The Go-Between

by

L. P. Hartley

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Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh Character Analysis

Trimingham is the ninth Viscount and landlord of the Brandham Hall estate. He has just returned from service for the British Empire in the Boer War, in which he sustained an unsightly facial injury. Trimingham is engaged to Marian, a marriage which suits both parties as the Maudsleys have more money than he does but he has the rights to the estate. He is a prime example of the late-Victorian gentleman, never giving much of himself away and always behaving in line with the social manners expected of his class. He betrays very little emotion, and always treats Leo with respect. In fact, it’s Trimingham who comes up with Leo’s nickname, Mercury—the messenger of the gods—that Leo so enjoys at first. Leo is in awe of Trimingham’s status and also sees him as someone who can help him understand the world. That’s why, when worried about whether there will be a fatal duel between Trimingham and Ted, Leo asks Trimingham about romantic relationships. In this moment, Trimingham offers Leo the advice that “nothing is ever a lady’s fault”—which Leo can’t make work in light of what he knows of Marian’s actions. It transpires that Trimingham dies in 1910, but stood by Marian after the revelation of her affair. He even took care of her love child with Ted, treating the baby as his own. It’s not clear, though, whether that response comes from humane concern for Marian and the child, or from a desire to save face and maintain his status in society—the likelihood, on the evidence of the book, is both.

Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh Quotes in The Go-Between

The The Go-Between quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh or refer to Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh . 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:
Social Class and Hierarchy Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

I came to dread these pleasantries, they seemed to spring up all around me like rows of gas-jets scorching me, and I turned redder than I was already. The frightful feeling of being marked out for ridicule came back in all its strength. I don’t think I was unduly sensitive; in my experience most people mind being laughed at more than anything else. What causes wars, what makes them drag on so interminably, than the fear of losing face?

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Heat / The Thermometer
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6  Quotes

But the idea of goodness did attract me, for I did not regard it as the opposite of sin. I saw it as something bright and positive and sustaining, like the sunshine, something to be adored, but from afar.

The idea of the assembled Viscounts contained it for me, and the Maudsleys, as their viceroys, enjoyed it too, not so incontestably, but enough to separate them from other human beings. They were a race apart, super-adults, not bound by the same laws of life as little boys.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 64
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7  Quotes

I was in love with the heat, I felt for it what the convert feels for his new religion…And without my being aware of it, the climate of my emotions had undergone a change. I was no longer satisfied with the small change of experience which had hitherto contented me. I wanted to deal in larger sums. I wanted to enjoy continuously the afflatus of spirit that I had when I was walking to Lord Trimingham and he admitted to being a Viscount. To be in tune with all that Brandham Hall meant, I must increase my stature, I must act on a grander scale. Perhaps all these desires had been dormant in me for years, and the Zodiac had been their latest manifestation.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Zodiac, The Heat / The Thermometer
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8  Quotes

The messenger of the gods! I thought of that, and even when the attention of the gods had been withdrawn from me, it seemed to enhance my status. I pictured myself threading my way through the Zodiac, calling on one star after another.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Zodiac
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“Phew! Three times I nearly had to cat…And you looked so pi, Leo, really dreadfully pi. So did everybody, while you were singing that church thing about the angels taking care of you. They all looked as if they were thinking about their dear dead ones, and Burgess looked as if he might be going to blub. Of course it’s difficult to know how Trimingham feels because of his face, but he didn’t half crack you up to Mama. He’ll eat out of your hand now.

Related Characters: Marcus Maudsley (speaker), Leo Colston, Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 140-141
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Nothing is ever a lady’s fault; you’ll learn that.

Related Characters: Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh (speaker), Leo Colston, Marian Maudsley
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Lady-killer: what did that mean? I didn’t like to ask too many questions. I did not think, however, Ted would kill Marian: Man-killer, that was what I had been afraid of. Now the fear had passed away, lost its reality with the rest of my life at Brandham Hall. I could scarcely believe that I had once felt I ought to warn Lord Trimingham of his peril. The ninth Viscount would never know that I had saved him from the fate of the fifth. By removing myself I had removed the danger: it was my master-stroke.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Marian Maudsley, Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“Marian, why don’t you marry Ted?”

