The Warden · Chapter
XI: Iphigenia explained
Eleanor Harding resolves to sacrifice her own feelings by pleading with John Bold to abandon his reform campaign against her father.
What happens
Eleanor Harding resolves to sacrifice her own feelings by pleading with John Bold to abandon his reform campaign against her father. She visits Bold, who has unexpectedly returned, and passionately implores him to spare Mr. Harding. Bold, overwhelmed by his love for Eleanor, agrees to drop the matter. Despite Eleanor's initial resistance to any romantic entanglement, Bold's persistent declarations of love eventually overcome her objections, and she leaves without having to make the intended sacrifice.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Duty
Eleanor's internal conflict between her love for her father and her feelings for John Bold drives the chapter; she initially prioritizes filial duty over romantic love, but ultimately both are reconciled.
Personal Integrity and Sacrifice
Eleanor resolves to sacrifice her own romantic prospects to save her father from public disgrace, embodying the theme of self-sacrifice for the sake of another's well-being.
Characters to notice
- Eleanor Harding
Resolves to sacrifice herself for her father by pleading with John Bold; visits Bold and passionately argues for her father's sake; initially rejects Bold's romantic advances but is ultimately won over.
- John Bold
Returns unexpectedly from London; is deeply distressed by Eleanor's plea; agrees to abandon the reform campaign; declares his love for Eleanor and eventually persuades her to accept his affection.
- Mary Bold
Supports Eleanor's mission; urges her brother to grant Eleanor's request; facilitates the romantic encounter by leaving the room.
- Mr. Harding
Referenced as the object of Eleanor's concern; his suffering and potential ruin motivate Eleanor's actions.
Key passages
“She would herself personally implore John Bold to desist from his undertaking; she would explain to him her father's sorrows, the cruel misery of his position; she would tell him how her father would die if he were thus dragged before the public and exposed to such unmerited ignominy; she would appeal to his old friendship, to his generosity, to his manliness, to his mercy; if need were, she would kneel to him for the favour she would ask; but before she did this the idea of love must be banished.”
Eleanor plans to beg John Bold to stop his campaign, describing her father's suffering and the threat to his life, appealing to Bold's friendship and mercy, while resolving to suppress any romantic feelings.
Eleanor's initial resolve to sacrifice love for duty.
“I would give her my soul, if it would serve her.”
Bold declares he would sacrifice anything, even his soul, to help Eleanor.
Bold's hyperbolic expression of devotion to Eleanor.
“And so the altar on the shore of the modern Aulis reeked with no sacrifice.”
Unlike the myth of Iphigenia, no actual sacrifice occurred; Eleanor's intended self-sacrifice was unnecessary as she and Bold reconciled.
Narrator's ironic conclusion that the expected sacrifice did not take place.