Man and Wife · Chapter
LVII: The End explained
Geoffrey and Anne return to the cottage.
What happens
Geoffrey and Anne return to the cottage. Anne, believing her fears unfounded, resolves to follow Sir Patrick's advice to seek a separation. That evening, Geoffrey and Hester Dethridge execute a premeditated plan to attack Anne through a hole cut in the wall. As Geoffrey prepares to smother Anne with a pillow, Hester, driven mad by a vision, attacks him instead. Geoffrey suffers a stroke and collapses. Hester strangles him. Anne awakens, sees the gap in the wall, and screams for help. Sir Patrick, Arnold, and a policeman arrive, and Anne collapses in the garden.
Themes in this chapter
Marriage and Its Legal Bonds
Anne's entrapment in a violent marriage and her reliance on Sir Patrick's legal advice to pursue a separation highlight the oppressive legal bonds of Victorian matrimony.
Betrayal and Deception
Geoffrey's pretense of compliance with the visit to Holchester House masks his murderous intent, and Hester's initial cooperation with the plot is a betrayal of Anne's trust.
Suffering and Resilience
Anne endures a night of terror, false reassurance, and a near-fatal attack, yet her instinct to scream for help and her survival demonstrate resilience.
Characters to notice
- Geoffrey Delamayn
Returns to the cottage with Anne, writes a letter to Mrs. Glenarm, drinks brandy despite medical advice, and attempts to murder Anne with a pillow before being attacked by Hester and suffering a stroke.
- Anne Silvester
Returns to the cottage, feels reassured by events at Holchester House, agrees to Sir Patrick's plan for separation, and later awakens to find a gap in the wall and Hester's mad gaze; she screams for help and collapses in the garden.
- Hester Dethridge
Assists Geoffrey in the murder plot by revealing the hole in the wall, but is overcome by a vision of the Apparition and attacks Geoffrey, strangling him after he suffers a stroke.
- Sir Patrick Lundie
Advises Anne to take initiative on separation, waits outside the cottage, and responds to her screams, helping her to the garden bench.
- Arnold Brinkworth
Accompanies Sir Patrick and the policeman to the cottage, and rushes upstairs with the policeman to investigate.
Key passages
“She could only accept the false appearances that surrounded her in the disguise of truth. She could only adopt, in good faith, Sir Patrick's assumed point of view, and believe, on the evidence of her own observation, that Sir Patrick was right.”
Anne had no choice but to trust the misleading surface of events and to accept Sir Patrick's optimistic advice, since everything she saw seemed to confirm his judgment.
Highlights Anne's tragic misreading of the situation due to Geoffrey's deception.
“The homicidal frenzy possessed her. She flew at his throat like a wild beast. The feeble old woman attacked the athlete!”
A murderous rage seized Hester, and she lunged at Geoffrey's throat with animal ferocity, the frail old woman assaulting the powerful young man.
Describes the sudden reversal of power as Hester attacks Geoffrey.
“He dropped on the floor, like a man shot dead. Hester Dethridge pounced on his prostrate body—knelt on his broad breast—and fastened her ten fingers on his throat.”
Geoffrey collapsed as if struck by a bullet, and Hester immediately fell upon him, straddling his chest and gripping his throat with both hands.
Depicts Geoffrey's stroke and Hester's lethal response.