Chapter 1 The Bertolini:

Summary:

We open in Florence at the Pension Bertolini, a pension for British travelers. Young Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin, Charlotte Bartlett, are bemoaning the poor rooms that they have been given. They were promised rooms with views. The two women sit at dinner in their pension, along with the other guests. Lucy is disappointed because the pension hostess has turned out to be British, and the décor of the pension seems lifted right out of a room in London. While Miss Bartlett and Lucy talk, an old man interrupts them to tell them that his room has a nice view. The man is Mr. Emerson; he introduces his son, George Emerson. Mr. Emerson offers Miss Bartlett and Lucy a room swap. The men will take the rooms over the courtyard, and Lucy and Charlotte will take the more pleasant rooms that have views. Miss Bartlett is horrified by the offer, and refuses to accept; she begins to ignore the Emersons and resolves to switch pensions the next day.

Just then, Mr. Beebe, a clergyman that Lucy and Charlotte know from England, enters. Lucy is delighted to meet someone she knows, and she shows it; now that Mr. Beebe is here, they must stay at the Pension Bertolini. Lucy has heard in letters from her mother that Mr. Beebe has just accepted a position at the parish of Summer Street, the parish of which Lucy is a member. Mr. Beebe and Lucy have a pleasant talk over dinner, in which he gives Lucy advice about the sites of Florence. This vacation is Lucy's first time in Florence. Soon, almost everyone at the table is giving Lucy and Miss. Bartlett advice. The torrent of advice signifies the acceptance of Lucy and Miss Bartlett into the good graces of the pension guests; Lucy notes that the Emersons are outside of this fold.

After the meal, some of the guests move to the drawing room. Miss Bartlett discusses the Emersons with Mr. Beebe; Beebe does not have a very high opinion of Mr. Emerson, but he thinks him harmless, and he believes no harm would have come from Miss Bartlett accepting Mr. Emerson's offer. Mr. Emerson is a Socialist, a term that is used by Mr. Beebe and Miss Bartlett with clear disapproval. Miss Bartlett continues to ask Mr. Beebe about what she should have done about the offer, and if she should apologize, until Mr. Beebe becomes annoyed and leaves. An old lady approaches the two women and talks with Miss Bartlett about Mr. Emerson's offer. Lucy asks if perhaps there was something beautiful about the offer, even if it was not delicate. Miss Bartlett is puzzled by the question; to her, beauty and delicacy are the same thing.

Mr. Beebe returns: he has arranged with Mr. Emerson to have the women take the room. Miss Bartlett is not quite sure what to do, but she accepts. She takes the larger room, which was occupied by George, because she does not want Lucy to be indebted to a young man. She bids Lucy goodnight and inspect her new quarters, and she finds a piece of paper pinned to the washstand that has an enormous "note of interrogation" scrawled on it. Though she feels threatened by it, she saves it for George between two pieces of blotting paper.

Analysis

Lucy is young and naïve; she is bright but not brilliant, although she has enough imagination and compassion to begin to look beyond the social conventions of her class and time.

Forster's novel is full of insightful social commentary on the stuffiness of British social conventions. Modern readers are often surprised by Miss Bartlett's deep anxieties about accepting a room trade with the generous but socially outcast Emersons. Miss Bartlett is acting under social pressures from several different directions. For one thing, Lucy's mother has paid for Miss Bartlett's travel expenses, and Miss Bartlett therefore feels responsible for guarding Miss Honeychurch from any possible harm. For Miss Bartlett, life is lived in accordance with what are arguably very precious and ridiculous concerns. Nothing is worse than "a scene," and she must also guard Lucy from feeling obligation to a young man. Sex is a source of terrible anxiety for the British of this period, and a young woman's reputation must be guarded at all costs.

Lucy brings up an important theme of the novel when she asks about the delicate and the beautiful. Lucy wonders if delicacy and beauty might be different things, while Charlotte assumes that they are synonymous. As her social world defines beauty and delicacy, the two qualities are one and the same; beauty is found in politeness, in circuitous and subtle conversation, in avoidance of direct confrontation or over-earnest expressions of emotion. There is not beauty, therefore, in Mr. Emerson's generous offer of a room trade. But Lucy is more imaginative than her cousin, and she is able to see that there is beauty in Mr. Emerson's socially clueless but generous offer. He is completely unaware of the anxiety he is causing Miss Bartlett; either that or his is completely unconcerned about it. The important thing to him is the generosity of his offer. He does not intend to put Lucy or Charlotte under obligation. He sincerely thinks that a room with a view should go to the one who most enjoys the view. Lucy will have to learn to come to her own understanding of beauty.

We see more of Lucy's sensitivity and naturally sympathetic and sensitive disposition when she realizes that she and Charlotte have been accepted by the other guests of the pension. She sees that Mr. Emerson and George have not been accepted, and this knowledge makes her feel sorry for them. But Lucy is not strong enough yet to affect the world around her. Note that Charlotte handles all the details of the room trade, and Lucy is not yet confident enough to articulate her doubts about the stuffiness and petty concerns of her social world.

Italy and travel make another important theme. The heart of this theme is a new place's ability to get under the skin of the traveler, transforming her. Though she is not yet fully aware of it, Lucy longs for this kind of experience. She is deeply disappointed by the Pension Bertolini, which to her seems like another piece of England. She wants to go out into Italy and feel it fully, as richly as she can, away from the safety of British décor and sensibilities. The pension is juxtaposed to the world outside; the inside of the pension is decorated like a room in London. British social conventions are preserved and protected from the foreign country that surrounds the pension on all sides. The pension protects the guests from Italy, and so it prevents the transforming experience that is the best result of travel. Italy is also a direct challenge to the idea of beauty and delicacy being identical. Italy's beauty is refined and sophisticated, but there is nothing delicate about its colossal Roman ruins, dramatic countryside, or rustic peasants.

Lucy's longing for a room with a view is a metaphor for her longing to connect with Italy and the new experiences the country offers. Instead of a view of the courtyard, she wants a view of the country. The window opening out into Florence symbolizes Lucy's openness to a new world.

Chapter Two In Santa Croce with No Baedeker:

Summary:

Lucy looks out her window onto the beautiful scene of a Florence morning. Miss Bartlett interrupts her reverie and encourages Lucy to begin her day; in the dining room, they argue politely about whether or not Miss Bartlett should accompany Lucy on a bit of sightseeing. Lucy is eager to go but does not wish to tire her cousin, and Miss Bartlett, though tired, does not want Lucy to go alone. A "clever lady," whose name is Miss Lavish, intercedes. After some discussion, it is agreed that Miss Lavish and Lucy will go out together to the church of Santa Croce.

The two women go out, and have a lively (but not too involved) conversation about politics and people they know in England. Suddenly, they are lost. Lucy tries to consult her Baedeker travel guide, but Miss Lavish will have none of it. She takes the guide book away. In their wanderings, they cross the Square of the Annunziata; the buildings and sculptures are the most beautiful things Lucy has ever seen, but Miss Lavish drags her forward. The women eventually reach Santa Croce, and Miss Lavish spots Mr. Emerson and George. She does not want to run into them, and seems disgusted by the two men. Lucy defends them. As they reach the steps of the church, Miss Lavish sees someone she knows and rushes off. Lucy waits for a while, but then she sees Miss Lavish wander down the street with her friend and Lucy realizes she has been abandoned. Upset, she goes into Santa Croce alone.

The church is cold, and without her Baedeker travel guide Lucy feels unable to correctly view the many famous works of art housed there. She sees a child hurt his foot on a tomb sculpture and rushes to help him. She then finds herself side-by-side with Mr. Emerson, who is also helping the child. The child's mother appears and sets the boy on his way. Lucy feels determined to be good to the Emersons despite the disapproval of the other pension guests. But when Mr. Emerson and George invite her to join them in their little tour of the church, she knows that she should be offended by such an invitation. She tries to seem offended, but Mr. Emerson sees immediately that she is trying to behave as she has seen others behave, and tells her so. Strangely, Lucy is not angry about his forwardness but is instead somewhat impressed. She asks to be taken to look at the Giotto frescoes.

