Victorians! discussion

Almost at the end of our journey with Molly and Cynthia, in this instalment we saw Molly elicit our admiration with her maturity, but also face her hardest test yet and Cynthia both fall in our estimation and then somewhat redeem herself. Mr Gibson too redeems himself a little while Squire Hamley’s heart is broken yet again.

Having become aware of the ‘rumours’ concerned poor Molly, Mr Gibson decides to ask her about it directly and while he may have acted rather harshly for a few moments, with Molly’s straightforward replies and honesty, he can’t but realise she is telling the truth and without the need to spell things out, also that Cynthia is likely at the bottom of things. But even though she retains her fathers love and trust, dealing with the slights of Hollingford society takes its toll on poor Molly while Cynthia is enjoying herself, having escaped the consequences of her doings. Molly does have someone genuinely concerned with her well-being—Lady Harriet—who appreciates her genuineness and honesty and is quick to not only ascertain the truth of the matter but also take a concrete step to restore Molly’s social standing.

One consequence of Lady Harriet’s intervention is that the truth of Cynthia’s doings becomes known to her Lord and Lady Cumnor and through them to Mrs and Mr Gibson (for the latter this is just confirmation), and faced with it, once again her reactions is to simply run—breaking her engagement with Roger and making fanciful plans to find a governess’ place in Russia. ‘Russia’ is of course conveniently replaced with London where she can be free of these burdens once more. Here Cynthia seems to hold against Molly perhaps ‘blaming’ her for the story becoming known (judging her by her own standards rather than Molly’s far higher ones) and in this entirely and unjustly disregards all that Molly has done and indeed borne for her sake.

Molly has hinted to her father about being privy to another secret and the occasion to make that known arrives before long as Osborne Hamley dies leaving the Squire devastated. Molly rushes to his aid and also makes known to her father and Squire Hamley the truth of Osborne’s marriage and child. Aimee finally arrives at Hamley Hall only to fall ill and it falls to Molly to see to her and the Squire bringing on herself a quite serious illness too.

Mrs Gibson looks after Molly as best as she is able (she is in her way fond of her, perhaps more than of Cynthia) but doesn’t let Cynthia know how things are. Cynthia redeems herself a little by returning swiftly as soon as she is told of Molly’s real state by Lady Harriet.

Roger too, has returned, somewhat changed and heartbroken at Cynthia’s breaking off the engagement. Of course, he wants to hear it from herself but as always, anything unpleasant to herself must be avoided and
Cynthia’s Russian plans begin to be formed yet again. Roger meanwhile sees that Osborne spoke the truth about Molly’s beauty while Cynthia is sure that it is Molly whom Roger will marry.

Molly
Molly once again shows so much maturity in this instalment, reaffirming that she is a heroine deserving of our admiration. Her reaction to the rumours and the realisation that they will fade out and that any action on Mr Gibson’s part can only worsen things are what one would expect of only much older people (if at all) and while sitting it out is easier said than done, she manages to handle the worst wonderfully, if not without pain.

On Osborne’s death too, she proves herself indispensable both to the Squire and poor Aimee, not caring for the effect on herself.

Cynthia
Even nearly at the end of our story, Cynthia still continues to have both pros and cons managing to make the reader rather angry with her selfishness, yet before long also redeeming herself somewhat. One can pity her in that being unloved and unwanted all her life has made her have to rely on her own devices to protect herself from anything unpleasant and being young and without guidance or good example, she can’t avoid getting into scrapes either (the things she values too—admiration, love are likely learnt from her mother). Yet she knows better now, yet is unwilling to even try to change.

Roger, Squire Hamley
Roger is back, changed and yet the same, now able to see the truth of what Osborne and earlier his mother had said about Molly. He is sympathetic to Aimee and his nephew too, making effort to ensure the latter’s inheritance and be a friend to Aimee.
Squire Hamley is understandably devastated by Osborne’s death but finds some solace in his newly discovered grandson. He also truly appreciates Molly. But he doesn’t seem to treat his daughter-in-law too well, keen to send her off to France and ‘her people’. Luckily, Roger is there to help her.

Moly is true heroine. It is refreshing to have Roger back. I think one reason Cynthia is somewhat of a bother is that she is "high maintenance."

