Monday, January 25, 2010

Is Henry a good influence?

On Catherine I mean?

As I have said somewhere before, Henry Tilney sometimes acts in a way that suggests that he is too much at his creator's behest. This criticism has also been leveled at Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice but I think with less justice.

No the problems with Henry are twofold. First, he too often says things just to be playful as is the case in his getting poor Catherine worked up about the mysteries of the abbey. Second, and far more troublesome, he does not have any pedagogical influence on Catherine and she cannot have any on him. Catherine, disturbingly, comes to trust him so implicitly that we have to wonder what chance their future marriage could possibly have as it will be the union of a playful wit and an unthinking follower. He'd be bored, she would inevitably be exploited.

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