The trio comes across a tour group, including some tourists from the pension, led by a clergyman named Mr. Eager. Mr. Eager spews commentary on the frescoes, which Mr. Emerson heartily disagrees with; he is skeptical of the praise and romanticizing of the past. The clergyman icily leads the group away. Mr. Emerson, worried that he has offended them, rushes off to apologize. George confides in Lucy that his father always has that effect on people. His earnestness and bluntness are repellent to others. Mr. Emerson returns, having been snubbed. Mr. Emerson and Lucy go off to see other works. Mr. Emerson, sincere and earnest, shares his concerns for his son. George is unhappy. Lucy is not sure how to react to this direct and honest talk; Mr. Emerson asks her to befriend his son. She is close to his age and Mr. Emerson sense much that is good in the girl. He hopes that these two young people can learn from each other. George is deeply saddened by life itself and the transience of human existence; this cerebral sorrow all seems very strange to Lucy. George suddenly approaches them, to tell Lucy that Miss Bartlett is here. Lucy realizes that one of the old women in the tour group must have told Charlotte that Lucy was with the Emersons. When she seems distressed, Mr. Emerson expresses sympathy for her. Lucy becomes cold, and she informs him that she has no need for his pity. She goes to join her cousin.

Analysis:

Although Miss Lavish prides herself on being "original" and "unconventional," Forster subtly shows that her radicalism is polite, precious, and limited. She disapproves of the Emersons just as much as everyone else does, and though she pretends to be worldly and well traveled (she takes away Lucy's Baedeker guide), she gets the two women lost. Nor does she understand the value of getting lost: she is so fixated on getting the women to Santa Croce that she rushes past the beautiful Square of the Annunziata without noticing a thing. Her attitude toward the Italians is patronizing in the extreme: she defines democracy as being kind to one's inferiors. Although Forster is writing incisive social commentary on the stuffiness of British society, he uses Miss Lavish as an example of a certain kind of false rebelliousness. She is ultimately as snobby and precious as everyone else, and her brand of radicalism tends to reinforce stuffy conventions rather than challenge them.

Lucy is not a brilliant girl, and she lacks the originality and confidence to make her own judgments about art. In Santa Croce, she longs for her Baedeker guide so that she can know "good art" from bad. She lacks the confidence to just look at the paintings; she wants to know which frescoes have been pronounced by the critics to be "truly beautiful." Lucy has some generosity of spirit and often feels uncomfortable with stifling social conventions, but she is not a genius or revolutionary. She is still young and very naïve; by the novel's end she will be a much wiser and independent person. Part of Forster's brilliance is his restraint. He resists the temptation to make Lucy into a brilliant firebrand, and instead makes her to be, in many ways, a very typical girl for her class and education. She is often caught between convention and an inner sense of what is "beautiful rather than delicate."

She is unquestionably drawn to George Emerson. In Santa Croce, she notices that his face is rugged and handsome, and she also notices the strength and physical attractiveness of his body. But his melancholy attitude puzzles her, and his angst seems humorous to her in some ways. Mr. Emerson compares him to the child that stumbled and hurt his toe on a tomb statue of Santa Croce. The tomb becomes a symbol of mortality, and George has stubbed his too; George is upset by mortality and the transience of human existence. Life itself hurts and puzzles him.

Mr. Emerson's social awkwardness and earnestness combine to make him a very unpopular man. Even Lucy rebuffs him at the end of this chapter, resenting his pity for her. But we can see from his attempted apology to Mr. Eager that he does not mean to offend; in fact, he earnestly desires that everyone should always have a nice time. And his criticism of Mr. Eager's romanticizing of Giotto's art and time has its own valid perspective, although Mr. Emerson has difficulty expressing his ideas tactfully.

Chapter Three Music, Violets, and the Letter "S":

Summary:

One day after lunch Lucy decides to play the piano. The narrator tells us that Lucy has a great love for playing; she is no genius, but she is talented and passionate, always playing "on the side of Victory." Mr. Beebe recalls the first time he heard her play, back in England, at Tunbridge Wells. She chose an unusual and intense piece by Beethoven. At the time, Mr. Beebe remarked to someone that if Lucy ever learned to live as she plays, it would be a great event. Now, Mr. Beebe makes the same remark to Lucy directly. Miss Bartlett and Miss Lavish are out sightseeing, but it is raining hard outside. Lucy asks about Miss Lavish's novel, which is in progress. Lately, Miss Lavish and Miss Bartlett have become close, leaving Lucy feeling like a third wheel. Miss Catharine Alan enters, complimenting Lucy's playing. She discusses the impropriety of the Italians with Mr. Beebe, who half-agrees with her in a subtly and playfully mocking way.

They discuss Miss Lavish, who once wrote a novel but lost the thing in heavy rains. She is working on a new book, set in modern Italy. Miss Alan talks about Miss Lavish' first meeting with the Emersons. Mr. Emerson made a comment about acidity of the stomach, trying to be helpful to another pension guest. Miss Lavish was drawn to his directness. She tried to stand up for the Emersons for a while, talking about commerce and how it is the heart of England's empire. But after dinner, she went into the smoking room with them. A few minutes later, she emerged, silent. No one knows what happened, but since then, Miss Lavish has made no attempt to be friendly to the men. Lucy asks Miss Alan and Mr. Beebe if the Emersons are nice; after some discussion, Mr. Beebe gives a qualified yes and Miss Alan a no. Mr. Beebe, though he does not say it, does not approve of the Emerson's attempts to befriend Lucy. Mr. Beebe feels badly for the Emersons nonetheless; they are thoroughly isolated at the pension. He silently resolves to organize a group outing so that everyone will have a good time.

Evening comes on and the rain stops. Lucy decides to go out for a walk and enjoy the last bit of daylight. Clearly, Miss Alan disapproves and Mr. Beebe does not approve entirely. But Lucy goes out anyway; Mr. Beebe chalks her behavior up to too much Beethoven.

Analysis:

Music and Lucy's relationship to her music is one of the novel's themes. Mr. Beebe's comment becomes the reader's hope for Lucy: perhaps one day she will play as well as she lives. Forster speaks in this chapter's opening pages of music's transcendent abilities. It can be the gift of anyone regardless of social class or education. Through Beebe's statement, Forster is suggesting that these qualities also apply to passionate living. To live life well is within the grasp of anyone, despite the prejudices and proprieties of Lucy's world. Her choice of unusual Beethoven pieces is indicative of her passion. She needs more of an outlet than music, but for now her music will have to do. Music puts her in touch with her desires and feelings; the passion of Beethoven makes her resolve to go out alone, despite the disapproval of others.

Chapter Four:

Summary:

Lucy goes out longing for adventure, hoping for something great. She buys some photographs of great artworks at a junk shop, but remains unsatisfied. She wanders into the Piazza Signoria; it is nearing twilight, and the world takes on an aura of unreality. Nearby, she sees two Italians arguing. One of them is struck lightly on the chest; he wanders toward Lucy, trying to say something, and blood trickles from his lips. The light strike was actually a stabbing. A crowd surrounds them and carries the man away. She sees George Emerson, and then the world seems to fall on top of Lucy; suddenly, she is with George Emerson, sitting on some steps some distance away. She fainted, and George has carried her here.

She thanks George and asks him to fetch her photographs, which she dropped in the square; when he leaves to get them, she tries to sneak away. George calls to her and persuades her to sit down. The man who approached her is dead or dying. A crowd surrounds the man, down by the fountain, and George goes to investigate. George returns, and they talk of the murder. They walk back to the pension along the river, and George suddenly tosses something into the water. Lucy angrily demands to know what he threw away, suspecting that they might be her photographs. After some hesitation, George admits that they were. He threw them away because they were covered with blood. At George's request, they stop for a moment. He feels something incredible has happened, and he wants to figure it out.

Leaning over a parapet, Lucy apologizes for her fainting and asks that he not tell anyone at the pension what happened. She realizes that he is not a chivalrous man, meaning he is a stranger to old-fashioned ideas of courtesy and propriety, but she also realizes that George is intelligent, trustworthy, and kind. She says that events like the murder happen, and that the witnesses go on living life as usual. George replies that he does not go on living life as usual. Now, he will want to live.

Analysis:

Forster spends the first part of the chapter explaining Lucy's character. She is naïve, but she has some strength and passion. She is frustrated by the constraints on her gender, but she is also no firebrand by nature. She feels that she should be ladylike, in the old-fashioned sense of the word, but in practice she wants to be more free and adventurous than that label allows. She feels her emotions most passionately and deeply after she has played piano.

Forster often uses the landscape to mirror Lucy's mood. After she finished playing the piano, the rain cleared, mirroring Lucy's tendency to know her own desires most clearly after playing music. As she wanders into the square, the world seems touched by unreality. She longs for an adventure, and she is conscious of being in a different place and wanting to see something rule. It is twilight, a transitional time between day and night, and Lucy is about to have a very confusing and important experience.

She is rescued by George, and she cannot seem to decide what to think about it. For his part, George is as taciturn and strange as ever. Forster lets us into his characters' heads, but with George and Mr. Emerson we have only their outward actions and dialogue. Lucy's experience is confusing not only because she watches a man die, but also because she is not sure how to deal with George and how he makes her feel. She recognizes that he is not chivalrous or proper, but she sees goodness in him. She stops by the river and feels somehow comfortable with him, but she nervously asks him not to tell anyone that she fainted and he carried her.

