Bertram Cope’s Year · Chapter
XXVII: Cope Escapes a Snare explained
Cope visits Hortense Dunton for a portrait sitting, intending to make it the first and last.
What happens
Cope visits Hortense Dunton for a portrait sitting, intending to make it the first and last. He deflects her emotional advances and attempts to maintain a detached, friendly demeanor. Hortense, frustrated by his coldness and her unrequited feelings, lashes out, accusing him of selfishness and predicting the failure of his friendship with Arthur Lemoyne. Cope leaves with a mix of mortification, pain, and relief.
Themes in this chapter
Unrequited and Ambiguous Desire
Hortense's unreciprocated romantic feelings for Cope are central; Cope's cold detachment and refusal to engage emotionally highlight the theme.
Performance and Artifice
Cope's 'factitious vivacity' and 'stilted copybook talk' during the sitting underscore his performative demeanor and emotional evasion.
Gender Roles and Sexuality
Hortense's emotional outburst and Cope's rejection challenge traditional gender expectations; Hortense's critique of Cope's friendship with Lemoyne hints at societal attitudes toward male intimacy.
Characters to notice
- Bertram Cope
Visits Hortense for a portrait sitting, determined to make it the only one; deflects her emotional advances with cold detachment.
- Hortense Dunton
Emotionally volatile during the sitting; confesses her unrequited feelings for Cope and angrily predicts the end of his friendship with Lemoyne.
- Arthur Lemoyne
Mentioned by Hortense as the object of a 'preposterous friendship' with Cope; she predicts Cope will tire of him.
- Amy Leffingwell
Mentioned as the bride-to-be; her wedding to George Pearson is imminent, with plans for a bridal trip and new home.
- Carolyn Thorpe
Mentioned as the bride's-maid; she is writing an epithalamium for the wedding, which Hortense ridicules.
- George F. Pearson
Mentioned as Amy's fiancé; the wedding preparations are underway.
Key passages
“I give you an hour from my treadmill. So many books, and such dry ones!”
Cope tells Hortense he can spare only an hour from his busy academic work.
Cope uses a dismissive tone to limit the sitting's duration.
“I like you as well as another; no more, no less. I am in no position to think of love and marriage, and I have no inclination that way.”
Cope declares he has no romantic interest in Hortense or anyone else.
Cope's blunt rejection is meant to prevent further emotional entanglement.
“Your Arthur Lemoyne. That preposterous friendship cannot go on for long. You will tire of him; or more likely he will tire of you.”
Hortense predicts that Cope's close friendship with Lemoyne will not last.
Hortense's bitter remark reflects her jealousy and suspicion of Cope's bond with Lemoyne.