"Sir James never ceased to regard Dorothea's second marriage as a mistake" (784).
Well the marriage is not any of his business, is it? I think he needs to keep his nose out Dorothea and Will's lives unless his nose is invited to be there. He is the kind of person who would get on my nerves very easily. Dorothea can make her own decisions. Her brother-in-law should not have any say in the matter.
I was slightly surprised by Sir James though... When Celia receives the letter from Dorothea announcing the birth of her son, she kind of blows up on Sir James. Perhaps he was shocked by her outburst, or perhaps he was feeling kind, but he states, "What do you wish? I will do anything you like. I will take you to town tomorrow if you wish it," (783). I wonder if he actually cared about her feelings or if he just wanted her to shut up. Anyway, I am glad that he put aside his opinions and allowed Celia to visit her sister.
Not relevant to my original topic, but I would still like to address it... In my post from last week, I tried to combine Dorothea and Casaubon's names to give a name to the child they never had. Now I shall try it for Dorothea and Will...
Willothea, Doroslaw, Ladithea, Wildorslaw... I should probably stop this.
Amy, you continue to crack me up. I vote for Doroslaw.
ReplyDeleteI think your comment about Sir James giving into Celia is an important one. I read it (because I want to give him the benefit of the doubt) as him giving into her (in part) because he wants her to be happy and (maybe?) he knows she's right.
I think that one of the main reasons that Sir James' marriage to Cecilia works is that they both know how to be flexible. Yes, Cecilia's complaining can be annoying but Sir James appears to know how to handle the situation in a mature way. To be honest, I think that marriage can be both give-take and love-hate at the same time. I really could not understand the complexity of marriage until I myself got married. I know that I tend to complain a lot and my husband tends to be the one providing comfort, but I think that's why our marriage is great: we understand one another.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Sir James' meddling kind of weirded me out. I really do think he loves Celia, but he still has some strange attachment to Dorothea. He definitely puts her up on some kind of pedestal.
ReplyDeleteYes, he does put on a pedestal, which is another form of limitation/confinement. I don't think he has inappropriate feelings for her (I mean, he's not in love with her), but like so many other men in the book, he has ideas for what she should/should not do, and she has to resist those.
ReplyDeleteI meant, "he does put *her* on a pedestal..."
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