When Arthur and Helen are first getting to know each other, he pulls her aside at a party to look at a Vandyke painting with him, as seen in the following passage:
I rose with alacrity. He drew my arm within his, and led me across the room to a splendid painting of Vandyke’s that I had noticed before, but not sufficiently examined. After a moment of silent contemplation, I was beginning to comment on its beauties and peculiarities, when, playfully pressing the hand he still retained within his arm, he interrupted me with –
“Never mind the picture, it was not for that I brought you here; it was to get you away from that scoundrelly old profligate yonder, who is looking as if he would like to challenge me for the affront.”
The painting is an allusion to the 17th century Flemish artist Sir Anthony Vandyke, a court painter to King Charles I. The portrait of Vandyke suggests that Helen is moving amongst a wealthy crowd as, at the time, Vandyke was an incredibly renowned artist.
The fact that Arthur uses the guise of seeing the Vandyke painting to get Helen alone foreshadows all of the other manipulative tactics he will use to get her to marry him and to stay in a relationship with him, even as he has affairs and leaves her for months at a time.
Before Annabella and Lord Lowborough are engaged, several characters discuss the fact that Annabella is only interested in him because of his “title and pedigree.” In the following passage, Arthur tells Helen about Annabella’s true motivations:
“And the cream of the jest,” continued Mr Huntingdon, laughing, “is that the artful minx loves nothing about him, but his title and pedigree, and ‘that delightful old family seat.’”
Arthur’s references to “title and pedigree, and ‘that delightful old family seat’” are all allusions to Britain’s hereditary honors system (also called the “peerage” system). This system was a historic way of differentiating nobility from “common people” for many generations.
Though Lord Lowborough has no wealth to his name, the fact that he has the title of “lord” shows that he was born into a noble family and, as Arthur makes clear in the quote, is enough for Annabella to want to marry him. Once they do get married, Annabella gets to be called “Lady Lowborough,” as marriage is one way to earn a noble title.
Annabella ultimately ends up losing the title when Lord Lowborough learns of her affair with Arthur and divorces her. This is one of the ways that Brontë punishes dishonest characters who care more about prestige than morality or love.
