The Dewy Morn · Chapter
VIII explained
Felise reflects on her powerlessness as a woman and her longing for Martial Barnard.
What happens
Felise reflects on her powerlessness as a woman and her longing for Martial Barnard. She visits the beech tree and finds her carved mark completed, suspecting Martial may have done it, but doubts his interest. She resolves that she must find a way to be near him to win his love.
Themes in this chapter
Gender and Power
Felise reflects on the powerlessness of women, unable to act directly to win the man she loves, forced to rely on chance and circumstance.
Obsession and Jealousy
Felise's obsessive thoughts about Martial, her repeated visits to the beech tree, and her fear of losing him to another woman.
Nature and Spirituality
The detailed description of the garden, wood, and waterfall mirrors Felise's inner state and provides a setting for her contemplation.
Characters to notice
- Felise Goring
Felise struggles with her feelings for Martial, visits the beech tree, and contemplates her helplessness as a woman.
- Martial Barnard
Martial is the object of Felise's desire; she suspects he completed the mark on the beech tree but is uncertain of his feelings.
- Mr. Goring
Felise's uncle, seen tending bees and gardening; he taught Felise to swim and built the bathing pool.
Key passages
“She could wait? Yes, like 'Mariana in the moated grange,' in the sunshine, in the evening, in the morning, still with the same burden on her lips, 'He cometh not.'”
Felise compares her waiting for Martial to the character Mariana, who waits endlessly for her lover who never comes.
Allusion to Tennyson's poem 'Mariana,' emphasizing Felise's sense of hopeless waiting.
“How bitter it is to be a woman sometimes! On the other hand, no one triumphs like a woman when she does triumph. Caesar's spoils and car rolling through applauding Rome, are but gewgaws to the triumph of a woman.”
Felise laments the difficulty of being a woman but acknowledges the immense joy of a woman's victory in love.
Reflects the theme of gender and power, contrasting women's powerlessness with their potential for emotional triumph.
“She realized for the first time in her life the powerlessness of women. They cannot stir, they cannot move in the matters that concern them most dearly; they are helpless; at the mercy of the petty events called circumstance.”
Felise understands that women have no control over the events that affect their deepest desires, relying only on chance.
Highlights the central theme of gender and power and Felise's growing frustration.