I find the character of Dorothea to be intriguing, yet
frustrating as well. She has spunk and she is unexpected. In a society where “women
were expected to have weak opinions,” Dorothea has plenty of opinions! She is
especially opinionated about how her uncle spends his money. I like her
simplicity of style and her desire to bring about change with her plan for the cottages.
She does not seem to be like other girls. One of my favorite lines of Dorothea occurs when she is speaking about
horseback with Sir James. He claims that a woman should be good at horseback so
that she can “accompany her husband” (24). Dorothea answers, “I should never
correspond to your pattern of a lady.” Zing! Love it!
In some ways, I feel as if Dorothea is using marriage to Mr.
Casaubon for her own gain. Unlike many women, Dorothea is not as interested in
marrying Mr. Casaubon for security, but rather for more knowledge, to “deliver
her from her girlish subjection to her own ignorance” (31). Although it is
problematic that Dorothea feels the need to get married to increase her knowledge, I am
glad that she is at least interested in becoming a more intellectual person.
There are parts, however, about Dorothea’s plan to marry Mr.
Casaubon that frustrate me. Dorothea says, “It would be my duty to study that
I might help him the better in his great work” (31). Here’s is that word “duty”
again! Why does it have to be her duty to help him? I want Dorothea to study
for the purpose of making herself better. I don’t want it to be a duty for her,
but rather a desire.
I love your insight into Dorothea's reasons to marry Casaubon, but I think Dorothea loves horseback riding. She is telling Sir James that she could never be his kind of lady because she finds him irritating. If Mr. Casaubon asked her to go horseback riding she would saddle her horse and his!
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that she finds him irritating, I like to see a character take charge when it comes to a man like him, or any man in general that can be irritating (I know a few!)I definitely liked how you described Dorothea and her reason to marry Casaubon as well.
ReplyDeleteI find Dorothea to be a somewhat frustrating character as well. On the surface, she appears to be such a wholesome, loving Christian. Yet, at the same time, there are clearly instances when she doesn't practice what she preaches. For example, her attitude towards James is often quite rude and abrasive. I also think it's interesting that she claims to denounce wordly goods yet takes the most beautiful jewel out of her mother's box.
ReplyDeleteMaybe and I say this lightly, maybe Dorothea feels like her duty is to marry and heck while she is at it help the man she is choicing to marry. If Dorothea chose a man that was her equal in looks, intelligents and divine duty maybe she would not marry such a man. I think Dorothea needs a fixer upper that she can learn from during the process. Maybe Dorothea is placing a role of picking her poison if you will, verse having it forced down her throat.
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