For George too, the experience is important. For whatever reason, and in ways that Forster will not allow us to see directly, he is changed. He tells Lucy that he will not return to life as he lived it before; now, he wants to live. The experience has made him appreciate life, perhaps in part because he shared something extraordinary with Lucy.

Chapter Five Possibilities of a Pleasant Outing:

Summary:

Lucy tells Charlotte an abridged version of her adventure with George. The difficulty then becomes that Lucy has no one with whom she can speak about what happened. Mr. Beebe has a plan to take the Emersons and some of the ladies for a walk up to Torre del Gallo. Charlotte declines, and Lucy insists on sticking with Charlotte. The two cousins run errands instead. Their wanderings take them into the Piazzo Signoria, and Lucy is disturbed by her memories of the murder the day before. They run into Miss Lavish, who is trying to weave the murder into her new book. She has changed the dispute of the two men into a fight over a woman, Leonora. (Miss Lavish's name is Eleanor.) Miss Lavish runs off, and Charlotte praises her. Mr. Eager, the clergyman who led the tour in Santa Croce, approaches Charlotte and Lucy and invites them to come on a drive some day this week in the hills near Florence. Lucy warms up to the idea when she hears Mr. Beebe is coming.

Mr. Eager is the chaplain for a group of British nationals who live in Florence. These Brits have access that the pension guests can only envy, and to receive an invitation from Mr. Eager is a great honor. Mr. Eager talks about yesterday's murder in the square; when he hears that Lucy was there, he begins to ask questions about why she was unescorted. This uncomfortable line of questioning is cut off by a pesky photograph vendor. After an altercation with the vendor, the trio moves on and buys numerous hideous souvenirs. Mr. Eager begins to gossip about the Emersons; apparently, Mr. Emerson was in his London parish. Eager tells the women that Mr. Emerson began as the son of a laborer. He worked as a mechanic in his youth and then worked as a journalist in the Socialist press. He works no longer, Mr. Eager says, because he made an advantageous marriage. Mr. Eager insinuates that there are dark secrets in Mr. Emerson's past, but refuses initially to disclose them. Lucy, defensively, presses the issue until Mr. Eager tells them that Mr. Emerson murdered his wife. A moment later, he adds that Emerson murdered his wife "in the sight of God." The subject is promptly dropped.

After Mr. Eager leaves, Lucy expresses exasperation at the thought of the drive. They discuss the problems of the drive; for one, Miss Lavish has been invited by Mr. Beebe, and Mr. Eager does not like Miss Lavish. So Charlotte resolves that the two men will go with Lucy in the first carriage while Miss Lavish and Charlotte follow in the second carriage. They pick up their mail at the bureau; Lucy has letters from home. Mrs. Vyse, a friend of the family, is in Rome with her son. Lucy suggests going to Rome the next day, but Charlotte reminds Lucy of the country drive, and the two women laugh at Lucy's suggestions.

Analysis

Lucy's experience has clearly changed her, but she is quite anxious about how. She feels alone because she now has to keep secrets; she is becoming more independent, when before she never had to do anything on her own. The new independence brings some freedom, but it also brings loneliness. These new feelings frighten her.

Forster is deeply critical of Charlotte, and Charlotte's praise of Miss Lavish therefore becomes condemnation. Miss Lavish's novel has a hackneyed and melodramatic plot, which trivializes the death that Lucy witnessed. It also fails to touch the important experience Lucy shared with George; though Miss Lavish talks grandly about telling a story about humble folk, she shares the same class snobbery as everyone else. The Italians are easy to romanticize because they are more distant. Class anxiety, or snobbery, is a central theme of A Room with a View. Even the "unconventional" Miss Lavish suffers from it, as does the clergyman Mr. Eager.

Mr. Eager comes off badly, and Lucy's defense of the Emersons is a sign of her growing strength. She refuses to play the game of proper conversation by refusing to hear Eager's slanderous insinuations. She demands that he come out with it; she is not in the least bit delicate, and her confidence seems to take away some of Eager's composure. Eager's attacks are snobbish and carry the ring of half-truth. But Lucy can only push the issue so far; at the mention of murder "in the sight of god," the subject is dropped. Though Lucy is eager to avoid George's company because she is not sure what to do about their adventure together, she seems to have some loyalty to the Emersons.

The names in A Room with a View are significant. Although they should not be over-read or imbued with heavy symbolism, they do serve to flesh out the characters. Eager, Lavish, Vyse: many of the names are adjectives. For Eleanor Lavish, we have a name that suggests wealth and opulence but also some degree of frivolousness. It is an adjective that, like the character, seems pleasing at first but soon becomes tiresome. Eager's name is ambiguous, but matched with his intent, which includes slandering the Emersons at every opportunity, his name fleshes out his gossipy and petty personality. The grandest names are reserved for our favorites: Emerson, a distinguished name that hearkens back to the philosopher (a fact pointed out by Lucy's mother later in the novel), and Honeychurch.

Chapter Six The Reverend Arthur Beebe, the Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr. Emerson, Mr. George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett, and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive Out in Carriages to See a View; Italians Drive Them:

Summary:

The Italian driver of the carriage reminds Mr. Beebe of Phaethon, the reckless son of the sun god who mishandled the chariot of the sun and perished. The driver picks up a beautiful girl on the way up, and the girl reminds Mr. Beebe of Persephone, goddess of spring. Mr. Eager objects to the girl riding with the driver, but the ladies intercede on her behalf and the girl climbs aboard. This is the carriage that contains Mr. Eager, Lucy, Mr. Emerson, and Miss Lavish. Mr. Beebe, without consulting Eager, invited more people for the ride, and all of Charlotte's careful plans about seating arrangement were lost with the arrival of so many unexpected guests. The driver and his girl dally with each other up in the driver's seat; Mr. Eager's rides with his back to them, so he does not see them.

Lucy looks on the ride as the workings of perverse Fate; she has tried unsuccessfully to avoid George Emerson. She likes him, but he frightens her. The heart of their adventure was not the murder, but their intimate talk afterward, and Lucy is not sure what to make of it all.

Mr. Eager dominates the conversation with talk of Italian artists and the villas that they pass on the way up. Mr. Emerson is fast asleep. Lucy watches the driver and the young girl with envy as they dally with each other in the front seat. The ride is quite bumpy. After a particularly violent lurch, Mr. Eager turns just in time to see the driver kiss the girl. He becomes furious. Mr. Emerson wakes, and argues on behalf of the driver. Mr. Eager becomes increasingly furious, until the poor girl gets down. Mr. Emerson is upset by what has happened; they have parted two happy people, which no man, he says, has the right to do.

Finally, the carriage stops; it is time for a walk in the hills. Before long the party splits: the Emersons try to make conversation with the drivers, the three women stay together, and Mr. Eager and Mr. Beebe go off in another direction. Charlotte and Miss Lavish are speaking in audible whispers about the Emersons. They are mocking them because Charlotte asked George about his profession, and he said, "the railway." Lucy pipes up at one point, and then Charlotte and Miss Lavish demand that she go. Lucy is stubborn, "only at ease amongst those to whom she felt indifferent," but they eventually force her away.

Lucy goes to join the clergymen, but they are nowhere to be seen; she tries to ask the carriage drivers where Mr. Eager and Mr. Beebe are, but her Italian is very poor. All she can manage is "Dove buoni uomini?" ("Where are the good men?") The carriage driver lights up and escorts her to them. The hills are beautiful, and there are many violets. Lucy and her guide move through a wooded area for a while, but soon the Italian proudly announces that the good man has been found, and the woods give way.

Lucy is standing on a little earth terrace, and the hillside is covered with violets. The view is splendid, and the terrace on which Lucy stands seems to be the source of the flowers. They run up and down the steep hillside like rivers of flowers. Lucy has found her "good man," but it is not a clergyman. It is George Emerson. He kisses her. Suddenly, they are interrupted by cries of "Lucy!" It is Charlotte; she has caught them.

Analysis:

Chapter Six is an extremely important chapter, and merits close examination. It is an excellent chapter to examine closely for papers on a wide range of topics.

The allusions to Phaethon and Persephone help to establish Italy as a world separate from England. Here, the gods of the ancients still move among the hills. Mr. Beebe re-imagines the driver as Phaethon, still living, unchanged by the Age of Faith or the Age of Doubt. Neither Christianity nor the age of science and discovery that followed have removed Phaethon; Mr. Beebe's conception of the driver is a metaphor for the soul of Italy and its relationship with history. Some part of the Greek and Roman world has survived in Italy.

