Tuesday, September 19, 2006
WILLOUGHBY AND MARIANNE
Did you see the revelation of Willoughby's real character coming? Did JA set him up as something too good to be true? Or were you totally surprised like Marianne? Was Marianne's abandon and lack of propriety with regard to him (in the eyes of the Age and of Elinor) something that was bound to be punished, in this case by losing him?
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4 comments:
Willoughby played a good game. It was more Marianne's reaction that foretold, for me, the way it would end. She didn't deserve it, but it's easy, even in a different era, to recognize a lover getting in over her head.
But I did think Willoughby's behavior was explained away in a very contrived manner (and in the contrived circumstances of making Marianne deathly ill to bring him to her).
I saw a fair bit of contrivance in the "deathbed" scenes, too.
And, honestly, I did not find Willoughby's explanation very compelling. If anything, It only served to make him less worthy of Marianne, because it's unthinkable that she would have forsaken love, as he did, for material comforts. I was happier when I was able to write him off as a straightforward cad rather than a weak-willed, if sincere, lover.
I did see it coming, although it might have just been because of Elinor's misgivings.
I can see how Willoughby's explanation would make Marianne feel better in some ways. Just acknowledgement that he did truly love her would be some consolation. But you're right, kc, that it just made him less of a match for her.
It was the way Willoughby left that clued me in. The exchange he had with Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor had the hint of him hiding something.
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