The Forsyte Saga · Chapter
In Green Street explained
Fleur learns from Prosper Profond about her father Soames's first marriage to Irene, who later married his cousin Jolyon.
What happens
Fleur learns from Prosper Profond about her father Soames's first marriage to Irene, who later married his cousin Jolyon. Distraught, she feigns illness to avoid dinner and later denies her feelings for Jon to her aunt Winifred, resolving to pursue Jon despite the family scandal.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Duty
The Forsyte family's handling of the scandal and Winifred's attempt to minimize it reflect family duty and reputation.
Love vs. Marriage as a Contract
Fleur's determination to marry Jon despite the past scandal contrasts with the contractual view of marriage held by the older generation.
Social Class and Change
Prosper Profond's foreignness and disillusionment represent changing social mores and the impact of the war on English society.
Characters to notice
- Fleur Forsyte
Learns of her father's first marriage from Prosper Profond; feigns illness and later denies her love for Jon to Winifred.
- Prosper Profond
Reveals the family scandal to Fleur; described as dangerous and disillusioned.
- Winifred Dartie
Hosts the gathering; tries to soothe Fleur after the revelation and downplays the scandal.
- Soames Forsyte
Mentioned as having sold a Gauguin to Profond; his past marriage is the subject of the chapter's revelation.
- June Forsyte
Mentioned by Fleur as a potential ally who might be sympathetic to her love for Jon.
- Jon Forsyte
Referenced as the boy Fleur loves; his mother is Irene, who married Jolyon after divorcing Soames.
- Irene Forsyte
Mentioned as Soames's first wife who later married Jolyon; her photograph is kept by Soames.
- Young Jolyon Forsyte
Mentioned as the cousin who married Irene after her divorce from Soames.
Key passages
“Uncertain whether the impression that Prosper Profond was dangerous should be traced to his attempt to give Val the Mayfly filly; to a remark of Fleur's: 'He's like the hosts of Midian—he prowls and prowls around'; to his preposterous inquiry of Jack Cardigan: 'What's the use of keepin' fit?' or, more simply, to the fact that he was a foreigner, or alien as it was now called.”
People were unsure why they found Prosper Profond dangerous—whether it was his gift of a horse to Val, Fleur's comment that he prowled like the hosts of Midian, his odd question to Jack Cardigan about fitness, or simply because he was a foreigner, now called an alien.
Introduces the character of Prosper Profond and the suspicion surrounding him.
“But to see nothing in anything, not as a pose, but because there was nothing in anything, was not English; and that which was not English one could not help secretly feeling dangerous, if not precisely bad form.”
His genuine disillusionment, unlike the English fashion of pretending, felt secretly dangerous and not quite proper.
Highlights the cultural tension between English and foreign attitudes.
“Fleur opened her campaign with the words: 'You know, Auntie, I do wish people wouldn't think I'm in love with that boy. Why, I've hardly seen him!'”
Fleur began her strategy by telling her aunt she wished people would stop assuming she was in love with Jon, since she had barely seen him.
Fleur denies her feelings to Winifred to avoid suspicion.
