Howards End · Chapter
XXXVIII explained
Margaret asks Henry to allow Helen to spend one night at Howards End before she leaves for Munich.
What happens
Margaret asks Henry to allow Helen to spend one night at Howards End before she leaves for Munich. Henry refuses, leading to a confrontation in which Margaret reveals she knows about Henry's past infidelity and accuses him of hypocrisy for condemning Helen while he himself had a mistress.
Themes in this chapter
Connection vs. Isolation
Margaret's accusation that Henry 'cannot connect' highlights the central theme of the inability to see the links between one's own actions and those of others.
Gender Roles and Women's Independence
The double standard between Henry's forgiven infidelity and Helen's condemned pregnancy underscores the unequal treatment of men and women.
Social Class and Inequality
Henry's concern for his 'position in society' and the threat to Helen's name reflect class-based pressures on personal conduct.
Characters to notice
- Margaret Schlegel
Confronts Henry about his hypocrisy, defends Helen's request, and reveals she knows about his affair.
- Henry Wilcox
Refuses Helen's request to stay at Howards End, questions Margaret about Helen's seducer, and is accused of hypocrisy.
- Helen Schlegel
The subject of the conversation; she wishes to sleep at Howards End before leaving for Munich.
- Charles Wilcox
Mentioned as having been informed by Henry and as the future owner of Howards End.
- Dolly Fussell
Briefly appears offering tea and is told to wheel the baby away.
- Ruth Wilcox
Mentioned by Henry as someone whose memory he must consider, and by Margaret as the wife Henry betrayed.
Key passages
“You shall see the connection if it kills you, Henry! You have had a mistress—I forgave you. My sister has a lover—you drive her from the house. Do you see the connection? Stupid, hypocritical, cruel—oh, contemptible!—a man who insults his wife when she's alive and cants with her memory when she's dead.”
Margaret forces Henry to recognize the hypocrisy of his double standard: he was forgiven for having a mistress, yet he refuses to show the same compassion to Helen.
This is the climactic moment of the chapter, where Margaret directly accuses Henry of moral inconsistency.
“I seem rather unaccommodating, but I have some experience of life, and know how one thing leads to another. I am afraid that your sister had better sleep at the hotel. I have my children and the memory of my dear wife to consider.”
Henry refuses Helen's request, citing his responsibility to his family and his late wife's memory as reasons for not allowing her to stay.
Henry uses his 'experience of life' as a justification for his refusal, which Margaret later exposes as hypocritical.