The Mysterious Affair at Styles demonstrates the many ways in which wealth can complicate life and put a strain on personal relationships. As a wealthy woman, Emily Inglethorp appears to be aware of the power she holds over people because of her money, and though she makes a show of devoting herself to charity, she also seems to curry favor with people by indicating that she’ll look after them financially. When she takes a young woman named Cynthia into her household, for instance, she promises to leave money for her when she dies—but when she actually dies, she doesn’t leave anything behind for the young woman. To that end, Emily Inglethorp changes her will quite often, drawing up a new one at least once a year (and even more frequently in the months leading up to her death). She thus keeps her loved ones in a state of anticipation, essentially giving them extra motivation to treat her well—a rather manipulative way to approach personal connections. At the same time, though, Mrs. Inglethorp does have good reason to keep a tight hold on her “purse strings” (as Hastings puts it), since there are people in her life who actively want to steal her fortune—namely, her best friend and her husband. And yet, Evelyn and Alfred are the last people she would suspect of wanting to dupe her, ultimately implying that it can be quite difficult for wealthy people to recognize when others want to take advantage of them. In turn, the novel hints that wealth can give people power and influence while simultaneously making them vulnerable to manipulation.
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Wealth, Inheritance, and Power Quotes in The Mysterious Affair at Styles
He had married two years ago, and had taken his wife to live at Styles, though I entertained a shrewd suspicion that he would have preferred his mother to increase his allowance, which would have enabled him to have a home of his own. [Emily Inglethorp], however, was a lady who liked to make her own plans, and expected other people to fall in with them, and in this case she certainly had the whip hand, namely: the purse strings.
“[…] The fellow must be at least twenty years younger than she is! It’s simply barefaced fortune hunting; but there you are—she is her own mistress, and she’s married him.”
“Look after her, Mr. Hastings. My poor Emily. They’re a lot of sharks—all of them. Oh, I know what I’m talking about. There isn’t one of them that’s not hard up and trying to get money out of her. I’ve protected her as much as I could. Now I’m out of the way, they’ll impose upon her.”
“If you people only knew how fatally easy it is to poison someone by mistake, you wouldn’t joke about it. Come on, let’s have tea. We’ve got all sorts of secret stores in that cupboard. No, Lawrence—that’s the poison cupboard. The big cupboard—that’s right.”
“Impossible!” I exclaimed. “She had only made it out that very afternoon!”
“Nevertheless, mon ami, it was Mrs. Inglethorp. Because, in no other way can you account for the fact that, on one of the hottest days of the year, Mrs. Inglethorp ordered a fire to be lighted in her room.”
