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Chapter 42
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Wives and Daughters, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
Class, Status, and Romance
Independence, Opportunities, and Gender
Challenges, Growth, and Community
Gossip and Rumors
Summary
Analysis
When Molly goes to Cynthia’s bedroom, the two begin to talk about Cynthia’s engagement to Preston. Molly says that if they could only talk to Mr. Gibson about the matter, he would be able to help them. Cynthia grows agitated and says that Gibson must never know of her engagement to Preston, and Molly promises to never tell her father about it. Cynthia then explains that it all started four or five years ago. She and Clare had been in dire financial straits, and Cynthia’s clothes had grown threadbare. Preston was a regular visitor to their house and knew of their difficulties. One day, he found Cynthia alone and offered her £20 that he had in his pocket.
Notably, Cynthia’s difficulties with Preston are intimately bound up with her and Clare’s previous financial difficulties and the financial precarity they experienced while living in Ashcombe. In that way, the novel uses Cynthia’s supposed engagement to Preston to make a larger point about the misguided nature and harmful consequences of Victorian society’s fixation on class and status as determinative factors when considering romantic compatibility. It also highlights the precious situation in which women of the era find themselves: unable to find gainful employment by which to support themselves, they must sacrifice their independence (and their happiness) to achieve the financial security that marriage can give them.
Themes
Cynthia accepted the £20, considering it a loan from a friend. She used the money to buy boots and gloves as well as a ball gown. She then attended the ball and had a magnificent time. The day before she was set to leave for school in France, she intended to find Preston and thank him for loaning her the £20 because it had helped her immensely. However, when she found Preston, he desperately declared his love for her. Preston said that if Cynthia promised to marry him, he would forgive her debt to him. Cynthia was surprised and somewhat disturbed and walked away without answering. The next day, Preston continued his entreaties. Cynthia remembered the pressure of poverty she had experienced and, against her better judgment, wrote a letter saying she would marry Preston once she turned 20, but the engagement had to be kept a secret.
By using Preston’s money to buy a ball gown along with the boots and gloves, Cynthia attempts to create the appearance of wealth and status. The pain of those memories of poverty then drives her to tell Preston that she will marry him when she’s 20, only to immediately regret saying so. This passage uses clothing symbolism to subtly criticize Victorian society’s emphasis on appearances and on social class in general.
Themes
As soon as Cynthia sent that letter, she began to hate Preston. She went away to school. And then, during one of her vacations, she wrote to Preston and told him that she wanted nothing to do with him. Preston then began threatening to reveal their engagement to the world and to show her letters to him, in which she sometimes spoke ill of her mother, to other people. Cynthia gave in to the threats and decided to try to avoid upsetting Preston. Cynthia says that since then, she has begged Preston to set her free, but he continues to threaten to make their engagement and her letters public.
This passage shows that Preston is not just harassing Cynthia to try and get her to marry him: he is also blackmailing her. By threatening to expose her private letters, he seeks to coerce Cynthia into marrying him. Again, the novel uses Preston’s moral failings to make a larger point about the misguided nature of using class, status, and wealth as determining factors when considering a romantic partner. It also reinforces the precarious situation in which gender norms of the era put women. No amount of money would make Preston worth marrying, yet Cynthia’s reputation is at stake if she goes against Preston’s wishes---and in the novel’s 19th century English society, reputation is everything, especially for a woman of Cynthia’s relatively humble means.
Themes
Molly says that if Preston went public, he would come out looking worse than Molly would. Molly says she can’t bear for anyone to know the things she said in her letters, and Molly promises to help Cynthia try and recover those letters from Preston. Cynthia also wants to ensure that Preston takes the £20, with interest, that started the whole business of their supposed engagement. Molly promises again not to tell her father (Mr. Gibson) any of what has happened. She then thinks of how badly the information would hurt Roger if he found out, and she vows to try and get Cynthia to make a full confession to him about her relationship with Preston when Roger returns.
Molly promises to help Cynthia extricate herself from Preston’s blackmail scheme. Given what the reader knows about Molly’s selflessness and moral compass, it’s not surprising that she promises to help, but it’s still worth noting that Molly’s selflessness continues to determine her actions. At this point, Molly could feasibly use Cynthia’s situation to her own advantage by using it to drive a wedge between Roger and Cynthia. However, that idea never occurs to Molly, showing again how she prioritizes friendship and the well-being of others over any selfish or competitive impulses.
Themes
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