Short Fiction · Chapter
The Mistletoe Bough explained
The chapter centers on Elizabeth (Bessy) Garrow's internal conflict over her repeated rejection of Godfrey Holmes's marriage proposals, set against the backdrop of a Christmas gathering at Thwaite Hall.
What happens
The chapter centers on Elizabeth (Bessy) Garrow's internal conflict over her repeated rejection of Godfrey Holmes's marriage proposals, set against the backdrop of a Christmas gathering at Thwaite Hall. Bessy's pride and fear of happiness lead her to refuse Godfrey despite her love for him, while her family debates the hanging of a mistletoe bough—a symbol of the romantic tension. The chapter explores themes of pride, self-sacrifice, and the changing social customs of courtship.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Bessy's repeated rejection of Godfrey's proposals highlights the tension between love and pride in Victorian courtship.
Gender Roles and Women's Agency
Bessy exercises agency by refusing a suitor she loves, challenging the expectation that women should accept marriage for security.
Morality and Hypocrisy
Bessy's 'philomartyrdom'—her belief that happiness must be wrong—reflects a moral self-denial that borders on hypocrisy.
Characters to notice
- Bessy Garrow
Struggles with her pride and fear of happiness, refusing Godfrey Holmes's proposal for the third time despite loving him.
- Godfrey Holmes
Makes a third offer of marriage to Bessy, understanding her character but unable to overcome her resistance.
- Mrs. Garrow
Bessy's mother, who initially hopes for reconciliation but later respects Bessy's wishes; decides against hanging the mistletoe.
- Frank Garrow
Bessy's elder brother, eager to hang the mistletoe bough and focused on his academic schedule.
- Harry Garrow
Bessy's younger brother, teases Bessy about her Puritan stance on the mistletoe.
Key passages
“But I do not think that a woman should be the ivy, to take the direction of every branch of the tree to which she clings.”
Bessy argues that a wife should not be completely dependent on her husband's decisions.
Bessy defends her independence in marriage, rejecting the idea of total submission.
“There was an organic defect in her character, which no doubt was plainly marked by its own bump in her cranium—the bump of philomartyrdom, it might properly be called.”
Bessy has a tendency to sacrifice her own happiness, as if it were a moral duty.
The narrator describes Bessy's self-destructive pride as a 'philomartyrdom'—a love of martyrdom.
“She had shipwrecked her own happiness in rejecting Godfrey Holmes; but it seemed to her to be the proper thing that a well-behaved young lady should shipwreck her own happiness.”
Bessy believes that a proper young lady ought to deny herself happiness.
Bessy's internal conflict: she thinks rejecting Godfrey is the virtuous choice, even though it causes her pain.