# XXIII explained — Daniel Deronda > Chapter companion for Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. ## What happens Gwendolen meets alone with Klesmer to ask his professional opinion about becoming a performer. He delivers a brutally honest assessment, warning her that she would achieve at best mediocrity as a true artist, and that the path of relying on beauty for stage success is degrading. He offers to help her with training and support after his upcoming marriage to Miss Arrowpoint, but Gwendolen is deeply wounded and humiliated. After he leaves, she feels utterly miserable and directionless. ## Themes in this chapter ### Art and Performance Klesmer distinguishes between true artistic vocation and using beauty for stage success; Gwendolen confronts the harsh realities of artistic ambition. ### Marriage and Gender Roles Gwendolen's crisis questions whether she must take a husband at all; Klesmer's marriage to Miss Arrowpoint is presented as a supportive partnership. ### Social Class and Privilege Gwendolen's lady-like status is both an advantage and a limitation; Klesmer notes she cannot become a governess or needlewoman due to her class. ## Character check-ins ### Gwendolen Harleth Seeks Klesmer's advice about a career in music and acting; is devastated by his honest assessment of her limited talent. ### Klesmer Delivers a frank critique of Gwendolen's artistic prospects; reveals his engagement to Miss Arrowpoint and offers to help Gwendolen with training. ### Mrs. Davilow Anxiously suggests Gwendolen not meet Klesmer alone, but is overruled. ### Catherine Arrowpoint Mentioned as Klesmer's fiancée; her potential patronage adds to Gwendolen's humiliation. ## Key lines > Among the heirs of Art, as is the division of the promised land, each has to win his portion by hard fighting: the bestowal is after the manner of prophecy, and is a title without possession. Artistic success is not inherited or given; it must be earned through struggle, much like the biblical Israelites had to conquer Canaan. _Opening metaphor comparing artistic ambition to the biblical conquest of the Promised Land._ > The most obstinate beliefs that mortals entertain about themselves are such as they have no evidence for beyond a constant, spontaneous pulsing of their self-satisfaction—as it were a hidden seed of madness, a confidence that they can move the world without precise notion of standing-place or lever. People's strongest self-beliefs often have no basis in reality, only in their own unchecked self-satisfaction—a kind of delusion that they can achieve great things without any real foundation. _Narrator's commentary on Gwendolen's unfounded self-confidence._ > You would find—after your education in doing things slackly for one-and-twenty years—great difficulties in study; you would find mortifications in the treatment you would get when you presented yourself on the footing of skill. Because you've been raised to do things carelessly for twenty-one years, you'll face huge challenges in serious study and humiliating treatment when you try to be judged on your actual ability. _Klesmer's blunt assessment of Gwendolen's lack of disciplined training._ > If you take that more courageous resolve I will ask leave to shake hands with you on the strength of our freemasonry, where we are all vowed to the service of art, and to serve her by helping every fellow-servant. If you choose the harder path of becoming a true artist, I'll welcome you as a fellow member of the artistic brotherhood, where we are all committed to serving art and helping each other. _Klesmer offers solidarity if Gwendolen commits to genuine artistic pursuit._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se/chapters/xxiii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se/chapters