The Dewy Morn · Chapter
X explained
Felise Goring, alone by a pool, contemplates her own beauty and the power it might hold to attract Martial Barnard.
What happens
Felise Goring, alone by a pool, contemplates her own beauty and the power it might hold to attract Martial Barnard. She reflects on their social and financial positions, which are similar yet keep them apart due to a lack of formal introduction. She devises various schemes to engineer a meeting, determined to win his love.
Themes in this chapter
Beauty and Aesthetic Worship
Felise's intense contemplation of her own reflection and the pleasure she derives from her beauty illustrate the theme of aesthetic worship.
Love and Idealization
Felise's desire to be loved and her belief that her beauty can inspire passion reflect the idealization of love.
Social Class and Injustice
The chapter highlights the social barriers that separate Felise and Martial despite their similar financial positions.
Characters to notice
- Felise Goring
Gazes at her reflection, delights in her own beauty, and plots ways to encounter Martial Barnard.
- Martial Barnard
The object of Felise's desire; a farmer of good family but limited means, whom she has met only three times.
- Mr. Goring
Felise's uncle, who provides a comfortable home but little money.
Key passages
“How beautiful it must be to be beautiful! How delicious it is, even for the plainest of us, to sit before that which is beautiful, and sink into a semi-unconscious state of happiness!”
Felise muses that beauty brings happiness, and that even the least attractive can find joy in gazing at something lovely.
Reflects Felise's aesthetic and sensual appreciation of beauty.
“If Martial admitted her beauty in time, would he even then love her? He might admire and turn away.”
Felise wonders whether Martial's recognition of her beauty would necessarily lead to love, or if he might simply admire and then ignore her.
Highlights Felise's uncertainty about the power of her beauty.
“There was nothing in the position of Felise Goring or Martial Barnard to prevent their knowing each other. They were much in the same position.”
Felise and Martial are socially and financially similar, yet they remain strangers due to a lack of formal introduction.
Emphasizes the arbitrary social barriers that separate them.