Bertram Cope’s Year · Chapter
Cope Absent from a Wedding explained
Amy Leffingwell marries George Pearson in a late April ceremony.
What happens
Amy Leffingwell marries George Pearson in a late April ceremony. Hortense Dunton, still bitter from her earlier confrontation with Cope, disrupts the wedding by fainting and crying out 'O Bertram, Bertram!' causing scandal. Medora Phillips decides to send Hortense away to recover. Basil Randolph gives Amy away at the wedding. Afterward, Medora and Randolph engage in a tense, veiled argument about their respective influences over Bertram Cope.
Themes in this chapter
Unrequited and Ambiguous Desire
Hortense's public cry for Bertram Cope at Amy's wedding reveals her unrequited feelings and creates scandal.
Social Manipulation and Patronage
Medora Phillips and Basil Randolph engage in a veiled power struggle over their respective influence on Bertram Cope.
Performance and Artifice
The wedding ceremony is described as a 'crude imitation of a time-hallowed form,' highlighting the artificiality of social rituals.
Characters to notice
- Bertram Cope
Absent from the wedding; his name is invoked by Hortense in a hysterical outburst.
- Hortense Dunton
Remains sullen and angry after her quarrel with Cope; faints at the wedding, crying out Cope's name, causing a scene.
- Amy Leffingwell
The bride; blissfully busy with her trousseau and wedding preparations, marries George Pearson.
- Medora Phillips
Hosts the wedding; is displeased by Hortense's outburst and decides to send her away; later argues with Randolph about Cope.
- Basil Randolph
Gives Amy away at the wedding; after the ceremony, he and Medora have a tense exchange about their influence over Cope.
- Joe Foster
Present at the wedding; bonds with Amy's younger brother Dick, who soothes his exacerbated spirit.
Key passages
“Hortense remained for several days in a condition of sullen anger—she was a cloud lit up by occasional unaccountable flashes of temper.”
Hortense stayed angry and moody for days, with sudden, inexplicable bursts of temper.
Describes Hortense's emotional state after her quarrel with Cope.
“There was a burst of hysterical laughter from somewhere behind, and Hortense Dunton, to the sufficing words, 'O Bertram, Bertram!' emitted with sufficing clearness, fainted away.”
Hortense suddenly laughed hysterically, cried out 'O Bertram, Bertram!' clearly, and then fainted.
The climactic moment of Hortense's public breakdown at the wedding.
“Medora Phillips, in the front hall itself— Well, to Medora Phillips, in the front hall, much was revealed as in a lightning-flash, and the revelation was far from agreeable.”
In the front hall, Medora Phillips had a sudden, unpleasant realization about Hortense's feelings for Cope.
Medora's moment of insight into Hortense's outburst.