat to Mr Boffin who is turning a miser-even Bella who is beginning to see the downside of wealth.
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Dickens can certainly write some creepy and sinister villains--Headstone here is obsessive, Mr Quilp and to a degree Pecksniff are slimy--and Madame Defarge sinister.
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I was rather surprised at Jenny as usually she seems able to see through people but Fledgeby seems to have her fooled.
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I don't deny that Eugene has feelings for Lizzy. But whether they are stronger like that of Lizzy is a question. I can understand the class barrier working as a major obstacle in Eugene's mind to put a stop to the development of deeper feelings. But if by any chance Eugene develops stronger feelings for Lizzy, he would break all the barriers. Even with his careless ways, he still have a strong will power.
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Lady Clementina, Moderator
(last edited Apr 14, 2019 08:41PM)
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True. So far, he seems to be struggling with his feelings, and perhaps hasn't quite understood them.
Piyangie wrote: "There are number of villains here, and as Mallika has rightly said most are concerned with making money (Fledgeby, Lammles, Wegg and Riderhood) But Headstone is another story. He is driven by a jea..."Dickens is certainly good at villains, but I think his worst ones are the women and children abusers - Sykes, Squeers, Murdstone. Fledgeby revolts me with his anti-semitism, a common prejudice in Victorian England, and Rider is a nasty character, but I agree that Headstone is different - it's not sheer brutality or greed with him, it's something more psychological, and sinister...
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Headstone is like those obsessive stalkers one sees in films--sinister, and very dangerous. I find him particularly scary since he is able to switch to his teacher persona so easily.
Meanwhile the Doll’s dressmaker proved to be both perceptive and not so perceptive this week. She saw through Eugene’s pretences and fake story about his ‘goddaughter’, keeping Lizzie’s whereabouts safe, but when it came to the sly Fledgeby, she was not able to see though his act and now believes that Mr Riah is not the kind person that she thought him, not the fairy godmother but the wolf. With her own father attempting to get money (money again here) for his three-pen’orths of rum, he is likely to see Lizzie out, and I’m afraid Jenny might end up blaming poor Mr Riah for it.
Money continues to be a thread that runs through the book this week in other ways too. Fledgeby is now tightening the screws on everyone he can, starting with the Lammles as he had already indicated, and followed by his ‘relation’ of sorts, Mr Twemlow, who is stuck for no fault of his own. Poor Mr Riah wants to show some mercy, but must quietly bear the blame. The Lammles are hard-pressed and are attempting to scheme again. This time, the plan seems to be to get Rokesmith ousted from his posts based on the secret Bella unwittingly let slip, and for Mr Lammle to take his place and bleed him dry (or as much as he can at any rate).
Mr Wegg too is preparing to put into action his plan to blackmail Mr Boffin but Mr Venus surprises us a little by revealing all to Mr Boffin, and refusing to act on either side of the matter. But is the matter of this second will true? Does this mean Mr Boffin is to lose all? Or will he manage to foil Silas Wegg’s plans?
While most of our ‘villains’ are concerned with making money in various ways, the most dangerous one, Bradley Headstone is not. The murderous rage that takes possession of him when he is trailing Eugene is terrifying, and in some ways, more so the fact that he manages to switch to a school-day routine, as if simply pressing a button. Eugene is playing a game with him which he might deserve, but which will also drive him further over the edge, so one wonders whether there is any sense in this?
And now, he’s teamed up with Riderhood, who we discover is the lockkeeper who probably took all of Betty Hidgen’s money. This can’t be good for Eugene, and when Lizzie’s whereabouts are revealed, it won’t be long before Headstone discovers them as well, certainly making us fear for her.
Not as exciting as some segments, but definitely plenty happening. What did you think? And how do you date Headstone among Dickens’ ‘villains’?