The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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Hester
Hester - Mrs Oliphant
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Hester - Week 5
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I think the intensity of Edward's emotion is what's holding Hester, the passion he's expressing. That moves her even though his words, actions and demands are setting off alarm bells that life with Edward would not be the life she is longing for. I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen, but I'm fairly sure this is going to be a dramatic last section.
’ "Hester," he (Edward) said, "that is not what a man wants in a woman; not to go and explain it all to her with pen and ink, and tables and figures, to make her understand as he would have to do with a man. What he wants, dear, is very different—just to lean upon you—to know that you sympathise, and think of me, and feel for me, and believe in me, and that you will share whatever comes."All Hester’s proud individuality and independence of thought, the things that have been until now the most precious to her, have been smothered by Edward’s frantic revelations of love followed swiftly by condescending demands of obedience.
I suppose she can't help loving him, but she has become bewildered by the fact that he is treating her like a doormat, not allowing her into his real secrets, but just requiring her to be his comfort blanket when he is feeling low. Hester never envisaged that her purpose in life would be a stick for someone to lean on and yet here she is allowing Edward to take all sorts of liberties with her, not to mention deceiving her mother and everyone else.
How would Hester respond to Edward if she knew that he was using the bank’s money ( ie other people’s investments) to undertake risky gambles? Her morality has not yet really been tested but I think it soon will be. She is partly shocked by the possibility of elopement but it seems more to do with the effect it would have on other people rather than on herself.
I was wrong about Roland. He is at least keeping to the rules and not encouraging others into dodgy/ruinous speculations. It is Edward who is turning into Fernando Lopez (The Prime Minister.) But will Hester (spoiler for those who have not read ‘The Prime Minister’) (view spoiler)
Will Hester resist that love for Edward that has developed over many years in order to try to prevent disaster or at least disassociate herself from it? Her reasoning is clear enough (see quote below) but will her head or her heart have the strongest pull?
’ Hester, who felt her position intolerable, and by whom the complacent injustice of it, the calm assertion that such blind adherence was all that was to be looked for from a woman, was more irritating and offensive than can be described. Was it possible that he thought so? that this was what she would have to encounter in the life she should spend with him? Her advice, her intelligent help, her understanding, all ignored, and nothing wanted but a kind of doggish fidelity, an unreasoning belief?
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Some thoughts: - Finally someone has put the vernon-ridgway sisters in their place, glad Catherine was firm with them and make them feel uneasy regarding their gossip. I enjoyed seeing that side of Catherine, a side I wish we saw a lot more.
- I must confess before volume three, the story wasn’t what i expected it to be and I was a bit disappointed and a little bit bored but now it has finally started picking up! Shame it took this long though.
- Still unsure on the indifference between Catherine and Hester, we have seen that other characters have flaws as well so I don’t understand why this hatred has continued for this long especially that they barely have any conversations together.
- The mirroring of Mr John not including Mrs John into his business and now Edward doing the same to Hester is clear foreshadowing. Hopefully it doesn’t end the same way like the past.
- Agree with Trev on Hester’s change of mindset, she was fascinating in the beginning, being strong-willed but now all she can think about is marriage.
Lori wrote: "Has your opinion on any of the characters changed?..."Here's part of my answer to Lori's question during the 1st Week "Do you have a favorite character?"
Edward Vernon. I like two things about him:
1) His Personality - he seems well-tempered, intelligent and very fair. He seems to like to make everybody's lives better. . .
That's Edward to a T right? To be fair, the reader's opinion would have to change on Edward because of how Oliphant has characterized him. In the novel's first third, the reader only saw Edward's outward acts and words and didn't get to see the bad motives inside his head until later when Oliphant began to let the reader privy to Edward's inner thoughts. Now his outward acts are beginning to reflect his secreted darker inner motives
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I think that those of us that were deceived as to Edward's character are at least in good company-he has been able to fool Catherine Vernon after all and she is very perceptive in general.
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However I wonder if Edward himself has changed in that time-from being a rather bland banker and botanist with a bit of an edge to getting drawn into gambling and speculation and, when he starts to play with the money in his care, becoming secretive and sly. If what he was doing had been above-board perhaps he would have been more willing to share it with Hester, as Roland appeared to be.
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However I wonder if Edward himself has changed in that time-from being ..."
Good point, Edward's rebellion grew over time..
I think that Edward always had that seed of rebellion in him. I mentioned these quotes in our discussion in the first section.‘(Yet there has already been hints that Edward may not be what he seems to be.)
’ Edward, though he had won the heart of his powerful relation (Catherine)by his domestic character and evident preference for her society, had not been able to divest himself of a certain grudge against the author of his good fortune. The feeling which Hester expressed so innocently was in his mind in a more serious form.’ (chapter 5)
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’He had not told the story of his own encounter with the new subject of amusement (Hester), which was strange; but he was a young man who kept his own counsel, having his own fortune to make, as had been impressed upon him from his birth.’(chapter 7)
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His way with Hester has always been sly and secretive, even when she was a young girl. So much so that until he grabbed her outside her own house and professed his love, she herself was not entirely sure of his motives. Hester also resented the way Edward acted towards her at Catherine’s, whispering to her in a subversive way out of earshot of Catherine..
Maybe we need to be more wary of furtive botanists wandering in meadows. They may not be always as harmless as they seem.
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Daryl wrote: "- The mirroring of Mr John not including Mrs John into his business and now Edward doing the same to Hester is clear foreshadowing. Hopefully it doesn’t end the same way like the past. ..."This seems to me to be exactly the essence of this story. Whoops. I just realized that ch. 7 & 8 are in the next section. (view spoiler) It seems like Hester may be able to complete the circle of betrayal started by her father by doing what she has dreamed of doing. Saving the Day the way Catherine did thirty years ago. What suspense! What Drama!
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Frances wrote: "It's interesting that despite what Catherine did, Edward can still believe that women should be kept out of business affairs, even as far as not confiding in them (much less allowing them to work t..."I think this is a very important theme in this novel. Mrs. John says "Do you think a man ever talks to women about these things? Oh, perhaps to a woman like Catherine that is the same as a man. But to anybody he cares for—never, oh, never, dear!"
But it is a complicated issue. A woman had her sphere--the private sphere, and the way a man paid for her services was by providing the money from the public sphere. He was less of a "man" if he can't do this without her help. But I think Edward is addicted to speculation. He keeps making gambling metaphors, and then claiming what he is doing is different, but he is a gambling addict. And he doesn't want anyone to "understand" his addiction, least of all Hester. In essence, he is saying "Just trust me" if you love me.
Around the end of the last section and beginning of this one, Hester's feelings toward both Catherine and Roland appear to have shifted. How so?
Has your opinion on any of the characters changed?
In your opinion, why won't Edward answer Hester's questions? And do you see them as a good match?
We have one section left. What do you think will happen?