I have finished the book, and read the concluding remarks, I am just awestruck! But before I begin discussing these final chapters, I want to share a statement, which gives me justification, in seeing Cynthia, as the author Mrs. Gaskell intended to portray her, and hopefully help with this,
JoanP.,
.I really wanted to see if Cynthia is portrayed as badly as Bella sees her...or just clueless as to the feelings of others.
pg. 600
Concluding RemarksCynthia is one of the most difficult characters which have ever been attempted in our time. Perfect art always obscures the difficulties it overcomes; and it is not till we try to follow the processes by which such a character as the Tito of Romola is created, for instance, that we begin to understand what a marvellous piece of work it is. To be sure, Cynthia was not so difficult, nor is it nearly so great a creation as that splendid achievement of art and thought—of the rarest art, of the profoundest thought. But she also belongs to the kind of characters which are conceived only in minds large, clear, harmonious and just, and which can be portrayed fully and without flaw only by hands obedient to the finest motions of the mind. Viewed in this light, Cynthia is a more important piece of work even than Molly, delicately as she is drawn, and true and harmonious as that picture is also. I found the painting which is mentioned above.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bacchus+and+ariadne+painting&tbm=isch&imgil=I5BmwY_kSseBcM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcTJky_U6XDQqtWzppEGgsSxdhnZ5sJ0vhsnkeHptnTJEmhU6kC5%253B1000%253B835%253BbVnEb8zXfd0ZPM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.oilpaintingsgallery.com%25252Fpaintings%25252FBacchus-and-Ariadne.asp&source=iu&usg=__bf1zK2Lfm2EVRkQw0g6rvtTLPFg%3D&sa=X&ei=sakQU_66F9DyyAHAroHoCA&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQ9QEwBQ&biw=1366&bih=640#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=I5BmwY_kSseBcM%253A%3BbVnEb8zXfd0ZPM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.oilpaintingsgallery.com%252Fdisrobed%252FBacchus-and-Ariadne.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.oilpaintingsgallery.com%252Fpaintings%252FBacchus-and-Ariadne.asp%3B1000%3B835"He paints a betrothal picture for Tito and Romola, representing them as Bacchus and Ariadne" Romola is the female protagonist through whom the surrounding world is evaluated. Contemporary and modern critics have questioned the likelihood of the level of scholarship attributed to women such as Romola in Renaissance Italy, and have pointed to the possible role of the title character as a Victorian critique of the constrained lot of women in that period, as well as in Eliot's contemporary period.
Felicia Bonaparte speculated about the title character as a "thoroughly contemporary figure, the Victorian intellectual struggling to resolve the dilemmas of the modern age". In a similar vein, the story also deals with the dilemma of where the duty of obedience for women ends and the duty of resistance begins.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RomolaThis is very interesting to read, after researching and finding this article, I sense
Wives and Daughters was inspired by George Elliot's
Romola.
Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively "Mary Ann" or "Marian"), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871–72), and Daniel Deronda (1876),
most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight.She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived for over 20 years.[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliot
http://www.academia.edu/311871/George_Eliots_Romola_A_Historical_Novel_Rather_Different_in_Character_I don't think it too much of a leap, at least for me, to assume Gaskell was familiar with Elliot's novels, and the two of them shared the same writing style, themes, and avant-garde for their times.
I also feel these comments clarify many of the feelings I expressed throughout this story:
pg. 599
While you read any one of the last three books we have named, you feel yourself caught out of an abominable wicked world, crawling with selfishness and reeking with base passions, into one where there is much weakness, many mistakes, sufferings long and bitter, but where it is possible for people to live calm and wholesome lives; and, what is more, you feel that this is at least as real a world as the otherNow as for Cynthia, I think this shows while she seemed to dominate the story, Gaskell fully intended to concentrate on Molly and Roger in her final chapters, as it should be.
pg. 599
Of what was to happen to Cynthia after her marriage the author was not heard to say much; and, indeed, it does not seem that anything needs to be added. I am contented with how Gaskell wrapped up Cynthia and Henderson. I am ready to focus on the two characters Molly and Roger, I was so hoping would have their happy ending. I'm not sure forgiving Cynthia or seeing her differently than the author intended her is necessary. She is who she is, no regrets, no apologies, and she has a husband who accepts her for just the person she is......that is enough for me.
JoanP., I am so sorry to hear your dvd was destroyed. I would caution you, to keep an open mind when viewing the movie, as we know, many a books made into a movie can loose much of a person's character the author intended it to be. I can name many books I recently read, then watched the movie and was thoroughly disappointed in how characters were unrecognizable in the movie. Such as the movie
The Help, a very serious story dealing with prejudice, civil rights, abuse, and societal snobbery, was made into a comedy movie. I just about walked out of the theater, because it was a disgrace to the author, to minimize her great work.
My apologies this is so lengthy, I got so intrigued in researching and wanted to finish with Cynthia, as far as I am concerned and Mrs. Gaskell, before discussing these wonderful last chapters! Gakell did NOT disappoint for sure!
Ciao for now~