It was only for a moment, but in that moment her face reflected all the misery she had been going through; it was a heart’s history in a look. ‘I couldn’t, I couldn’t!” She wailed. “Can’t you see why?”

I thought I did and since so many barriers between us were being overturned I added—it seemed only logical:

“But why are you going to marry Hugh if you don’t want to?”

“Because I must marry him,” she said. “You wouldn’t understand. I must. I’ve got to!” Her lips trembled and she burst into tears.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Marian Maudsley (speaker), Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 211-212
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh Quotes in The Go-Between

The The Go-Between quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh or refer to Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh . 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:
Social Class and Hierarchy Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

I came to dread these pleasantries, they seemed to spring up all around me like rows of gas-jets scorching me, and I turned redder than I was already. The frightful feeling of being marked out for ridicule came back in all its strength. I don’t think I was unduly sensitive; in my experience most people mind being laughed at more than anything else. What causes wars, what makes them drag on so interminably, than the fear of losing face?

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Heat / The Thermometer
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6  Quotes

But the idea of goodness did attract me, for I did not regard it as the opposite of sin. I saw it as something bright and positive and sustaining, like the sunshine, something to be adored, but from afar.

The idea of the assembled Viscounts contained it for me, and the Maudsleys, as their viceroys, enjoyed it too, not so incontestably, but enough to separate them from other human beings. They were a race apart, super-adults, not bound by the same laws of life as little boys.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 64
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7  Quotes

I was in love with the heat, I felt for it what the convert feels for his new religion…And without my being aware of it, the climate of my emotions had undergone a change. I was no longer satisfied with the small change of experience which had hitherto contented me. I wanted to deal in larger sums. I wanted to enjoy continuously the afflatus of spirit that I had when I was walking to Lord Trimingham and he admitted to being a Viscount. To be in tune with all that Brandham Hall meant, I must increase my stature, I must act on a grander scale. Perhaps all these desires had been dormant in me for years, and the Zodiac had been their latest manifestation.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Zodiac, The Heat / The Thermometer
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8  Quotes

The messenger of the gods! I thought of that, and even when the attention of the gods had been withdrawn from me, it seemed to enhance my status. I pictured myself threading my way through the Zodiac, calling on one star after another.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Related Symbols: The Zodiac
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“Phew! Three times I nearly had to cat…And you looked so pi, Leo, really dreadfully pi. So did everybody, while you were singing that church thing about the angels taking care of you. They all looked as if they were thinking about their dear dead ones, and Burgess looked as if he might be going to blub. Of course it’s difficult to know how Trimingham feels because of his face, but he didn’t half crack you up to Mama. He’ll eat out of your hand now.

Related Characters: Marcus Maudsley (speaker), Leo Colston, Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 140-141
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Nothing is ever a lady’s fault; you’ll learn that.

Related Characters: Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh (speaker), Leo Colston, Marian Maudsley
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Lady-killer: what did that mean? I didn’t like to ask too many questions. I did not think, however, Ted would kill Marian: Man-killer, that was what I had been afraid of. Now the fear had passed away, lost its reality with the rest of my life at Brandham Hall. I could scarcely believe that I had once felt I ought to warn Lord Trimingham of his peril. The ninth Viscount would never know that I had saved him from the fate of the fifth. By removing myself I had removed the danger: it was my master-stroke.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Marian Maudsley, Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“Marian, why don’t you marry Ted?”

It was only for a moment, but in that moment her face reflected all the misery she had been going through; it was a heart’s history in a look. ‘I couldn’t, I couldn’t!” She wailed. “Can’t you see why?”

I thought I did and since so many barriers between us were being overturned I added—it seemed only logical:

“But why are you going to marry Hugh if you don’t want to?”

“Because I must marry him,” she said. “You wouldn’t understand. I must. I’ve got to!” Her lips trembled and she burst into tears.

Related Characters: Leo Colston (speaker), Marian Maudsley (speaker), Ted Burgess, Lord Trimingham the Ninth Viscount / Hugh
Page Number: 211-212
Explanation and Analysis: