The Blithedale Romance · Chapter
XX: They Vanish explained
Coverdale visits Zenobia's city residence and finds Priscilla transformed by a white, gauzy dress that reveals her hidden beauty.
What happens
Coverdale visits Zenobia's city residence and finds Priscilla transformed by a white, gauzy dress that reveals her hidden beauty. Zenobia warns Coverdale against meddling in her affairs, accusing him of interfering out of idle curiosity. Priscilla reveals she came at Hollingsworth's bidding and feels she has no free will. Westervelt arrives, and Zenobia and Priscilla depart with him in a carriage, leaving Coverdale with a sense of foreboding.
Themes in this chapter
Secrecy and Identity
Priscilla's hidden beauty is revealed through her dress, and her lack of free will underscores the mystery of her true self and her subordination to others' plans.
Obsession and Philanthropy
Coverdale's persistent focus on Hollingsworth and his sense of duty to intervene reflect an obsessive concern, while Zenobia accuses him of meddling under the guise of duty.
Love and Sacrifice
Priscilla's passive acceptance of Hollingsworth's bidding and her departure with Westervelt suggest a sacrificial submission to the wills of others.
Characters to notice
- Miles Coverdale
Narrator who visits Zenobia and Priscilla, attempts to intervene, and is rebuked by Zenobia.
- Zenobia
Hosts Priscilla in her boudoir, warns Coverdale against interference, and departs with Westervelt and Priscilla.
- Priscilla
Dressed in white, appears ethereal and beautiful; reveals she came to Zenobia at Hollingsworth's bidding and feels she has no free will.
- Mr. Hollingsworth
Referenced as the one who bade Priscilla go to Zenobia; Coverdale invokes his name, angering Zenobia.
- Professor Westervelt
Arrives elaborately dressed, takes Priscilla's arm, and departs with Zenobia and Priscilla in a carriage.
Key passages
“I am blown about like a leaf. I never have any free will.”
Priscilla describes herself as utterly passive, moved by external forces without any personal agency.
Priscilla's statement encapsulates her lack of autonomy and foreshadows her vulnerability.
“Bigotry; self-conceit; an insolent curiosity; a meddlesome temper; a cold-blooded criticism, founded on a shallow interpretation of half-perceptions; a monstrous scepticism in regard to any conscience or any wisdom, except one's own; a most irreverent propensity to thrust Providence aside, and substitute one's self in its awful place—out of these, and other motives as miserable as these, comes your idea of duty!”
Zenobia angrily accuses Coverdale of disguising his intrusive and self-righteous meddling as a sense of duty.
Zenobia's outburst reveals her deep resentment of Coverdale's interference and her view of his moral posturing.