The mood of A Room with a View pivots between light and serious. In line with the novel's style, genre, and tone, Forster makes his reader both feel amused and stirred up over the events, characters, and settings. Throughout much of the novel, the characters are silly, their conversations are comically trivial, and the narrator's storytelling takes on a cheeky edge, which makes the reader feel like little is at stake. One such scene is the carriage ride to Fiesole, when Mr. Eager gets increasingly flustered over the driver's amorous activities. The mood of many of the scenes that are set at the Pension Bertolini feels similarly light and silly, as the setting renders their old-fashioned beliefs and customs especially apparent.
However, in other moments, the characters and events are weighty, because they reveal profound human struggles and truths. The conversation between Lucy and Mr. Emerson that occurs towards the novel's end is an example of this, as Mr. Emerson earnestly implores Lucy not to turn her back on love and her true feelings. There are also scenes in which the mood is light and serious at the same time, such as when Freddy, George Emerson, and Mr. Beebe are frolicking around the Sacred Lake. The novel ends on this kind of mixed mood, as George and Lucy have finally married and are on their honeymoon, but Lucy seems torn over having disappointed her family.
