Howards End · Chapter
XXIII explained
Margaret scolds Helen for veiling her disapproval of the engagement in mystery.
What happens
Margaret scolds Helen for veiling her disapproval of the engagement in mystery. Helen confesses she finds life like a puppet show and cannot attempt difficult relations; she vows to dislike Henry but love Margaret more. Reassured, Margaret returns to London and visits Henry's office at the Imperial and West African Rubber Company. She then drives to Howards End alone in the rain, explores the empty, desolate house, and encounters an old woman who mistakes her for Ruth Wilcox.
Themes in this chapter
Connection vs. Isolation
Margaret and Helen's frank conversation reveals their inner connection, yet Helen isolates herself by refusing to engage with Henry and vowing to go her own way.
The Meaning of Home and Heritage
Margaret's exploration of Howards End—its desolation, beauty, and the echo of Ruth Wilcox—probes the intangible significance of the house beyond mere property.
Social Class and Inequality
The Wilcoxes' dismissive treatment of the tenant Bryce and the contrast between the business office and the rural house highlight class and power dynamics.
Characters to notice
- Margaret Schlegel
Scolds Helen, visits Henry's office, explores Howards End alone, and is mistaken for Ruth Wilcox by an old woman.
- Helen Schlegel
Defends her mystery about the engagement, speaks of life as puppetry, and vows to dislike Henry but love Margaret.
- Henry Wilcox
Margaret visits his office; he dictates a strong letter and discusses the tenant Bryce with Charles.
- Charles Wilcox
Greets Margaret at the office, reports flinging down Bryce's notice-boards, and discusses the state of Howards End.
- Ruth Wilcox
Mentioned by the old woman who mistakes Margaret for her; her presence haunts the house.
- Aunt Juley
Referenced in Margaret's memory for her earlier remark about truth being halfway between.
- Tibby Schlegel
Mentioned by Helen as someone she will make no concessions to.
- Miss Avery
The old woman who descends the stairs at Howards End, mistakes Margaret for Ruth Wilcox, and leaves into the rain.
Key passages
“I can only entice and be enticed. I can't, and won't, attempt difficult relations.”
Helen admits she is only capable of easy, superficial relationships and refuses to engage in challenging ones.
Helen explains her emotional limitations to Margaret.
“You mean to keep proportion, and that's heroic, it's Greek, and I don't see why it shouldn't succeed with you.”
Helen praises Margaret's ability to maintain balance in life, calling it heroic and likely to succeed.
Helen's view of Margaret's approach to marriage and life.
“The phantom of bigness, which London encourages, was laid forever when she paced from the hall at Howards End to its kitchen and heard the rain run this way and that where the watershed of the roof divided it.”
Margaret's experience at Howards End dispels the illusion of scale and grandeur that London fosters, replacing it with a sense of intimate, natural proportion.
Margaret's epiphany about the value of small, tangible spaces over vast abstractions.
“A woman, an old woman, was descending, with figure erect, with face impassive, with lips that parted and said dryly: 'Oh! Well, I took you for Ruth Wilcox.'”
An old woman appears on the stairs at Howards End and tells Margaret she mistook her for Ruth Wilcox.
The mysterious encounter that links Margaret to the spirit of the former owner.
