Daniel Deronda · Chapter
II explained
Gwendolen receives a letter from her mother revealing that the family is ruined due to the failure of Grapnell & Co.
What happens
Gwendolen receives a letter from her mother revealing that the family is ruined due to the failure of Grapnell & Co. She had earlier pawned her necklace to fund her gambling, but a stranger (Deronda) secretly returns it to her, causing her humiliation. She resolves to leave Leubronn immediately and returns home to Offendene.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Privilege
Gwendolen's shock at sudden poverty highlights her reliance on wealth and social standing, and the humiliation of dependence.
Power and Control
Deronda's anonymous return of the necklace exerts a subtle power over Gwendolen, making her feel trapped and humiliated.
Characters to notice
- Gwendolen Harleth
Gwendolen receives the devastating news of her family's ruin, pawns her necklace, and is humiliated by Deronda's return of it. She decides to leave Leubronn at once.
- Daniel Deronda
Implied to be the stranger who returns Gwendolen's necklace, an act she perceives as a condescending liberty.
- Mrs. Davilow
Gwendolen's mother, who writes the letter informing Gwendolen of the family's financial ruin and urging her return.
- Madame von Langen
Gwendolen's hostess in Leubronn; Gwendolen avoids her to pawn the necklace and later lies about her departure.
Key passages
“She had a naive delight in her fortunate self, which any but the harshest saintliness will have some indulgence for in a girl who had every day seen a pleasant reflection of that self in her friends’ flattery as well as in the looking-glass.”
Gwendolen was innocently pleased with herself, a feeling excusable in a young woman constantly praised by others and pleased by her own reflection.
Highlights Gwendolen's self-love and vanity before her fall.
“How could she believe in sorrow? If it attacked her, she felt the force to crush it, to defy it, or run away from it, as she had done already.”
Gwendolen could not imagine real grief; she believed she could always overcome or escape trouble.
Foreshadows her inability to cope with the sudden reversal of fortune.
“A stranger who has found Miss Harleth’s necklace returns it to her with the hope that she will not again risk the loss of it.”
An unknown person returns the necklace Gwendolen pawned, advising her not to gamble with it again.
Deronda's intervention humiliates Gwendolen and asserts moral authority.