The sensuality of Greek myths is quite different from English attitudes about the body. Mr. Eager's fury at the innocent kiss between the driver and the girl reveals a rift between English attitudes about sex and romance and the Italian view. The irony is that Mr. Eager lives in Florence as a resident, and yet he seems as English and intolerant as ever. His world is still quite isolated from Italy; he has never allowed it to get under his skin. The theme of the experience of Italy and travel plays itself out in the reverse in closed-minded Brits like Eager. Mr. Emerson's argument with Mr. Eager drives this point home. Emerson speaks of a line from an Italian poet, which he quotes as "Don't go fighting against the spring." Unable to resist showing his education and knowledge of Italian, Mr. Eager corrects him. The Italian is "Non fate guerra al maggio," and a more accurate translation would be "Don't war against May." Although Mr. Eager knows the Italian and the correct translation, Mr. Emerson is the one who understands the meaning of the poem. Eager speaks Italian, but he misses the point. By forcing the driver and the girl to part, Mr. Eager has warred against May; he has fought, without good cause, against the happiness of another. Mr. Emerson appreciates the beauty of being driven by two young and beautiful lovers; he talks about the irony of the British travelers riding up into the hills to see the Spring, while they reject Spring in human beings. Mr. Emerson firmly believes that shame about the human body is a source of great evil. One of the themes of the novel is the clash between propriety and passion. Passion and love are inhibited by the various anxieties the British have about sex and the human body, their regulation of behavior between the two genders, and their strict regulation of emotion.

There are parallels between the driver and the Italian girl and George and Lucy. Like the driver and the Italian girl, George and Lucy will be separated by British stuffiness. Forster reinforces the parallel by having the girl make a special plea with Lucy. Lucy wonders why the girl would make appeals to her, of all people; the function here is symbolic. The girl looks pleadingly into Lucy's eyes, and the experience is unsettling for Lucy. The scene connects the two women; Lucy will soon know what it is to be separated from the one you love.

The theme of class snobbery comes up when Charlotte and Miss Lavish gossip about the Emersons. Miss Lavish reveals the full extent of her hypocrisy when she laughs at George Emerson's occupation with the railway. Although earlier she spoke of the nobility of humble people when she described the plot of her novel, she mocks George because he works for a living.

Lucy's misunderstanding with the carriage driver plays on the idea of "good men." Lucy does not know the word for clergyman, so she tries to approximate the term by saying "good men." But from the perspective of the drivers, "good man" would be the last term that applied to Mr. Eager. He heartlessly parted the driver from the young girl, over an innocent kiss. For the drivers, the good men would be the only members of the entire traveling party that have treated the drivers with real respect: the Emersons. Closely connected to the theme of beauty is the theme of goodness: Lucy will have to arrive at new definitions for both of these qualities before the end of the novel.

Once again, the landscape mirrors Lucy's state. There is a connection between the land/nature and man. The beautiful violets climb up and down the hillside, making the land seem like the soul of spring. Mr. Emerson's earlier comments about spring in the land and spring in humanity have already connected the two: here, Lucy stands on a terrace that looks like the fountainhead of all the violets. Forster calls it the "primal source where beauty gushed out to water the earth" (66). Earlier, Forster made spring a symbol for young love by calling the young Italian girl Persephone; here, the violets and the incredible terrace provide the scenery for Lucy's first kiss with George Emerson. Lucy and George seem a part of this land during their kiss: spring around them, spring in their young feelings for each other. It is spontaneous and beautiful, but it is quickly cut short by someone who clearly does not belong in this setting. Forster uses color as a metaphor for Charlotte's separation from this world: she "stood brown against the view." The image is striking: Charlotte's dowdy brown dress stands in sharp contrast to the brilliance of the violets. The word choice is important. "Against" suggests conflict between Charlotte and this world of spring and young love, and Charlotte will prove a very difficult obstacle for George and Lucy's relationship.

In this last scene of the chapter, Forster is playing again with the metaphor of the view. A view gives a perspective of another place; it suggests openness to the world and the acquisition of new perspective and knowledge. Significantly, Charlotte comes as an interloper into the view; the word choice is very specific. Charlotte consistently seeks to shelter Lucy from the experience of Italy. She restricts her freedom to go out and she tries to choose Lucy's company. She is an obstacle to the transforming aspect of travel, and she therefore stands in the way of Lucy's growth.

Chapter Seven They Return:

Summary:

There is a sense of bewilderment in the group as they gather for the return voyage. Everyone lost track of everyone else, and the picnic was clearly a failure. George Emerson decides to walk back alone. Mr. Eager rides with Lucy and Charlotte, while the others ride in the second carriage. There is a lightning storm on the way down, and Mr. Emerson is sick with fear about George. At one point, Mr. Eager gets out of the carriage. Alone, Charlotte shares her concerns about people finding out about Lucy's kiss with George. She bribes the driver to keep silent. While the party is stopped, lightning strikes the overhead wires of the tramline at a spot farther up the road. A great support falls; if the party had not stopped, someone might have been hurt. Lucy is particularly unnerved by this experience. She clings to Charlotte, appreciating her cousin anew and trying to repent of her actions with George. But the thought that he might be hurt in the storm undermines her repentance; her concern for him makes it difficult to focus on feeling bad for what she has done. Lucy tries to explain that the violets and gods and heroes had something to do with it, but Charlotte does not seem to understand. After the near-accident, Lucy clings to the idea that she and Charlotte are close companions of the heart.

Lucy longs to tell Charlotte about all of the ideas and feelings she has been having since she has been in Italy; she waits eagerly for time alone with Charlotte back at the pension. But at the pension, Charlotte trades stories with Miss Alan for an interminably long time. Finally, Lucy and Charlotte retire to their rooms. But Charlotte is in no mood to talk about feelings: she demands to know what they shall do about George. Lucy is taken aback; that seemed the least important thing to talk about. She has no idea what to do or even what to think, but Charlotte dominates the conversation. They will pack up and leave for Rome in the morning. Charlotte makes Lucy promise not to tell anyone, even her mother, what happened. Lucy packs in a daze. In the hallway, George passes by; Lucy wants to say goodbye to him, but she is still in her room when George is intercepted in the hall by Charlotte. Charlotte takes him to the drawing room to speak with him; Lucy does not know what is said. She is "in a muddle," and hates the feeling. Charlotte returns, but does not tell her what she said to George. In the morning, the two women leave for Rome.

Analysis:

For some time, Lucy has not been sure what to think of her own feelings and thoughts. Italy and the Emersons have exposed her to a whole new world, one that in some ways stands in opposition to everything she has been taught. The confusion of growing up is referred to repeatedly throughout the novel as "a muddle." This "muddle," the disorientation that comes with becoming wiser and challenging everything that one has been taught, is one of the themes of the novel. George experienced it by the river. The murder put him into a muddle; his emotional response to the man's death forced him to re-evaluate his childish pessimism and unhappiness. Lucy is in a muddle now.

But she does not have the chance to sort through her feelings, because Charlotte takes control of the situation and tells her what she needs to feel and think. Lucy's isolation is evident here: she longs for an intimate talk with Charlotte, clinging to the belief that she and her cousin can really be soul mates. But Charlotte disappoints her terribly, and the hurt is going to have long-term effects. Forster writes, "Never again did she expose herself without due consideration and precaution against rebuff. And such a wrong may react disastrously upon the soul" (76). Because of this hurt, Lucy becomes even more isolated.

Chapter Eight Mediaeval:

Summary:

We now move to Part 2 of the novel, the bulk of which is set in Surrey, England, in and around the Honeychurch home. Many months have passed since Lucy kissed George in Italy. We are at Windy Corner, the home of the Honeychurches. It is August, and the sun is bright outside; the Honeychurches always draw all the curtains to protect the furniture. Lucy's mother, Mrs. Honeychurch, is writing a letter. Lucy's nineteen-year-old brother, Freddy, is studying an anatomy book. They converse about what is going on outside: Cecil Vyse is proposing to Lucy, not for the first time. They discuss Cecil; he asked permission to propose both from Mrs. Honeychurch and Freddy. Cecil also asked Freddy if Lucy marrying Cecil would be a wonderful thing for Windy Corner. Freddy told him no. Mrs. Honeychurch likes Cecil well enough, but Freddy does not.

Cecil comes in, somewhat agitated. The Honeychurch custom of closing the curtains to protect furniture annoys him. Forster describes him as medieval, like a Gothic statue, tall, resembling the angular and severe statues of saints that adorn cathedrals. He is very self-conscious, and something about him suggests celibacy. At Mrs. Honeychurch's prodding, he announces that Lucy has agreed to marry him. Lucy takes her brother and mother out into the garden to tell them about the proposal, while Cecil stays inside and thinks about the last few months.

