# An Imaginative Woman explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

Ella Marchmill, a sensitive and imaginative woman married to a practical gunmaker, becomes infatuated with the poet Robert Trewe after renting his rooms for a seaside holiday. She reads his books, wears his clothes, and fantasizes about him, ultimately choosing to stay home to meet him rather than accompany her husband on a yacht trip.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Longing

Ella's emotional isolation in her marriage leads her to project her desires onto the absent poet, Trewe.

### Gender Roles and Women's Agency

Ella's lack of agency in her marriage and her covert pursuit of imaginative fulfillment through Trewe's belongings.

### Deception and Secrecy

Ella secretly wears Trewe's mackintosh and lies to her husband about her reasons for not joining him on the yacht.

## Character check-ins

### Ella Marchmill

The imaginative wife who becomes obsessed with the poet Robert Trewe, finding emotional sustenance in his belongings and writings.

### Robert Trewe

The unseen poet whose rooms Ella rents; his presence haunts the chapter through his books and clothing.

### Mrs. Hooper

The landlady of Coburg House who facilitates Ella's interest in Trewe by sharing details about him.

## Key lines

> The personal element in the magnetic attraction exercised by this circumambient, unapproachable master of hers was so much stronger than the intellectual and abstract that she could not understand it.

Ella is more drawn to the personal, emotional connection she imagines with Trewe than to his intellectual achievements, and she cannot explain why.

_Highlights Ella's emotional and irrational infatuation._

> In the natural way of passion under the too practical conditions which civilization has devised for its fruition, her husband’s love for her had not survived, except in the form of fitful friendship.

As often happens in modern marriages, the passion between Ella and her husband has faded into mere occasional friendship.

_Critique of how societal norms stifle romantic passion._

> “The mantle of Elijah!” she said. “Would it might inspire me to rival him, glorious genius that he is!”

Ella puts on Trewe's raincoat and cap, hoping to absorb his creative genius, comparing herself to Elisha receiving Elijah's mantle.

_Shows Ella's desire for artistic inspiration and her idolization of Trewe._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/an-imaginative-woman
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_53_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters