Previous
Chapter 15
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What Maisie Knew, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Innocence and Corruption
Money and Society
Hypocrisy
Perspective and Understanding
Summary
Analysis
The Captain, a handsome man with gentle blue eyes, is scandalized by Sir Claude’s conduct and confused by Maisie’s response: she blames her mother for intentionally provoking Sir Claude. The Captain, however, calls Ida an angel. He describes a very different Ida to Maisie and gently brushes off Maisie’s questions about Ida’s other gentleman friends—Lord Eric or the Count. For the Captain, Ida’s greatest quality is her honesty, and his speech moves Maisie. He asks Maisie if she will return to Ida, but Maisie responds that Ida won’t have her. The Captain tries to assure her that Ida wants her company, but they are interrupted by Sir Claude’s return. Sir Claude is angrier than Maisie has ever seen him, and when she is unable to tell him anything about the Captain, he snaps at her and sends her home in a cab alone.
The Captain offers a striking contrast to the last lover of Ida’s that Maisie met, Mr. Perriam. The Captain’s reaction to Ida and Sir Claude’s argument, as well as his speech listing Ida’s good qualities, suggest that he has not seen the aggressive side of her. The good qualities the Captain sees in Ida are mirror images of her flaws, drawing attention both to her hypocritical nature and her complicated, tragic character. Maisie has never heard someone talk about her mother so warmly, but deep down she knows that her mother will never be the Ida that she is to the Captain. Sir Claude’s short temper hints that Ida must have grievously offended him, although what she said is not revealed.
Active
Themes
