When Mr Hartright first meets Miss Halcombe, he begins his description without even having viewed her face. He describes her as “…tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed, yet not fat” (34). This is yet another instance where Hartright is unable to place the person he is describing into a category. It all comes to a head when Miss Halcombe turns around and discovers, much to his horror, that “the lady is ugly!” (34). He feels betrayed by Miss Halcombe’s figure causing him to expect a beautiful young woman. He states that the adage “nature cannot err” has never been “more flatly contradicted” by his discovery (34). Even though he says that after Miss Halcombe turns around, contradiction permeates throughout his description of her before her face is revealed to him. This contradiction though takes on a Goldie Locks like effect when he describes her body. She is the perfect height and the perfect weight. Her movement was elegant and caused him to grow excited seeing her face. Her face, on the other hand, brought Mr. Hartright back down to earth and he was disgusted by it. Her face contradicts her body. Her body was perfect in every way, but her face was dark to the point where it seemed she may have even had a mustache. This duality of Miss Halcombe, her womanly body and her manly face, puts Mr. Hartright on edge. He is easily able to move past her facial features that he deems ugly and is able to become good friends with Miss Halcombe, but he never views her in a romantic light again. I believe this scene, though, sets up the reader, and Mr. Hartright, to be prepared to be deceived by how a character may seem when they first appear, just as Hartright feels that he was deceived by Miss. Halcombe’s body in thinking that she was a beautiful woman.
5 thoughts on ““Awww, she’s ugly.” Mr. Hartright’s Disappointing Revelation”
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I think the duality you observe in Marian is interesting. I agree that Collins’ description of Marian seems to hint at the fact that there might be a similar duality or complexity in characters to come. I’ve been attempting to think through the binaries that Collins’ presents in the novel. By having a plethora of characters that don’t easily fit into one singular category, I wonder if Collins is attempting to critique some of the binaries that Victorian society has put into place, in addition to suggesting that not all the characters in his novel are exactly as they appear.
This passage made me laugh, not because it’s necessarily funny (it’s horrible) but because his description is just horrendous. Imagine standing there, minding your business, and some man goes “but she’s ugly!”. Sir, look in the mirror. Anyway, the idea of the beautiful, yet ugly woman reminds me of a biblically accurate angel. Or Sirens. They use their voice/body to lure people in and then trap them underwater (like Sirens). This idea of Marian appearing almost like a mythical creature is super interesting to me, and I’m really happy you pointed your idea out!
I like your discussion of gender performance and how Hartright perceives Miss. Halcombe’s gender performance as almost incorrect. Though, this deception and rather negative perception of Halcombe’s physical body seems to be overridden with Hartright’s overwhelming approval of Marian’s personality later in the novel when their friendship helps each other gain understanding of the mystery. I’m curious as to how Hartright’s perception of Marian and her fluid performance of masculine and feminine categories evolves throughout the story. Perhaps, Hartright’s acceptance of Marian’s help reveals Collins’ admitting the necessity of fluid gender performances amongst friendships, essentially showing how men and women can be friends without being lovers.
First of all, your blog post title made me laugh out loud so props for that. Secondly, I fully agree with your point that Hartwright’s contradictory description of Marian is a recurring theme in the novel. Specifically, it harkens back to his description of Anne, and how he took such pains to explain how modest she looked, while also hyperfixating on her touch. I believe that his description of women, especially Marian and Anne, is Collins’ attempt to comment on the double standard that exists in Victorian society (specifically for women) with regards to appearance and sexuality.
I really enjoyed your analysis of this passage. Especially your point about Marian’s womanly body but manly features and how that puts Mr. Hartright on edge. I talked about this a bit in my blog post, but I think it’s important to pay attention to the way Mr. Hartright describes women in this novel and how that reflects Victorian ideals. When he describes Laura he describes her and is attracted to her because she reflects traditional Victorian ideals, while Marian does not. I believe it’s important to see how these labels and his views on Laura and Marians apperance reflect his relationship with them.