Showing What the Miss Fawns Said, and What Mrs. Hittaway Thought explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Marriage as Transaction

  Lord Fawn's financial motivations for marrying Lizzie are explicitly detailed, and Lizzie herself considers the marriage a 'catch' based on income.

• Deception and Perjury

  Lizzie deceives Lady Fawn by feigning piety and affection, placing a Bible strategically and using performative language to create a false impression.

• Class and Privilege

  The chapter highlights the financial pressures on Lord Fawn as a nobleman with limited means, and Lizzie's disdain for the Fawn family's 'puritanical' ways.

Characters to notice

• Lizzie Eustace

  Lizzie attempts to charm Lady Fawn with feigned piety and affection, but inwardly scorns the Fawn family and questions the value of the marriage.

• Lord Fawn

  Lord Fawn is portrayed as a financially cautious and honest man who views marriage as a means to improve his circumstances; he has informed his mother of his engagement.

• Lady Fawn

  Lady Fawn visits Lizzie reluctantly, influenced by her daughter Mrs. Hittaway's warnings; she is uncomfortable with Lizzie's behavior and perfumed manner.

• Mrs. Hittaway

  Mrs. Hittaway warns her mother Lady Fawn against Lizzie, describing her as false, profligate, and a vixen, and advises against visiting.

• Augusta Fawn

  Augusta is initially eager to meet Lizzie but is left behind by Lady Fawn due to Mrs. Hittaway's warnings about contamination.

Key passages

• “In the way of duty Lord Fawn was a Hercules—not indeed 'climbing trees in the Hesperides,' but achieving enterprises which, to other men, if not impossible, would have been so unpalatable as to have been put aside as impracticable.”

  Lord Fawn was exceptionally dutiful, undertaking tasks that others would find too unpleasant to attempt.

  The narrator uses a classical allusion to emphasize Lord Fawn's sense of duty in visiting his mother after his engagement.

• “There is, probably, no man who becomes naturally so hard in regard to money as he who is bound to live among rich men, who is not rich himself, and who is yet honest.”

  A poor but honest man forced to live among the wealthy often becomes extremely careful and calculating about money.

  This observation explains Lord Fawn's parsimonious nature as a result of his social and financial position.

• “It was her desire to cheat Lady Fawn into a good opinion, and she was not disappointed when no good opinion was expressed at once.”

  Lizzie wanted to deceive Lady Fawn into thinking well of her, and she was not surprised that Lady Fawn did not immediately approve.

  The narrator reveals Lizzie's conscious intent to manipulate Lady Fawn's perception.