Julius Beaufort Character Analysis in The Age of Innocence

Mr. Beaufort is an English banker who has frequent affairs, most prominently with a prostitute named Miss Fanny Ring. Most of society doesn’t quite trust him because he’s a foreigner of uncertain origin and he’s prone to disregarding their rules. He tries to court Ellen, but she spurns him, despite the fact that she feels he’s one of the only people who understands her perspective on the world. Due to shady business dealings, Beaufort’s bank eventually collapses, causing many of society’s families to lose money and thrusting him and his wife out of society.

Julius Beaufort Quotes in The Age of Innocence

The The Age of Innocence quotes below are all either spoken by Julius Beaufort or refer to Julius Beaufort. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dover Publications edition of The Age of Innocence published in 1997.

No, it was worse a thousand times if, judging Beaufort, and probably despising him, she was yet drawn to him by all that gave him an advantage over the other men about her: his habit of two continents and two societies, his familiar association with artists and actors..., and his careless contempt for local prejudices.... [T]he circumstances of his life, and a certain native shrewdness, made him better worth talking to than many men, morally and socially his betters, whose horizon was bounded by the Battery and the Central Park. How should anyone coming from a wider world not feel the difference and be attracted by it?

Related Characters: , ,

Page Number and Citation: 89

Explanation and Analysis:

Julius Beaufort Character Timeline in The Age of Innocence

The timeline below shows where the character Julius Beaufort appears in The Age of Innocence. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Mrs. Beaufort always goes to the Opera on the night of her annual ball in order to... (full context)

Even so, Mrs. Beaufort somehow manages to run the most distinguished house in New York. She’s essentially boring and... (full context)

When Mrs. Beaufort leaves the Opera after the third act, the audience knows that the ball will begin... (full context)

Just as the guests are about to leave, Ellen Olenska enters, accompanied by Julius Beaufort. Mrs. Mingott welcomes him informally and asks for all the gossip from the ball. She... (full context)

...knows that Mrs. Welland doesn’t think she should have been out and about with Mr. Beaufort, and Archer himself thinks it improper for Ellen to have invited him to visit her. (full context)

...about the regrettable presence of Mrs. Struthers at the ball. They blame her invitation on Beaufort, whom Mrs. Archer has never trusted. Mr. Jackson claims that Mrs. Struthers came from a... (full context)

...loved a good meal. Then he says that Ellen Olenska wasn’t at the ball, but Beaufort certainly knows her, as everyone saw them walking together just that afternoon. Janey wonders what... (full context)

...has frequent affairs while his wife remains ignorant and even blushes when someone implies that Beaufort might have a mistress. (full context)

...on the street and, looking out the window, he sees Ellen Olenska descending from Julius Beaufort’s carriage. When she enters the drawing room, she’s unsurprised to see Archer. She asks what... (full context)

...chair by the fire. Archer says he was worried she’d forgotten him. She says that Beaufort was showing her houses, as she’s supposed to move since her current neighborhood isn’t fashionable.... (full context)

...in a new light. He wants to tell her not to be seen driving with Beaufort, but the atmosphere of the room makes this seem ridiculous. He feels as though they’re... (full context)

...is so complicated; she likes it for being straightforward. She says that only Archer and Beaufort seem to understand her. Archer feels it his duty to show her who Beaufort really... (full context)

...talk about the Duke and about a high-class prostitute, Miss Fanny Ring, being seen in Beaufort’s carriage. Archer can imagine Lawrence Lefferts exclaiming over society’s ruin. (full context)

...Ellen Olenska was at Mrs. Struthers’s party the night before with the Duke and Mr. Beaufort. Archer is angry, but hides it. He says he knew she meant to go. Janey... (full context)

...he can tell who is visiting whom from the carriages on the streets. He sees Beaufort leaving his house, probably for some scandalous destination. Archer assumes he’s going to visit Miss... (full context)

Only Mrs. Mingott or Beaufort might have been able to bridge the gap between high society and artists, but they... (full context)

When Nastasia lets Archer into Ellen’s house, he sees Beaufort’s coat and hat in the hall, which makes him angry. He goes into the drawing... (full context)

Beaufort is scoffing at the idea of Ellen spending three days at Skuytercliff, saying that Mrs.... (full context)

...didn’t know his purpose in coming, and only spoke of business to get rid of Beaufort. She suddenly looks pale and pitiful. (full context)

...he rises to leave. Just then, he sees Ellen sitting in a box with the Beauforts. Mrs. Beaufort gestures to him, and he goes to the box and sits down behind... (full context)

