Broken-hearted: your opinions please...

Gilbert and Helen

Gilbert has now finished reading Helen's journal, and, if possible, he now loves her even more than he did before. She, too, loves him with a passion and depth she can hardly control. They can think of little else, and can barely keep their hands off each other!

So why do they agree never to meet again?

I would be very interested to read all your comments on this question. Read Chapters 45 and 46 carefully, and see if you can figure out why they both agree to this enormous sacrifice. What would you have done in their situation? Do you think they have made the right decision? Do you think they will manage to stick to it? How convinced are you by the arguments and reasons they find to support their decision?

Lots of comments on this one please...
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And, this week, I would like you to read Chapters 47-50. After that, we've only got one week left before we finish the book! :)

Chapters 42-44: Breaking Free...!

Hattersley versus Huntingdon

Juxtaposition is a technique whereby two contrasting things are placed side by side for effect. In this chapter, Bronte uses the description of Hattersley's 'reformation' (or, really, the way in which Helen RESCUES Hattersley) to emphasise just how beyond rescue is her own husband. As we see Hattersley wipe tears from his own face, and run to embrace his long-suffering wife, we realise that this is NEVER going to happen between Helen and Arthur. Helen must realise this too, hence her decision shortly afterwards to cut her losses and finally run away. A bit like the bible story where one of the thieves on the crosses next to Christ was SAVED and the other was DAMNED, so we have a similar situation here. (And Anne Bronte, religious as she was, would have known this story VERY well...) Hattersley, by the christ-like Helen, has, indeed, been SAVED; meanwhile, Arthur is, in the eyes of Helen (and, I think, Bronte herself) most definitely damned.

The Final Straw

By this point Helen has completely had enough. With the arrival of the new 'governess' (who seems to be far 'closer' to Helen's husband than to her child!), Helen decides that she simply has to leave. I don't know if any of you have seen a Julia Roberts film from 1991 called Sleeping With The Enemy, but this part of the novel reminds me massively of that film. In both of them, there is a wife so terrified and fed up of their marriage and their abusive, tyrannical husband that they will do anything to escape from it. In both of them, the wife secretly escapes and then assumes a new, fake identity and a totally new life somewhere far away from her evil spouse. In both of them, the marriage used to be OK - and, at the start, was positively tender - but then quickly decays and passes the point of no return. In the film, however, Julia Roberts' husband manages to track her down, and finally arrives at her new home to try to kill her: I wonder of Arthur will go that far himself too???...

If you want to find out more about the film I have been talking about, click below:

Chapters 38-41: A bid for freedom

The ignominy of divorce

So Helen has finally had enough! After years of neglect, abuse and humiliation at the hands of her deceitful and philandering husband, she has finally resolved to set herself free. This might seem strange to some of you: after all, if she no longer wants to be married to him, why does she not simply seek a separation or a divorce. However, unfortunately, marriage laws were so very different back then, and, as you have probably gathered, the wife was very much seen as the 'possession' of the husband. Therefore, effectively, for Helen to leave Huntingdon, she would be stealing from him his wife and son - and neither society, nor Huntingdon, would allow this.

The final straw

So why has she finally reached the end of her tolerance? What has changed so much? Well, she is greatly affected by the destruction of Lord Lowborough. Watching him disintegrate under the knowledge of his wife's infidelity is particularly painful to her, and, I suppose, awakens in her a desire not to be destroyed too. Also, she has had to simply look on as her husband begins to corrupt their child with alcohol, swearing and whatever other behaviour in which he indulges with his rowdy friends: imagine how painful that must be for her! And, to add insult to injury, the one 'decent' man she knows, Hargrave, decides to profess his undying love (and, I suspect, lust) for her, even though she neither can nor wants to accept it - all of which is compounded by her husband's veiled accusations that she is having an affair with Hargrave!

No more secrets

Little wonder, then, that Helen wants out! But, no sooner than she has decided to plan for her escape, than her husband catches on to the idea and effectively CONFISCATES all her personal belongings; reads all her personal journals; takes away all her personal finances (apart from a small 'allowance'); and even throws all her paintings and painting equipment into the fire. She is then left completely bereft - of happiness and of any hope of escape. These chapters conclude with a visit by her brother, Frederick, and mention of him preparing some rooms in the now vacant family home for her, should a disaster necessitate her fleeing anyway (a house we immediately recognise as Wildfell Hall!). So all the threads of the story (and this LONG flashback) are starting to fit into place...

Scarred for life

Meanwhile, Esther Hargrave visits Helen for some advice about the arranged marriages her own mother is trying to sort out for her. She is NOT impressed, still harbouring youthful ideals about marrying for love. It is a sign of just how DAMAGED Helen has become, that, totally contrary to her own ideas about marriage which she held before she first met Huntingdon, she now gives much more cynical, sober and pessimistic advice: 'If such are your expectations of matrimony, Esther, you must indeed be careful whom you marry - or rather, you must avoid it altogether.' Little wonder, then, that Helen finds it so difficult to warm to Gilbert's advances in the first section of the novel...
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This week, please read Chapters 42-46...

I thought you could all have a turn...!

