# XXXVI explained — The Woodlanders

> Chapter companion for The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

Felice Charmond, after overhearing Melbury's news, returns to the Manor House in a state of turmoil, resolved to escape her passionate bondage to Fitzpiers. Her resolve is shattered when Fitzpiers appears at her window, wounded and bloody after an attack by Melbury. She hides him in a lumber-room, tends to his injuries, and helps him write a letter to Grace to divert suspicion. Despite her intentions to break free, her love and pity bind her further to him.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

Felice's passionate bondage to Fitzpiers and her complicity in hiding him from his wife highlight the destructive entanglement of love outside marriage.

### Isolation and Community

Fitzpiers, wounded and cut off from Hintock, seeks refuge with Felice, emphasizing his isolation from the community and the secret bond they share.

### Fate and Irony

Felice's resolve to escape her infatuation is immediately overturned by Fitzpiers's arrival, illustrating the ironic power of fate over human intention.

## Character check-ins

### Felice Charmond

Sits in deep reverie after overhearing Melbury, resolves to leave Hintock but is overcome when she finds Fitzpiers wounded at her window; she hides and tends to him.

### Edgar Fitzpiers

Appears at Felice's window, pale and bloodied after being attacked by Melbury; he crawls to her for refuge and is hidden in the lumber-room.

### Grace Melbury

Mentioned as the recipient of Fitzpiers's cold marital letter; she is the nominal wife from whom he is parting.

### George Melbury

The attacker; his animosity toward Fitzpiers is revealed as the cause of the wound.

### Suke Damson

Imitates Felice by leaving Melbury's house via the back stairs and going home.

## Key lines

> She had been betrayed by affrighted love into a visit which, now that the emotion instigating it had calmed down under her belief that Fitzpiers was in no danger, was the saddest surprise to her.

Her terrified love had tricked her into a visit that, once she realized Fitzpiers was safe, became a deeply unwelcome shock.

_Felice reflects on her impulsive trip to Melbury's house, driven by fear for Fitzpiers._

> In the centre of the lowest pane of the window, close to the glass, was a human face, which she barely recognized as the face of Fitzpiers. It was surrounded with the darkness of the night without, corpse-like in its pallor, and covered with blood.

At the window's center pane, a face appeared—Fitzpiers's, pale as a corpse and smeared with blood, barely visible in the dark.

_The dramatic moment when Felice sees the wounded Fitzpiers at her window._

> Not poppy nor mandragora will ever medicine this bitter feud!

No drug or opiate can ever heal this bitter conflict.

_Fitzpiers declares the irreparable rift with Melbury, quoting Shakespeare._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_woodlanders_se/chapters/xxxvi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_woodlanders_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_woodlanders_se/chapters