Cecil and Lucy have known each other for years, but not well. They met again in Rome (the very day Lucy and Charlotte fled Florence). Cecil fell in love with her over the course of the following few months. In Rome, he hinted that they should be married and was rebuffed. In the Alps, three months after Rome, he proposed again; she refused again. Now, at last, he has her. He thinks about how he will improve the décor of Windy Corner; he also thinks of how he will "improve" Lucy, by introducing her into higher levels of society.

Mr. Beebe arrives to announce that Sir Harry Otway has bought Cissie and Albert, two homes, from Mr. Flack. The two men chat amiably about the Honeychurches and their servants. Mr. Beebe has not yet heard that Lucy and Cecil are engaged, and Mr. Beebe speaks freely about Lucy. He says that she plays music wonderfully and lives quietly, but this division cannot last. One day, he believes, she will live as she plays and become something truly heroic. Cecil slips in that he has proposed to Lucy and been accepted. In his response, Mr. Beebe cannot keep bitter disappointment out of his voice. The Honeychurches come back inside, and the group eventually settles down to a tea party. Cecil learns that "Fiasco" is the time-honored family slang for "fiancé." The family accepts him good-naturedly, treating him with humor and kindness.

Analysis:

Forster associates Cecil with the medieval; he uses the medieval as a symbol of the sexless, the severe, and the humorless. There is a paradigm of Western history that sees the medieval as a stifling and unenlightened period that followed the end of the classical world. In this paradigm, the end of the medieval comes with the rebirth of classical learning in the Renaissance. Italy is the land of both the Roman Empire and the Renaissance: Forster structures his novel in a way that mirrors this paradigm of history. We begin in Italy, but Part 2 is dominated by Lucy's relationship with Cecil and a return to England. The very last chapter of the novel has Lucy with George back in Italy, and so we finish the novel with Lucy's own private Renaissance. It is no accident that Lucy compares George to a figure from myth while Forster compares Cecil to a Gothic statue. Although Lucy met Cecil in Italy, Forster deliberately makes sure that we never see him there. He associates George with Italy, the mysterious, the individualistic, the imaginative, the living myth. Cecil is tied to England, the all-too-known and knowing, the snobbish, the indoctrinated, the statue. Lucy's development reenacts history: from Italy and George (the Classical) to Cecil and the Gothic (the Medieval) and then back to Italy and George again (the Renaissance).

Her family, though financially comfortable, is far from the refinement and high aristocracy to which Cecil is accustomed. Many of their habits are embarrassingly (and endearingly) bourgeois: we open with Freddy and Mrs. Honeychurch sitting in the dark so that the sunlight won't damage the furniture. But the Honeychurches are not pretentious social climbers. They are a loving and generous family, kind to each other and to their friends. Their frugality belies a past when the family was not so rich, and their treatment of friends and each other shows that their frugality does not curb their basic goodness and generosity.

But Cecil no sooner wins Lucy's acceptance than he starts thinking about how he can "improve" Windy Corner. He plots ways to refurnish the home, and he hopes to separate Lucy from the world she has known and introduce her to what he thinks is a better one. Woman's independence is an important theme of the novel. All her life, Lucy has had her decisions made for her. In Italy, she allowed Charlotte to make critical choices for her, although inwardly she protested. After her engagement to Cecil, the question becomes one of independence or submission. She is young and uncertain, but will she continue allowing others to tell her what she should think? Will she break away from Cecil and make her choices? Mr. Beebe has had high hopes for Lucy; he cannot keep the disappointment and bitterness from his voice after he hears of the engagement. He realizes young Lucy's potential before she herself does, and the reader must wait to see if and when Lucy will break free of others and go against convention.

Chapter Nine Lucy as a Work of Art:

Summary:

Mrs. Honeychurch, Lucy, and Cecil attend a neighborhood garden party. Cecil is disgusted by the experience, appalled by the niceties of country gentry. On the carriage ride home, he shares his feeling with Lucy, spinning out convoluted metaphors about fences between people. He is impressed by his own travel record, and seems to think of himself as some kind of Bohemian dynamo; Lucy is intelligent enough to know that a few quiet months in Rome with one's mother do not a rebel make. He implies that he does not like Mr. Beebe; while on the subject of unlikable clergymen, Lucy vehemently expresses her hatred for Mr. Eager, the chaplain of the British colony in Florence. She talks about how Mr. Eager slandered a certain friend of hers, and when Cecil and Mrs. Honeychurch ask the identity of this friend, Lucy lies. She says the man's name was Harris. Cecil makes naïve comments romanticizing the countryside and its people.

The carriage stops at Cissie and Albert, the two estates recently acquired by Sir Harry Otway. Sir Harry has bought the estates in part out of a sense of duty to the community; he wanted to fix the two homes up (both buildings are eyesores) and find desirable tenants. While discussing the problem of tenants, Lucy suggests Miss Teresa and Miss Catherine Alan, the two spinster sisters whom she met at the Pension Bertolini. Mrs. Honeychurch and Cecil object to the idea of having two depressing old maids in the neighborhood, but Lucy stands by them and asks Sir Harry if she can write to them and ask if they are interested. He gives his consent. Cecil wishes to walk back to Windy Corner with Lucy instead of riding the carriage, and Mrs. Honeychurch grants her consent.

Cecil complains about Sir Harry; although Lucy sees that there is truth in his criticisms, she wonders if these truths matter so much. Lucy begins to worry that Cecil will harshly judge the people close to her, like her mother and Freddy. Lucy is about to take the road home, but Cecil insists on walking through the woods. He complains that she seems most comfortable with him in a room, and after a moment's consideration Lucy realizes that he is right. In the woods, Lucy shows Cecil the Sacred Lake, a little pond where she and Freddy used to bathe. Cecil points out that he has never kissed her, and asks if he can kiss her now. She grants permission, and the kiss is embarrassing and awkward. There is absolutely no spontaneity or natural passion in the kiss. As they continue their walk, Lucy confesses to Cecil that the name of the old man whom Mr. Eager slandered was not Harris, but Emerson. He seems to think it a strange and unimportant comment for her to make, but the narrator tells us that it is the most intimate conversation that they have ever had.

Analysis

Cecil has contempt for the world in which Lucy grew up. She, too, recognizes that garden parties and Sir Harry are silly, but she sees no reason to condemn them. Since Italy she has been more aware of the provinciality of her life at Windy Corner, but her family and old neighbors are still dear to her. The title of the chapter is "Lucy as a Work of Art": Cecil's dissatisfaction with Lucy's town is a rejection of something that is an important part of her. He wants to remake her into something as urban and critical as himself; he seeks to shape her as he would shape a painting or a sculpture.

The theme of women and their independence is here again: in many ways, Cecil sees Lucy as an object that needs to be refined, or a creature that needs to be trained. He constantly compares her in his mind to a woman painted by Leonardo DaVinci: mysterious, beautiful, the embodiment of a certain mystique. While Cecil's view of Lucy might be flattering, it is naïve and fails to treat her as a living person. He is more in love with the idea of Lucy than he is with the person.

Lucy's lie about Mr. Emerson shows that she is very guarded about her experience with George. The need to lie about a name shows her awareness that something about her experience in Florence needs to be concealed. The memories are uncomfortable, just as George's company was uncomfortable, because she cannot reconcile the honesty and intensity of her interactions with George to the dull and conventional suitor she is now engaged. Cecil is completely unaware of what is going on: when Lucy tells him Mr. Emerson's real name, she is letting him see a vital part of her life. But Cecil has no way of knowing this, and Lucy is too afraid of her own feelings to pursue the topic.

Chapter Ten Cecil as a Humourist:

Summary:

The narrator explains Lucy's family history. Her father was a successful solicitor, and he built Windy Corner before the neighborhood had really been built up. When rich people from London began moving into the neighborhood, they mistook the Honeychurches for an old aristocratic family with a long history in the area. Without explicitly lying, Mrs. Honeychurch took advantage of their mistake to procure good society for her children; by the time the new neighbors learned the truth about the Honeychurches, they liked them enough so that it did not matter. Lucy has learned to see her old neighbors in a new light since her return from Italy, but although she recognizes that her old neighbors are provincial and silly, she does not want to despise them. Cecil cannot abide the social situation, and seeks to introduce Lucy into high levels of London society.

