XLV: The Last explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Social Class and Mobility

  Phoebe's marriage elevates her into high society; Mr. Copperhead values brains and money; Tozer and his wife feel excluded from the wedding.

• Marriage and Ambition

  Clarence marries Phoebe for her brains; Phoebe gains wealth and status; Ursula and Sophy discuss marriage as a path to happiness or disappointment.

• Appearance vs. Reality

  Mrs. Copperhead tries to appear happy but is sad; the wedding breakfast is grand but tinged with melancholy; Northcote is seen as a wolf in sheep's clothing by the chapel folk.

Characters to notice

• Phoebe Tozer

  Marries Clarence Copperhead; praised by Mr. Copperhead for her brains; feels a pang seeing her mother in bright colors.

• Clarence Copperhead

  Brags about Phoebe's powers; gets into Parliament; his mother is sad to lose him.

• Ursula May

  Bridesmaid at the wedding; talks with Sophy Dorset about love and happiness; is engaged to marry a non-Churchman.

• Sophy Dorset

  Attends the wedding; teases Ursula about losing Clarence; reveals her own disappointed love.

• Mrs. Copperhead

  The bridegroom's mother; sad and ill at ease; appears in lovely satin and diamonds; breaks down during the toast.

• Mr. Northcote

  Released from charge of Salem Chapel after the minister returns; criticized by the congregation.

Key passages

• “Money is money, but brains is brains, all the same—we can’t get on without ’em—and when you want to make a figure in the world, sir, buy a few brains if they fall in your way—that’s my style.”

  Mr. Copperhead boasts that while money is important, intelligence is equally valuable, and he is willing to pay for it to advance in society.

  Mr. Copperhead praises Phoebe's cleverness as a commodity.

• “She’s a wonderful girl, she is. Wind us all round her little finger, that’s what she could do—leastways, except when there was principle in it, and there I stood firm.”

  Old Tozer admires Phoebe's ability to influence people, except when his principles are at stake.

  Tozer reflects on Phoebe's persuasive power and his own stubbornness.

• “The strange thing is that she likes him, though I am sure she knew very well that Reginald—”

  Ursula finds it odd that Phoebe loves Clarence, knowing that Reginald had feelings for her.

  Ursula hints at Reginald's past affection for Phoebe.

• “He I loved proved false; that is to say, in simple language, he turned out so poor a creature that it is very good of me not to despise humanity for his sweet sake.”

  Sophy Dorset explains that the man she loved was unfaithful and weak, but she tries not to let it make her cynical about all people.

  Sophy reveals her own romantic disappointment.

• “All his friends was Church folks; he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, that’s what I calls him; and a poor moralist as a preacher, with never a rousing word in them things as he called his sermons.”

  A chapel member criticizes Northcote for associating with Church people and for being an uninspiring preacher.

  The congregation expresses resentment toward Northcote.