A Hazard of New Fortunes · Chapter
XV explained
Beaton, despairing over his lost favor with Alma Leighton, resolves to propose to her one last time, hoping she will save him from a future with Christine Dryfoos.
What happens
Beaton, despairing over his lost favor with Alma Leighton, resolves to propose to her one last time, hoping she will save him from a future with Christine Dryfoos. Alma firmly rejects him, declaring her feelings dead and her sympathy exhausted. After he leaves, she defends her independence to her mother, insisting she will choose her own path in love and art rather than settle for a man she does not truly care for.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Beaton's desperate proposal and Alma's rejection highlight the tension between romantic love, social expectation, and personal autonomy in marriage.
Art and Commerce
Alma's admiration for Beaton's artistic talent is tempered by her recognition of his moral failings and her own desire to pursue art on her own terms, not through a relationship.
Characters to notice
- Angus Beaton
Beaton, in a state of desperate pride and self-pity, decides to throw himself on Alma's mercy as a last chance to avoid marrying Christine Dryfoos. He confesses his love and his folly, but is ultimately rejected.
- Alma Leighton
Alma firmly and finally rejects Beaton, having lost all romantic interest and sympathy for him. She later asserts her independence to her mother, declaring she will pick and choose a partner as a man does, rather than be passively chosen.
- Mrs. Leighton
Mrs. Leighton expresses conventional worries about Alma's future marriage prospects, reflecting the societal pressure on women to marry. She is skeptical that Alma's rejection of Beaton is truly final.
- Christine Dryfoos
Christine is mentioned as the alternative future Beaton contemplates—a marriage of convenience that would allow him to go abroad, underscoring his desperation.
Key passages
“While we are still young we feel a kind of pride, a sort of fierce pleasure, in any important experience, such as we have read of or heard of in the lives of others, no matter how painful.”
In youth, we take a perverse pride in undergoing significant life events, even painful ones, simply because they mirror the dramatic experiences we've read or heard about.
The narrator introduces Beaton's state of mind, framing his romantic crisis as a source of grim satisfaction.
“A man knows that he can love and wholly cease to love, not once merely, but several times; he recognizes the fact in regard to himself, both theoretically and practically; but in regard to women he cherishes the superstition of the romances that love is once for all, and forever.”
Men understand that they themselves can fall in and out of love repeatedly, yet they cling to the romantic notion that women love only once and forever.
The narrator comments on Beaton's contradictory beliefs about love, which fuel his hope that Alma might still care for him.
“But I shall pick and choose, as a man does; I won't merely be picked and chosen.”
I will take an active role in selecting a partner, just as men do, rather than passively waiting to be selected.
Alma asserts her independence and rejects the passive role traditionally assigned to women in courtship.