This section is so packed with significant events and insights into the characters. I feel some pity for Cynthia. What must it be like to grow up with a mother who doesn’t love you and who calls you a disappointment. But if she is to be redeemed, she will have to grow up and face life as it is. Molly continues to show her strength of character and earns the well-deserved love and admiration of both the Squire and her father. My hope is that the Squire will learn to love his daughter-in-law and keep her with him. My other hope is that Roger will realize that Molly is the true gem while Cynthia is only a pretty paste imitation.

Francis wrote: "Moly is true heroine. It is refreshing to have Roger back. I think one reason Cynthia is somewhat of a bother is that she is "high maintenance.""

Very much so. I thought she showed such maturity and character.

Nancy wrote: "This section is so packed with significant events and insights into the characters. I feel some pity for Cynthia. What must it be like to grow up with a mother who doesn’t love you and who calls yo..."

I felt pity for Cynthia too, Nancy. Her mother neither wanted nor really loved her and she has never known either good character or real love. Which is why one can't entirely blame her for her self- centredness or need for admiration and approval. The shallowness likely comes from the fact that she's never known deep feeling.

I agree with Nancy about the significance of this section, full of incident and emotion, with Molly buffeted and strained to the utmost resulting in her utter exhaustion.

There was a contrast between the earlier chapters which focussed on the insidiousness of ‘friendly gossip’ and the later ones, which revealed such love and sympathy in grief arising out of the estrangement between Osbourne and his father.

I liked the way that the author demonstrated the levelling effect that harmful gossip and insinuation creates, with both the townsfolk and the haughty aristocrats eager to ingest yet more salacious tit tat. Only Lady Harriet, Molly’s champion, showed the determination to disprove the accusations thrown at Molly.

Molly herself, when confronted by her father, showed her courage, bravery and absolute trust in the special relationship that father and daughter had developed. His anger and dismay was soon tempered by her attitude to both the gossip and the reasons for her actions. Her willingness to ride out any storm might have been a little naive but contrasted greatly with Cynthia’s desire to run, run, run.

Unlike Molly and her father, Cynthia lacked any sort of loving bond with her mother but does that really condemn her never to trust anybody enough to love them?

(Cynthia speaking to Molly about Roger)’ I know he could not have made me happy, and I don't believe he would have been happy with me. It must stay as it is. I would rather be a governess than married to him. I should get weary of him every day of my life."
"Weary of Roger!" said Molly to herself. "It is best as it is, I see," she answered aloud. "Only I'm very sorry for him, very. He did love you so. You will never get any one to love you like him!"
"Very well. I must take my chance. And too much love is rather oppressive to me, I believe. I like a great deal, widely spread about; not all confined to one individual lover."

I fear for Cynthia because she really needs to look beyond the platitudes of admirers, accept criticism willingly and find someone to trust implicitly. Her experience of Molly ought to have made her realise that there is more to life than shallow praise. Otherwise her wanderings, scrapes and runnings away will continue all her life.

’ Molly's knowledge of written French of the present day was not so great as her knowledge of the French of the Mémoires de Sully, and neither the spelling nor the writing of the letters was of the best; but she managed to translate into good enough colloquial English.’


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Su...

An interesting French text for Molly to have read, one which I had to look up to find out more about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximil...

Trev wrote: "I agree with Nancy about the significance of this section, full of incident and emotion, with Molly buffeted and strained to the utmost resulting in her utter exhaustion.

There was a contrast betw..."

That's a good point there about the contrast between the gossip chapters and the Hamley ones. I felt for the poor Squire--at one level, one could compare the lack of understanding there with Cynthia/Mrs Gibson though of course the Squire as a person who did care for his children is a complete contrast to Mrs Gibson who only superficially does so.

Re Cynthia, I think given time and a strong relationship with someone genuine like Molly and Mr Gibson, she could change but she needs to soften her reactions too. She is still in her teens so one can understand that hardheadedness with regard to somethings even though in contrast, Molly shows so much greater understanding and maturity. But perhaps, the lack of love and attention (and even being wanted) is likely something that's affected her ability to love or trust deeply.

Trev wrote: "’ Molly's knowledge of written French of the present day was not so great as her knowledge of the French of the Mémoires de Sully, and neither the spelling nor the writing of the letters was of the..."

Thanks for these, Trev. I assume her reading was confined to what she found in her father's library and the books Roger lent her and this seems likely to have come from the former.

Trev wrote: "’ An interesting French text for Molly to have read, one which I had to look up to find out more about."

... and for Gaskell, too, of course.