Discussion questions
1. Causabon's codicil in his will
forbidding Dorothea to marry Will is selfish on many levels. Perhaps
the worst way that it could affect Dorothea's reputation is the
implication of her budding affair with Will, which, if we believe her
(and I do), wasn't budding at all. What reasons do you think Causabon
decided to include the codicil in his will? Specifically, were they
reasons of love or greed, or some other emotion?
2. What in the world does Mary Garth
love so much about Fred? Does anyone in this society truly know what
love is? When did love become about butterflies in the stomach and
not about who's rich or has a rich family?
I think Casaubon had many reasons for adding the codicil to his will. Selfishness, love, greed, jealousy, and many others definitely played a part. This may sound really stupid, but I picture Casaubon as a grumpy old man going through a mid-life crisis (even though it's at the end of his life). He realizes that he's getting older and his wife is much younger. He is jealous of younger men who are interested in his wife. Perhaps he worries every day that Dorothea is cheating on him. He never wants this to become a reality, so he forbids it to happen. It's rather ironic that Dorothea never even thought of Will that way until Casaubon's codicil put the idea in her head. He was freaking out for nothing. Epic fail, Casaubon. Epic fail.
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