Daniel Deronda · Chapter
XIV explained
Gwendolen receives an anonymous letter warning her against marrying Grandcourt and advising her to meet the writer at the Whispering Stones.
What happens
Gwendolen receives an anonymous letter warning her against marrying Grandcourt and advising her to meet the writer at the Whispering Stones. She decides to flee to Dover instead, breaking off her engagement and leaving her mother distressed.
Themes in this chapter
Marriage and Gender Roles
Gwendolen's rejection of Grandcourt challenges the expectation that marriage is a woman's primary path to security and freedom.
Power and Control
Grandcourt's deliberate absence and Gwendolen's defiant flight both illustrate struggles for control in their relationship.
Characters to notice
- Gwendolen Harleth
Receives a mysterious letter, decides to reject Grandcourt, and abruptly plans to leave for Dover.
- Mrs. Davilow
Tries to understand Gwendolen's sudden change of heart and is left helpless and miserable.
- Henleigh Grandcourt
Deliberately absents himself from the archery party, showing his characteristic languor and willfulness.
- Lush
Makes himself serviceable at the picnic; Gwendolen avoids him and suspects his involvement.
Key passages
“I will not clothe myself in wreck—wear gems Sawed from cramped finger-bones of women drowned; Feel chilly vaporous hands of ireful ghosts Clutching my necklace: trick my maiden breast With orphans' heritage. Let your dead love Marry its dead.”
Gwendolen refuses to benefit from the suffering of others, symbolized by jewels taken from drowned women, and declares that a dead love should remain buried.
This epigraph sets the tone for Gwendolen's moral awakening and rejection of Grandcourt's tainted past.
“I don't care what comes of it. I don't care if I never marry anyone. There is nothing worth caring for. I believe all men are bad, and I hate them.”
Gwendolen expresses despair and cynicism, rejecting the institution of marriage and men in general after her disillusionment.
This outburst reveals Gwendolen's emotional turmoil and her radical shift from ambition to defiance.