I have deliberately not submitted a post today, in the hope that one of you would notice and submit something yourself. If no one has done so by tomorrow evening, I shall submit one anyway - I just wanted to give you lot a chance to take control of the blog to some extent... :)

Mr Savage

Chapters 33-37: Arthur shows his true colours

What a lot of questions have been raised by these chapters: so much for you all to think about! Arthur finally appears to have shown his true colours to poor Helen, and how she responds to this is crucial to our understanding of the whole book. So reflect on some of these questions as you endeavour to come to terms with these unpleasant developments:

1. Why had Arthur decided to have this affair? Why has Arthur decided to jeopardise everything he has got by beginning an affair with the odious Lady Lowborough? What does he see in her? What does she provide for him that he does not get from his wife? How does Lady Lowborough manage to stop Arthur drinking heavily, when Helen, despite her best efforts, had failed in this respect? Why does he not feel guilty having an affair with the wife of his best friend?
2. Why does Helen respond to the news of the affair in this way? Why is she not more angry with Arthur? Why does she not threaten to expose the affair and her husband's deceit? Why does she not wreak revenge on Arthur and his mistress? Why does she stay with him, as if they were husband and wife, when she cannot stand the sight of him and feels only misery in his company?
3. Why is Arthur so adamant that Helen not leave him? If he truly loves Lady Lowborough, why does he insist that Helen stays with him, whilst he continues his affair? Wouldn't he be happier if he and Lady Lowborough moved in together and both left their spouses? Why does he prefer to keep up the pretence/semblance of a happy marriage, when the reality is anything but?
4. And what about Hargrave? Why does he persist in trying to begin a relationship with Helen? Is he looking out for her out of the goodness of his own heart? Or does he just want to find a way into her heart (and her bed!)? Are his motives honourable? And what do you think about Helen's persistent rebuttal of his advances? Is she cutting off her nose to spite her face (as the saying goes)? What do you think she should do?

Perhaps you could all use the COMMENTS tool on this blog to explore these questions together... In the meantime, I think it is crucial, as best you can, to EMPATHISE with Helen in her current situation. This book was written at a time when the oppression of women was at its height, and Anne Bronte is forcing her reader to confront the question of women's equality head-on. Should she lie down and just 'take' all the abuse and mistreatment her husband throws at her? Or should she fight back? Many critics have argued that Helen Huntingdon is one of literature's first feminist heroes: do you think she is showing herself to be a woman of independence and STRENGTH?
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As for next week, please read Chapters 38-41.

Bronte Residential: A Weekend in Haworth

I am about to start organising the residential trip to Bronte Country - the rugged moorland surrounding Haworth in West Yorkshire. The trip will take place in June/July next year, but, before I begin to plan it, I need to know HOW MANY of you will definitely be interested in coming.

• We will be away for TWO nights and THREE days.
• We will stay in the YHA Youth Hostel in Haworth, with all students in single-sex dorms.
• We will eat our main meals in the hostel, with a packed lunch provided by the hostel as well.
• Activities are likely to include:
• Evening workshops on the novels in the hostel itself;
• A seminar at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, with the museum's education officer;
• A tour of the Parsonage, and the nearby Bronte library;
• A hike across the moors to find the various buildings and landmarks which inspired parts of each of the novels;
• A poetry writing masterclass in the middle of the moors, where Emily Bronte used to write her poems.
• We will travel to Yorkshire by school minibus, and you will make the final journey to Haworth by steam train, just as the Brontes would have done themselves.
• I do not yet know the cost of the trip, although I will ensure the English department subsidises it to some extent. The cost to your parents is likely to be approx £30 per student.
  

I ran this exact trip with a group of 6th Form Students back in 1999, and they had a fantastic time. I fully expect that you will all have a great time too.

However, if I am to be able to run this trip, I need to know A.S.A.P. how many of you would like to come. So have a chat with your parents, and email me by Friday 10th November if you are interested. You are not committing yourself at this stage, but, if not enough people are interested, it will not be economical to run the trip in the first place.

If you know of any members of the book group who are NOT accessing the blog at the moment for some reason, please pass this message on to them...

Thanks

Mr Savage

Chapters 29-32: Arthur's descent into alcoholism

Men Behaving Badly

The description in these chapters of Arthur's drunken behaviour with his friends is shocking for a 21st Century readership - so just think how it would have been received 150 years ago, especially as this was written by a woman (albeit one under a male pseudonym). You must not allow the sometimes old-fashioned language to detract from the fact that this is controversial, disturbing stuff. Arthur's growing dependency on drink is taking over his very existence - dragging him away from his home, his child, his wife, and all the good qualities he once possessed. And it is not just Arthur: what we witness when Hattersley loses his temper with Millicent, his wife, is nothing less than domestic violence - and in public too. All of this is made even worse by the fact that these drunken men invariably laugh at such behaviour, even as they are indulging in it themselves. And they are all as bad as each other: even Mr Grimsby, who claims he can hold his drink better than the others, ends up pouring half his tea into his saucer, and putting six cubes of sugar into his cup of tea.

How the other characters respond

And then we see the different responses of the other characters to this drunkenness and abusive, violent behaviour. Annabella seems almost to celebrate it, and wishes her husband would also indulge, so that she can die an early death and she can benefit from his will. Millicent just accepts it, and meekly takes whatever is thrown her way. Helen swings between trying to ignore it, and upbraiding and criticising the men for their despicable behaviour. Lowborough, so scarred by his past, refuses to have anything to do with the other men, however violently they try to force him. And Hargrave, who seems to be growing closer and closer to Helen herself, seems to be willing to do anything to protect her from the abuse and neglect of her alcoholic husband.

Some questions for you to ponder though...

1. Why does Helen continue to endure and put up with Arthur's behaviour, regardless of how horrifically he treats her?
2. Why does Arthur refuse to remedy his behaviour, and why is he unable to learn from his mistakes?
3. AND WHAT IS THE SECRET INFORMATION THAT HARGRAVE WANTS TO REVEAL TO HELEN???????