The Golden Bowl · Chapter
Chapter XVII explained
Prince Amerigo reflects on the deep understanding between his wife Maggie and her father Adam Verver, likening it to a commercial and financial association.
What happens
Prince Amerigo reflects on the deep understanding between his wife Maggie and her father Adam Verver, likening it to a commercial and financial association. While waiting for Maggie in their London house, he sees Charlotte Stant arrive in a shabby cab. She has come to see him, and once alone, they confront the impossibility of their situation, acknowledging that they have been forced into a close relationship they had tried to avoid. Charlotte reminds him of his telegram accepting their fate, and they recognize the past and future interlocking.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Secrecy
The Prince and Charlotte's private meeting, hidden from Maggie and Adam, underscores the secret intimacy that underpins their marriages.
Marriage and Obligation
The chapter explores the obligations imposed by the marriages of Maggie to Amerigo and Adam to Charlotte, and the resulting constraints on the Prince and Charlotte.
Sacrifice and Selfishness
Charlotte and the Prince view themselves as victims forced into a close contact they tried to avoid, highlighting the tension between personal desire and social duty.
Characters to notice
- Prince Amerigo
Reflects on the intimacy between Maggie and Adam Verver, waits for Maggie, and is visited by Charlotte Stant.
- Charlotte Stant
Arrives unexpectedly at the Prince's house in a shabby cab, seeking a private conversation about their predicament.
- Maggie Verver
Absent from the tea table; her relationship with her father is the subject of the Prince's reflections.
- Adam Verver
Mentioned in the Prince's thoughts as part of the 'large lucky group' and as the orchestrator of the marriages.
Key passages
“directly from his good understanding with his daughter. This understanding had, wonderfully— that was in high evidence—the same deep intimacy as the commercial, the financial association founded, far down, on a community of interest.”
The Prince sees that the closeness between Maggie and her father is as deep as a business partnership based on shared interests.
The Prince reflects on the nature of the Verver relationship.
“Nothing stranger surely had ever happened to a conscientious, a well-meaning, a perfectly passive pair: no more extraordinary decree had ever been launched against such victims than this of forcing them against their will into a relation of mutual close contact that they had done everything to avoid.”
Charlotte argues that she and the Prince are innocent victims forced into a closeness they never wanted.
Charlotte justifies their situation to the Prince.
“A la guerre comme à la guerre then”—it had been couched in the French tongue. “We must lead our lives as we see them; but I am charmed with your courage and almost surprised at my own.””
The Prince's telegram to Charlotte accepted their fate with a mix of resignation and admiration for each other's bravery.
The Prince's telegram is recalled as evidence of their earlier acceptance.