Freddy, Lucy, and Minnie Beebe (Mr. Beebe's niece) are playing bumble-puppy, a silly game played with tennis balls. Mrs. Honeychurch and Mr. Beebe are enjoying the fine weather, and Cecil is indoors. Lucy, Mrs. Honeychurch, and Mr. Beebe discuss the imminent arrival of the Miss Alans to Cissie villa. Freddy chimes in that the Miss Alans aren't going to be occupying Cissie at all. He has just spoken to Sir Harry, who told him that he has procured different tenants for the house: some people called the Emersons. Lucy is not sure if they are the same Emersons, but the possibility throws her into a daze. Freddy mentions that Cecil arranged the whole thing. Mr. Beebe and Lucy discuss the possibility that these Emersons might be the same ones from Florence; Mr. Beebe mentions that Mr. Emerson was rumored to have murdered his wife. Mrs. Honeychurch remembers that Lucy told her about another friend, a man named Harris, who supposedly killed his wife. Lucy is mortified at having told a lie without ever correcting it, but the subject is fortunately dropped.

Lucy rushes in to confront Cecil: he has arranged this whole thing as a joke on her. Lucy went to a great deal of trouble to arrange an agreement between the Miss Alans and Sir Harry, and now she will be seen by the Miss Alans as having let them down. Cecil's joke goes further: he met the Emersons at the National Gallery in London, and saw that they were exactly the kind of "undesirable" person feared by the snobbish Sir Harry. He did the whole thing as a joke. From Cecil's description, it becomes clear that these Emerson's are indeed Mr. Emerson and George.

Analysis:

We see the separation of Cecil from Lucy's family and Lucy from everyone else. Cecil stays inside rather than join the other outdoors. Forster slips in that they would not be playing bumble-puppy if Cecil were around. His snobbery makes it difficult for the Honeychurches to act naturally; he rejects many of the things that bring pleasure to Lucy's family.

Lucy's isolation is different and more profound. Confronted with her earlier lie, she has no one to be her confidante. More prone to see the faults of her neighbors since her return from Italy, she is also unable to join with Cecil in despising them. Cecil seeks to introduce her to what he views as more suitable circles, but the narrator explains to us that this move will not work. Forster writes, "Nor did he [Cecil] realize a more important point‹that if she was too great for this society, she was too great for all society, and had reached the stage where personal intercourse would alone satisfy her" (108). Lucy has moved beyond superficial interaction with "society"; she longs for something deeper. Cecil will not be able to provide it.

The great irony is that Cecil, in attempting to play a cruel joke, brings George back into Lucy's life. If Lucy is to break away from Cecil and, paraphrasing Mr. Beebe, learn to live as beautifully as she plays, she must confront George Emerson again. Being forced to deal with George will remind her of the feelings she has tried to suppress since she returned from Italy. Lucy has not yet realized that Cecil is unsuitable for her needs, and she reacts to the news of George's imminent arrival with a confusing mix of intense and contrary emotions. Here again is the "muddle"; it will take George to help Lucy work through this confusion.

Chapter Eleven In Mrs. Vyse's Well-Appointed Flat:

Summary:

Lucy is in London visiting with Cecil's mother when the Emersons move into Cissie Villa. She has convinced herself that the Emersons' arrival does not matter in the least.

Things have been quite cold between Lucy and Charlotte since Italy; Charlotte sends a letter telling her that she has heard about the arrival of the Emersons at Cissie. She gives Lucy much unsolicited advice, instructing Lucy to tell her family about the incident in Italy and to stay away from George. Lucy sends Charlotte a polite but frigid response telling her that Lucy intends to follow none of Charlotte's advice.

Lucy is quite impressed by the cynicism of Cecil's aristocratic friends. Lucy dines with the almost-famous: "In spite of the season, Mrs. Vyse managed to scrape together a dinner-party consisting entirely of the grandchildren of famous people" (118). She plays piano for them, starting with some Schumann. Cecil calls for some Beethoven, but Lucy tries to play another Shumann piece. She falters and stops playing.

After the guests leave, Mrs. Vyse chats with Cecil. She is a woman who is weary without knowing it; the pace and intensity of life in London has robbed her of real vitality. Mrs. Vyse adores Lucy, and she tells her son to "make Lucy one of us" (119). Cecil is clearly enamored with Lucy. Later that night, Mrs. Vyse is woken by a scream from Lucy's room. When she goes to investigate, she learns that Lucy has been having bad dreams. She comforts Lucy, telling the girl that Cecil adores her more than ever. Mrs. Vyse returns to bed; Cecil has slept through the whole incident.

Analysis:

It is natural for Lucy to be somewhat awed by the London friends of the Vyses. She thinks that she should try to be more like the Vyses to please them, and that to marry Cecil she will have to leave behind anything in her that is of Windy Corner. At this point, Lucy thinks that this kind of self-transformation is necessary and beneficial. But something about this environment stifles her passion. We return to the theme of music, and its power to express passion and transcend social barriers. But Lucy cannot play a truly passionate piece for Cecil's friends. She opts for Shumann, and when Cecil calls for Beethoven Lucy tries to play Shumann again. Remember that Beethoven was established earlier in the novel as a symbol for passion and victory. She falters horribly during the second piece; Lucy's music is a symbol of her vitality and passion, and in the Vyses' home her music fails her. The faltering functions as both symbol and psychological insight. Forster is showing us that Lucy will have to give up much of the good in her if she marries Cecil. The reader cannot help but feel menaced by Mrs. Vyses' well-intentioned but ominous advice to Cecil: "Make Lucy one of us." What is at stake is Lucy's individuality. Already, the Vyses are planning to remake her to be acceptable to their social world.

Forster criticizes this world gleefully: the image of Lucy dining with the grandchildren of famous people, all full of cynicism and pretentious wit, balances some of the darkness of this chapter with humor. Forster refers to the guests throughout the chapter as "the grandchildren," demoting these adults to perpetual childhood. Forster's social commentary is most cutting when it is funny, and A Room with a View is a consistently funny book.

On a psychological level, we see that some part of Lucy understands what she will lose. Her music fails her, and later that night Lucy has a terrible nightmare. There is a moment of irony when Mrs. Vyse tries to comfort Lucy by assuring her that Cecil admires her. The reader knows, as some part of Lucy does, that Cecil is the source of Lucy's anxieties. Visiting with Cecil and realizing what kind of world she will live in if she marries him terrifies Lucy. Typically for her character, she cannot articulate or name the source of her own fears, which must then express themselves as nightmares.

Chapter Twelve:

Summary:

Mr. Beebe and Freddy go to see the Emersons, who have just moved in. The house is in a state of disarray, and the visitors have to squeeze past a wardrobe to get inside. George's voice answers Mr. Beebe's greeting, but he does not come down for a while, and Mr. Beebe and Freddy have a chance to look at George's books. There are a good number of texts in German; the book collection reveals an extremely educated reader with eclectic tastes. When George finally comes down, Mr. Beebe introduces George to Freddy and Freddy immediately asks if George wants to go for a swim. Mr. Beebe laughs at the forward greeting, and jokes that as women cannot greet each other in such a manner, they cannot be equal to men. Mr. Emerson, now coming down the stairs, promises that they will be. He explains to Mr. Beebe that humans, to progress, will have to rid themselves of shame for their bodies.

Freddy, George, and Mr. Beebe go to swim. On the way to the pond, Mr. Beebe and George talk about the strangeness of the Emersons having ended up in the same town as Mr. Beebe and the Honeychurches. Mr. Beebe talks of an idea from his youth, a "History of Coincidence," which he never got around to writing. George believes that he has ended up in Surrey because of Fate. Mr. Beebe argues with him, saying that they all met in Italy, and the Emersons ended up in Surrey because they met Cecil in the National Gallery's rooms of Italian art: it is not Fate, but an interest in Italy that has brought them back together. George insists that it was Fate, and he tells Mr. Beebe to call it Italy if it makes him feel better.

Freddy strips and hops into the water enthusiastically. George disrobes and gets in, but with a much more apathetic attitude. Mr. Beebe stays on shore, clothed. George begins to loosen up, and Mr. Beebe, after making sure no one is around, strips down and gets in the pond. George warms up considerably, until all three of them are playing in and out of the water. Time passes pleasurably, until Lucy, Mrs. Honeychurch, and Cecil come along the path. Freddy and George, racing about naked on the banks, nearly run headlong into the three interlopers. The two naked men both run away and take cover. Cecil feels the need to protect the women; Mrs. Honeychurch is shocked; Lucy says very little but hides her face behind her parasol. They continue on, leaving the naked men behind. As they are leaving, George, half-dressed but still bare-chested, calls out amiably to Lucy. She tries to ignore him, but he calls out to her again. At Mrs. Honeychurch's request, Lucy turns and bows.

