Weak Hearts Symbol Analysis

In The Good Soldier, weak hearts represent moral failure, particularly regarding infidelity. At the beginning of the novel, John tells the reader that Florence and Edward both suffer from heart conditions, which is why they must spend several months of the year relaxing in Nauheim. At this point in the story, Florence and Edward’s weak hearts are nothing more than physical conditions. However, as the novel develops and John reveals that Florence and Edward are having an affair with each other, the symbolic significance of their weak hearts deepens. Traditionally, the heart is the organ most associated with love and passion, and the novel builds on these associations. Because Florence and Edward’s hearts are weak, they are willing to abandon John and Leonora in favor of each other. Eventually, John reveals that neither Florence nor Edward has a genuine heart condition—both faked their conditions for their own benefit. As such, by the end of the story, the symbol of the week heart loses its literal significance in favor of pure metaphor. Although Florence and Edward do not have hearts that are literally weak, they do have hearts that are symbolically weak. Their weak hearts lead to both the destruction of their marriages and the termination of their own lives (both characters eventually die by suicide).