The Blithedale Romance · Chapter
XIX: Zenobia’s Drawing-Room explained
Coverdale, having returned to town, meditates on the recent appearances of Zenobia, Priscilla, and Westervelt.
What happens
Coverdale, having returned to town, meditates on the recent appearances of Zenobia, Priscilla, and Westervelt. He feels insulted by Zenobia's scornful treatment and reflects on his own perceptive nature. Later, he decides to visit Zenobia in her luxurious drawing-room, where he confronts her about her abandonment of Blithedale and her relationship with Hollingsworth. Zenobia defends Hollingsworth passionately, revealing her deep feelings for him. Coverdale also inquires about Priscilla, noting Hollingsworth's tenderness toward her, which visibly distresses Zenobia.
Themes in this chapter
Idealism vs. Reality
Coverdale contrasts the idealistic Blithedale life with Zenobia's opulent drawing-room, questioning which version of her is truer.
Secrecy and Identity
Coverdale's voyeuristic observations and Zenobia's guardedness reveal hidden identities and motives.
Obsession and Philanthropy
Hollingsworth's single-minded devotion to his reform idea is discussed as both noble and absurd.
Characters to notice
- Miles Coverdale
Narrator and observer; reflects on his own perceptive nature and feels insulted by Zenobia's scorn; visits Zenobia's drawing-room to confront her.
- Zenobia
Hosts Coverdale in her luxurious drawing-room; defends Hollingsworth passionately; shows distress when Coverdale mentions Hollingsworth's tenderness toward Priscilla.
- Mr. Hollingsworth
Discussed by Coverdale and Zenobia; Zenobia defends his heroic character and his devotion to his one great idea.
- Priscilla
Mentioned as being present in Zenobia's home; Coverdale notes Hollingsworth's tenderness toward her, causing Zenobia's distress.
- Professor Westervelt
Mentioned in Coverdale's meditations as being connected with Zenobia and Priscilla.
Key passages
“I had a keen, revengeful sense of the insult inflicted by Zenobia's scornful recognition, and more particularly by her letting down the curtain; as if such were the proper barrier to be interposed between a character like hers and a perceptive faculty like mine.”
Coverdale feels insulted by Zenobia's dismissive gesture of lowering the curtain, as if his perceptive nature were unworthy of her.
Coverdale's wounded pride and his belief in his own empathetic insight.
“I saw how fit it was that she should make herself as gorgeous as she pleased, and should do a thousand things that would have been ridiculous in the poor, thin, weakly characters of other women.”
Coverdale acknowledges that Zenobia's lavishness suits her powerful personality, whereas it would seem absurd in lesser women.
Coverdale's conflicted admiration for Zenobia's grandeur.
“Blind enthusiasm, absorption in one idea, I grant, is generally ridiculous, and must be fatal to the respectability of an ordinary man; it requires a very high and powerful character to make it otherwise.”
Zenobia argues that while single-minded obsession seems foolish in most men, it can be a mark of greatness in a truly powerful individual like Hollingsworth.
Zenobia's defense of Hollingsworth's character and her own emotional investment.