...says that she has done as Archer advised. She knows that he was right. As Beaufort begins to speak, Archer leaves the theater. The day before, he got a letter from... (full context)

...coming up behind him to throw her arms around his neck. Instead, he sees Julius Beaufort coming up the path. (full context)

Archer laughs. Ellen comes to his side and takes his hand, but when she sees Beaufort she shrinks away. Archer asks whether this is what she was running from. She says... (full context)

As Archer returns to New York the next morning, he relives the previous day. Beaufort was irritated to find Archer there and ignored him thoroughly. It was clear that Ellen... (full context)

Archer left, while Beaufort went inside with Ellen. Archer knew the van der Luydens would probably ask him to... (full context)

...Ellen’s annoyance is almost worse than if she had left New York just to meet Beaufort secretly. It’s worse if she despises him but is still drawn to him by his... (full context)

...Archer’s role in persuading her. Archer feels like the family is pushing her towards being Beaufort’s mistress by forbidding her divorce, and he wonders what Mrs. Welland would do if he... (full context)

...He realizes she must be going to Mrs. Struthers’s. He’s annoyed that she’ll probably see Beaufort there, and is probably going expressly to see him. He plots to go late in... (full context)

...very strangely fashioned hats and overcoats in the hall. He’s sure neither one belongs to Beaufort. Nastasia shows him into the drawing room. Ellen isn’t there, but another lady is, wearing... (full context)

Archer becomes angry, asking whether Beaufort will take his place. He wants Ellen to be angry too, but she wilts. He... (full context)

...weeping, and he pities Janey for her poor view of the guests. He also sees Beaufort looking at the women while sitting next to his wife, as well as Lawrence Lefferts... (full context)

Archer and Medora head towards the tent, and Beaufort comes towards them over the lawn, looking fat and overdressed. In the spring he went... (full context)

...them can make athletic pursuits look so easy. Lawrence Lefferts remarks on her beauty, but Beaufort says this is the only kind of target she’ll ever hit. Archer feels oddly angry.... (full context)

Archer asks whether Ellen has seen Beaufort lately. She hasn’t for a long time, but he understands her point of view. Archer... (full context)

Miss Jackson thinks Beaufort started the new fashion by making his wife wear her dresses as soon as she... (full context)

Archer and Sillerton Jackson retreat to the library. Mr. Jackson remarks that if Beaufort collapses, people will find out scandalous details about his affairs. Archer always thinks of Beaufort... (full context)

...won’t have any money to live on now. Archer doesn’t understand until Mr. Jackson mentions Beaufort’s name, at which point he becomes enraged and demands that Mr. Jackson explain himself. He... (full context)

...seems to have been waiting for this. He says that Medora Manson’s money is in Beaufort’s hands, and if he fails, Medora and Ellen will be penniless unless Ellen convinces Mrs.... (full context)

The next day, the rumors say that Beaufort has successfully called on influential people, and everyone is relieved to see Mrs. Beaufort at... (full context)

...find out. One morning, however, Mr. Letterblair meets him at the office with news that Beaufort put out rumors to give people confidence in his bank, but they have turned out... (full context)

A letter arrives from May. Mrs. Mingott somehow found out the night before what Beaufort had done, and it caused her to have a stroke. Archer immediately goes to Mrs.... (full context)

The stroke wasn’t too bad, but everyone is terribly indignant to find that Mrs. Beaufort came to ask Mrs. Mingott to back up her husband. Mrs. Mingott told her that... (full context)

Archer can’t really be helpful, and there’s nothing much to do but discuss the Beaufort scandal. Mrs. Welland says that in her time, the wives of men disgraced in business... (full context)

...to talk about Ellen with Lefferts. They leave the office together, discussing Mrs. Mingott and Beaufort. (full context)

That afternoon, the Beaufort failure is in all the papers, but no one connects it with Mrs. Mingott’s stroke.... (full context)

Archer feels like a prisoner. He takes a discussion about Beaufort and his wife as a warning about what could happen to him, and he laughs.... (full context)

The gentlemen in the library talk about the Beauforts. Lawrence Lefferts gives a scathing speech about a man’s duty and the sacredness of the... (full context)

...a young man. He remembers Lawrence Lefferts suggesting that one day their children would marry Beaufort’s bastards. Dallas is marrying one of Beaufort’s bastards, but everyone approves. Janey even gave Fanny... (full context)

Fanny Beaufort came to New York at eighteen, after her parents’ deaths. Everyone accepted her as charming... (full context)

...promise to see Ellen while in Paris, because Ellen was very kind to her when Beaufort sent her to school there. That morning, he called Ellen and told her that he... (full context)