Analysis:

In the scene at the Emerson's new home, we learn more about the intellectual and political inclinations of the Emersons. George is extremely well educated, fluent enough in German to read Nietzsche and Shopenhauer in the original. Mr. Emerson is keenly interested in politics. He talks about the liberation of women, which he sees as inextricable from the liberation of man. He imagines that the Garden of Eden lies not in the past but in the future, and it will come when women and men both rid themselves of shame for their bodies. His point ties together themes about propriety, gender, and passion. For Mr. Emerson, the primness of English society is an enemy of progress. The many British anxieties about the human body are an obstacle of love, affection, and the progress of women's rights. His comments remind the reader of the comments he made on the carriage ride in Italy, when he defended the driver and the girl. Mr. Emerson values happiness and passion, and from his perspective any force that stands in the way of these things is wrong.

The talk about fate, coincidence, and Italy brings together other important themes. Although Forster never makes any strong pronouncements about fate, part of A Room with a View is the fact that unlikely coincidence happen, often with life-changing results. George is now back in Lucy's life because of a series of coincidences. Although Forster does not say emphatically whether Mr. Beebe or George is in the right, one must at least admit that coincidences are a part of life. It is now up to the book's characters to make the best of the coincidence that has brought them back together.

The scene at the pond ties in with Mr. Emerson's point. Even the normally dour George is invigorated by the experience of swimming and playing nude. Forster lovingly describes the beautiful landscape surrounding the pond. We return to the theme of connection between the land/nature and man. Stripping symbolizes the removal of the inhibitions imposed by civilization; in the next chapter, Forster refers to the swim as the "rout of a civilization" (130). Just as the land is beautiful and without concern for propriety, so too can man be. Here, just as in the violets scene, George becomes part of the land. The beautiful weather and landscape reflect the happiness and vitality he feels. When uptight Cecil and the two ladies come up the path, the imposition of Cecil's viewpoint and the women's prudishness is not enough to dispel what the men have gained. Freddy and George take cover so as to maintain some level of propriety, but Freddy is apologetic without being regretful and half-dressed George calls out to Lucy. For this scene, Forster does not go inside Lucy's head at all; the effect is that the reader, who usually knows everything that Lucy is thinking, suddenly has no idea about how Lucy feels when she sees George nude. Although Lucy shows the outward signs of being offended, we still are cut off from her thoughts. Her emotions on seeing George again (naked, no less) are probably more complicated than prudish shock.

Chapter Thirteen How Miss Bartlett's Boiler Was So Tiresome:

Summary:

While having tea with Mrs. Butterworth, Mrs. Honeychurch, and Cecil, Lucy keeps thinking about her reunion with George; nothing went as she had planned. Although she had rehearsed the meeting many times, she was not prepared for a boisterous, cheerful, and naked man. She did not feel in control of the situation. Mrs. Butterworth is kindly, simple, and devoted to the unsophisticated world of affluent country people. Cecil cannot stand her, and it shows. When Cecil and the Honeychurch women go home, Mrs. Honeychurch talks to Lucy about Cecil's behavior. Although Lucy defends Cecil, his behavior angers Mrs. Honeychurch. Lucy tries to change the subject by bringing up the letter she received from Charlotte, but the conversation blows up into a heated discussion of Cecil's snobbery in general. Mrs. Honeychurch dislikes his treatment of their family and friends, and she can see no justification for it.

On the way to her room, Lucy runs into Freddy. He likes the Emersons, and he wants to invite them for Sunday tea. She advises against it, but he seems set on the idea. Mrs. Honeychurch asks about Charlotte's letter, and if she mentioned her boiler. Lucy says she cannot keep track of Charlotte's problems, especially now that Mrs. Honeychurch does not like Cecil. Mrs. Honeychurch does not get angry but instead instructs her daughter to give her a kiss. With this gesture, everything is good again between them.

During dinner, all goes well until Freddy asks about the Emersons. Lucy manages to change the subject. But Mrs. Honeychurch brings up the possibility of having Charlotte come to visit Windy Corner, because the boiler at her place is broken. Lucy protests, and Cecil seconds her. But Mrs. Honeychurch is adamant, and she expresses her disapproval of their unkindness. But Lucy cannot help it; she does not like Charlotte, and nothing has ever come of being kind to her. She thinks fearfully of the upcoming Sunday: George, Charlotte, and Cecil will all be at Windy Corner.

Analysis

Forster continues to play with the idea of Italy as a part of George, a way of looking at life, and a symbol for the heroic and the free. In the last chapter, he compared George to a statue. But although Cecil was compared to a Gothic statue, George is called "Michaelengelesque." His body is of the Renaissance and the classical world. Lucy did not expect to see him this way. As she cannot help but think, she extended her greeting "to gods, to heroes": Forster connects George to Italy, the world of classical myth and the Renaissance.

The capacity for kindness is one of the novel's themes. Although Lucy grows in refinement and sophistication throughout the novel, it is important not to take this growth as a reason to feel superior to others. Cecil is undoubtedly more educated than Mrs. Butterworth, Mr. Emerson, or Sir Harry Otway. In some circles, he would be considered more clever. But his snobbery is its own form of urban provinciality; it comes from a failure to see that different places have different priorities and values. Although there is much that is silly about the provincial life at Windy Corner, there is much that is silly about the life in London. Lucy's dinner with the grandchildren of the famous was just as inane as the conversation with simple Mrs. Butterworth. Mrs. Butterworth's name is another name-as-symbol. It reflects her simplicity: butter, a simple substance, basic in a British diet, solid and dependable. The woman's worth lies in her simplicity, her devotion to the Honeychurches, and the little concerns of provincial living. Mrs. Honeychurch mentions the old woman's kindness when Lucy, as a child, was struck with typhoid fever. Cecil's great fault, which Mrs. Honeychurch can no longer abide, is that he cannot see the worth of this world.

Events are coming to a head. Charlotte's presence will only exacerbate the situation of having George in the house. Besides the Italian carriage driver, Charlotte was the only witness to Lucy's kiss with George. Charlotte will probably meddle, and Lucy does not know if she can keep control of the situation. Lucy is becoming increasingly isolated. She has had to continue lying to hide the event with George: Forster speaks of these lies as a world of ghosts, surrounding Lucy and multiplying in number. She has to lie about the letter from Charlotte; she lies by omission when she says nothing about her former association with George. She has no one with whom she can speak truthfully, not even Freddy or her mother. With George she shared some of her greatest moments of honesty, but now she has to cover them up. We return to the theme of the muddle: significantly, when Freddy tells Lucy that he wants to invite George for tennis, Lucy describes the current situation as "a muddle." She is afraid to take a risk and give in to passion, and as yet her feelings are unclear even to her.

Chapter Fourteen How Lucy Faced the External Situation Bravely:

Summary:

Lucy prepares for the external situation of Sunday, but she avoids self-examination. She met George at the rectory soon after the incident at the lake; the sound of his voice had a strong affect on her, and she longed to be near him. But Lucy has convinced herself that these feelings all come from stress and confusion.

Charlotte Bartlett has arrived, and she is already proving a nuisance with her fussiness. Mr. Floyd (a friend of Freddy's), Cecil, Freddy, Lucy, and Charlotte are all outside the house on a beautiful autumn day. Charlotte tries to pay for her cab ride, but since she has no small coins and no one is able to make change, an elaborate conversation starts up, with competing schemes for dispersing the money fairly. Finally fed up, Lucy intercedes and takes Charlotte's money, to go make change with one of the servants. Charlotte follows her into the house and, once they are alone, asks if anyone knows about "him" yet. Lucy responds crossly that no one knows. They argue back and forth: Charlotte now thinks that Lucy must fess up, lest Cecil should hear about the kiss from someone else. Lucy thinks it impossible that Cecil might hear of it, but Charlotte seems fixated on the possibility. Lucy finally argues that Cecil will laugh at it if he hears it, but deep down she knows that he won't. He demands that she be completely pure for him.

They talk about George, and Lucy insists that he does not mean to be a cad. She makes a speech trying to explain the kiss (143); it is an important moment in the novel, worth a look. She talks about how George was swept up in the moment: he saw Lucy surrounded by violets and lost his head. She defends his character. He is happier than before, and he works as a clerk (not a porter, as Miss Lavish and Charlotte joked in Florence). She insists, amiably, that Charlotte forget about the whole thing. But she makes a critical error: when talking about George losing his head and being swept away by the moment, she unknowingly uses the masculine pronoun instead of the feminine: "It makes such a difference when you see a person with beautiful things behind him unexpectedly" (143). Forster does not tell us if Charlotte detects the slip.

