tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8551738816049968573..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: The best part of Adam Bede - Hetty's ringless handAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-51888575434938617232009-05-18T14:43:00.000-05:002009-05-18T14:43:00.000-05:00I'm going to go back to Madame Bovary soon, soonis...I'm going to go back to <I>Madame Bovary</I> soon, soonish. I don't remember what I thought of Emma's intelligence. She was smarter than her husband, but not as smart as she thought she was - maybe that was it.<br /><br /><I>Mill and the Floss</I>, that's coming up soon, too. So I'll have that much better of an idea what I'm talking about, I hope.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83933044889033200552009-05-18T09:33:00.000-05:002009-05-18T09:33:00.000-05:00Going back to this now that I've read the book is ...Going back to this now that I've read the book is great. Although it made for uncomfortable reading at times, I commend Eliot for never once giving us a reason to admire Hetty...perhaps that isn't exactly what I mean. She doesn't ever give Hetty any intellectual insight into her situation - she begins a vain and ignorant creature and that never changes. Even at the end, she just really wants to save her own skin. <br /><br />I'm so glad I reread Madame Bovary and read Adam Bede in the same year. Comparing the two is really interesting.verbivorehttp://incurablelogophilia.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-15564315405964690332008-09-25T23:40:00.000-05:002008-09-25T23:40:00.000-05:00Just rearranging the plot, Rohan - let's say Hetty...Just rearranging the plot, Rohan - let's say Hetty reveals her problem not to her family but only to virtuous Adam Bede. Does Adam herocially claim the baby as his? I'll bet he does. But to Hetty, even pillar-of-the-community Adam is untrustworthy or unavailable.<BR/><BR/>I think you're right - maybe there's not quite enough there to really pin this down.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17143942492681389772008-09-25T16:59:00.000-05:002008-09-25T16:59:00.000-05:00subject for future research...Sounds like a great ...<I>subject for future research...</I><BR/><BR/>Sounds like a great project.<BR/><BR/><I>only up to a point</I>: This makes sense to me too. If we get too close, we might do as she does, clearly not the right result.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if GE really does enough to clarify why Hetty doesn't trust her family. I'd have to take another look. I think the obstacle we understand best is her almost instinctive knowledge of the family pride. What she can't think through (maybe because she lacks the kind of sympathetic imagination GE is training us in?) is that, nonetheless, they could rise to the occasion and be on her side.<BR/><BR/>And just BTW:<BR/><BR/><I>Prof. Maitzen</I><BR/><BR/>'Rohan' is fine. :-)Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-15162641956262286202008-09-24T23:01:00.000-05:002008-09-24T23:01:00.000-05:00Prof. Maitzen, your comment has provoked thought. ...Prof. Maitzen, your comment has provoked thought. First, I think I was lazily leaning on a received idea when I said Eliot "liked" Hetty. Withdrawn!<BR/><BR/>Second, you've helped me see why Eliot turns away from Hetty when she does. Perhaps she is taking us up to the limits of sympathy. The novel helps us understand the fictional Hetty in a way that we would be unlikely to understand a real person, but only up to a point. Subject for future research: the ethics of the limited third person. <BR/><BR/>So Hetty's situation - is it all her fault? Much of it, no; some of it, yes. The most important part, tragically, yes. One imagines Hetty throwing herself on the mercy of her family, and Adam, a choice that would have come with serious consequences for her, but nothing like what actually happens. Why does she do what she does? That's a good part of why we still read the novel.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-52316085546063229102008-09-24T00:29:00.000-05:002008-09-24T00:29:00.000-05:00Well, I couldn't help myself and Adam Bede is on t...Well, I couldn't help myself and Adam Bede is on the way via bookmooch.<BR/><BR/>I was wondering how far Eliot went with Hetty because yes, Flaubert clearly hates Emma and the other little people like her...<BR/><BR/>Is Hetty's situation really all her own fault?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91415379980000181812008-09-23T18:05:00.000-05:002008-09-23T18:05:00.000-05:00GE's contemporary reviewers made the comparison to...GE's contemporary reviewers made the comparison to <I>Heart of Midlothian</I> too, and at least one strongly preferred Scott's treatment of the situation because GE treats Hetty's point of view in such detail and so sympathetically. Does she <I>like</I> her, though? Does understanding someone necessarily make us like them? It keeps us from judging them, maybe.<BR/><BR/>Many critics have thought GE is much harsher with Rosamond in <I>Middlemarch</I>. I used to think that was fair enough (Rosamond being who she is) and feel quite sorry for Hetty--until I had children of my own, and now that sad little baby's cry (and hand) haunt me when I read that section. Mind you, Rosamond's not winning any Mother-of-the-Year awards either, but the details of that lie in your reading future!Rohan Maitzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12111722115617352412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82819150053673911212008-09-23T15:26:00.000-05:002008-09-23T15:26:00.000-05:00It is a bit like Flaubert and Emma. Here and there...It is a bit like Flaubert and Emma. Here and there in <EM>Adam Bede</EM>, Eliot is condescending towards Hetty. Not during Hetty's journey, though.<BR/><BR/>Flaubert, of course, actively despises Emma. Eliot seems to like Hetty.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6286058086452522492008-09-23T12:43:00.000-05:002008-09-23T12:43:00.000-05:00Your mention of the difference between Eliot and H...Your mention of the difference between Eliot and Hettie is really interesting to me, very much like Flaubert and Emma...the opposite of the kind of person the author would have actually admired. I think I may have to read this soon, while Madame Bovary is still fresh in my mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com