The Moon and Sixpence · Chapter
Chapter of Reflection on Blanche Stroeve's Betrayal explained
The narrator reflects on Blanche Stroeve's decision to leave her husband for Strickland, analyzing the nature of her love and the inexplicable attraction to Strickland.
What happens
The narrator reflects on Blanche Stroeve's decision to leave her husband for Strickland, analyzing the nature of her love and the inexplicable attraction to Strickland. He considers the possibility of a physical or sexual magnetism, the role of passion versus domestic comfort, and the impossibility of understanding Strickland's motives, concluding that Strickland is incapable of love as commonly understood.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Obsession
The narrator dissects the nature of Blanche Stroeve's feelings, questioning whether it is love, passion, or a physical compulsion, and contrasts it with Strickland's apparent incapacity for love.
The Primitive and the Civilized
Strickland is described as having an untamed, wild quality, likened to 'wild beings of the world’s early history' and a satyr, highlighting the clash between primal instinct and civilized norms.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
The narrator reflects on the events and attempts to understand Blanche Stroeve's actions and Strickland's character.
- Blanche Stroeve
Blanche Stroeve is the subject of the narrator's analysis; her decision to leave her husband for Strickland is examined.
- Charles Strickland
Strickland is discussed as the object of Blanche's attraction and as a man the narrator believes incapable of love.
- Dirk Stroeve
Dirk Stroeve is mentioned as the betrayed husband, whose account prompted the narrator's reflections.
Key passages
“I do not suppose she had ever really cared for her husband, and what I had taken for love was no more than the feminine response to caresses and comfort which in the minds of most women passes for it.”
The narrator believes Blanche never truly loved her husband; her affection was merely a conventional reaction to kindness and security, mistaken for love.
The narrator reinterprets Blanche's previous relationship as lacking genuine love.
“I suspected that Blanche Stroeve’s violent dislike of Strickland had in it from the beginning a vague element of sexual attraction.”
The narrator suspects that Blanche's strong hatred for Strickland actually masked an underlying sexual attraction.
The narrator suggests that hate and desire may be intertwined.
“I could not believe that Strickland had fallen in love with Blanche Stroeve. I did not believe him capable of love.”
The narrator finds it impossible that Strickland loved Blanche, as he considers Strickland incapable of love.
The narrator asserts Strickland's emotional deficiency.