Analysis:

Charlotte's inordinate fear of Cecil finding out about George is a bit of foreshadowing; the worry is not that Lucy might have told someone untrustworthy, but that Charlotte has. Charlotte wants Lucy to confess because she has already endangered the integrity of the secret and does not want to be held accountable for it.

Things between the cousins have been very difficult, and a good part of it has to do with Charlotte's interference in Florence. Although Lucy is not self-aware enough to realize the origin of her anger, Forster hints throughout that Lucy feels a great deal of resentment towards Charlotte.

Charlotte represents a woman who never realized her potential. From here until the end of the novel, Forster begins to set up parallels between Charlotte and Lucy. Charlotte represents failed potential in different ways. Because this is a social comedy and, by the formula of the genre, the novel will end in marriage, spinsters are usually seen as somewhat pathetic figures. In A Room with a View, a life of companionship is seen as better than a life alone. Forster, newly involved with his first great love at the time this novel was written, depicts a world where life partnership can and should be part of growth. A woman need not be a spinster to be independent; in Charlotte's case, eternal maidenhood has not helped her to achieve any real independence of thought or action. She is unimaginative and passive aggressive, and her years alone have only exacerbated these qualities.

Lucy's slip is one of the nicest moments of the novel. Although she does not realize what she said, her words reveal explicitly to the reader that she lost her head amongst the violets just as much as George did.

Chapter Fifteen The Disaster Within:

Summary:

Sunday is a beautiful day. Forster prominently mentions a red book lying on the path at Windy Corner; the people inside the house are busy with preparations for church. Only the women are going. The red book, as we will soon learn, is a library book of Cecil's. It is a bad novel called Under a Loggia, and it will soon become important. Lucy and Cecil have had a dismal conversation about church. The polite, half-secular religion of the upper bourgeoisie offends him; it must be fervent orthodoxy or nothing to Cecil. Lucy does not want to change. She likes her family's half-committed and social approach to religion, and sees nothing wrong with it.

After church, the women stop at Cissie to see the Emersons. Mr. Emerson is upset because he has learned that Cissie was originally going to belong to the Miss Alans. In the course of the conversation, Lucy realizes that George has not told his father about the kiss, even though he tells his father everything. The idea that he has kept it a secret, not treating it as a conquest, makes her incredibly happy. She returns home in high spirits. Cecil refers to the Emersons with condescension, calling them his "protégés." It seems not right to Lucy somehow, but Cecil ignores her. Forster writes, "For the only relationship which Cecil conceived was feudal: that of protector and protected. He had no glimpse of the comradeship after which the girl's soul yearned" (149). Lucy has some worries about the impending marriage and London, but the weather is so beautiful and her family so loving and familiar that she believes that somehow everything at Windy Corner will last forever. She plays piano after lunch, but George comes in and soon Lucy cannot concentrate. Freddy proposes tennis, but Cecil refuses to play. It is up to Lucy to make a fourth for doubles.

They play, and George is eager to win. Lucy plays on the opposite team. She is enjoying the beauty of the country around her house; in the beauty of the land, she is reminded of Florence. George, too, is beautiful. He is eager and athletic. Cecil reads aloud occasionally from his bad novel. The name of the protagonist is "Leonora," the name that Miss Lavish proposed for the protagonist of her novel. (Miss Lavish's first name is Eleanor.) Lucy realizes that it is Miss Lavish's novel, even though it has been published under a pen name. They continue at tennis, and George and Freddy win. They talk about views and people rather abstractly; Cecil is somewhat threatened by George. Cecil closes the book, but Lucy insists on hearing more from it. She takes the book and opens it, asking Cecil what part he might like to read. She opens it to the desired chapter, and after reading a few lines feels like she is going insane. Cecil takes the book and reads: it is clearly an account of Lucy's kiss with George.

On the way back into the house, Cecil realizes he has forgotten the book and goes back to get it. George and Lucy are alone in the shrubbery: he stumbles against her and then kisses her. He slips away and Cecil returns.

Analysis:

The beautiful autumn day reflects Lucy's state: she is happy to be here, with family. She is even happy to see George again; while with him, she finds herself half-entertaining unsuitable thoughts. Cecil is unbearable: we see him here as quite weak. He cannot engage George in conversation. George cannot easily be dismissed as stupid, but his ideas and ways of articulating himself are too different from Cecil's. Cecil feels threatened by him. Although he imagined George as his protégé, George is entirely too much for him.

For Cecil wants no equals. He cannot imagine equality; Forster describes his thinking as "feudal," continuing with the theme of the medieval. All relationships are hierarchical, especially the one with his fiancée. The theme of the position of women comes up here: Cecil has many ideas, rooted in some archaic idea of romance, about the roles of men and women. He imagines Lucy wants to be protected or instructed. He cannot understand that she wants to be with an equal.

George's kisses are a far cry from Cecil's. When Cecil kissed Lucy by the pond, it was awkward, clumsy, and forced. George kisses with passion and spontaneity, and though Lucy protests this time, she quickly becomes silent once the kiss is in progress. George is not afraid of passion or eagerness; while Cecil stuffily insists that he will not play tennis, George does not mind showing that he wants to win.

Once Miss Lavish's novel is read, Lucy loses her power over the "external situation." The titles of chapters fourteen and fifteen refer to the dichotomy between the external situation and Lucy's muddled feelings. Though Lucy tries to suppress the truth, coincidence or fate keeps moving her towards George. The odds are incredibly small that Cecil would have chosen this novel, of all novels, to read aloud today. The novel is set in Italy: once again, Italy continues to tear down barriers between George and Lucy.

Chapter Sixteen Lying to George:

Summary:

Lucy tries to suppress her feelings. She thinks that she must at all costs rid herself of George and maintain her engagement to Cecil. She calls for Charlotte, and confronts her with the events of the novel. Lucy has correctly deduced that Charlotte must have told Miss Lavish about the kiss in Florence. Now, it becomes clear why Charlotte initially made Lucy promise not to tell anyone but later so adamantly insisted that Lucy should tell everyone. Charlotte told Miss Lavish and feared that the woman would prove indiscreet. Lucy hopes that Charlotte will step in and confront George, as she did in Florence, but Charlotte hems and haws until it becomes clear that it is up to Lucy. She asks Charlotte to be present while she does it.

She tells George, with Charlotte in the room, that he can never enter the house again. George argues passionately with her: he tells her that he would not have tried anything if Cecil were a different man. But Cecil is abominable, good for talk of books and painting but not much else. He is unkind and "should know no one intimately, least of all a woman" (161). George pegged him as awful from the first day they met. He is always telling Lucy how to think, and what to be shocked by. Lucy responds that George is now doing the same thing. George admits that all men have some level of brutishness in them, and he has difficulty suppressing certain instincts, but he promises that he loves her in a deeper and more respectful way than Cecil does. Men and women will have to fight these attitudes together. They continue to argue, with George's pleas becoming more desperate. When it becomes clear that Lucy will not be moved, he leaves in despair.

Charlotte commends Lucy for her courage. Lucy and Charlotte go back outside. She is suddenly aware that it is autumn, and she realizes that time is passing. She is seized by emotions she cannot articulate. Freddy wishes to play doubles again. With George gone, they need a fourth. Freddy asks Cecil, and Cecil refuses with pomp. Lucy's reaction is sudden: "The scales fell from Lucy's eyes. How had she stood Cecil for a moment? He was absolutely intolerable, and the same evening she broke off her engagement" (164).

Analysis:

The theme of convention versus passion is important here. For Lucy to refuse George, she must fight her own feelings. She calls on Charlotte to support her campaign; Charlotte embodies convention and adherence to stifling propriety. Forster makes her a spinster, and it has symbolic resonance. This world of primness and repressed emotion is sterile; its other symbol is Cecil, who is compared repeatedly to a celibate medieval statue. The world of convention does not have the same potential for growth and new life. But Lucy is not yet brave enough to follow passion.

George's comments do not seem to move Lucy, but she cannot help but agree with parts of what he says. He is right about Cecil; Vyse should know no one intimately. Though educated, he is in many ways a fool. His name, "Vyse," is another one of Forster's loaded names. "Vyse" is a corrupted form of "wise": Cecil's knowledge is a poor copy of true wisdom. He is attached to controlling and teaching Lucy; he is convinced that people have nothing to teach him. For these reasons, he cannot grow. He is sterile, as sexless and incapable of new growth and movement as a Gothic statue.

George speaks passionately about women. The way Lucy's two men treat women develops the important theme of woman's position and relations between the sexes. George wants Lucy to be independent, to have her own thoughts, to play teacher as well as student. Cecil wants to possess Lucy. He is in love with an idea of woman, and he will constantly be trying to reshape Lucy into that idea after they get married.

He is too uptight to do the small favor of providing a fourth for doubles. His participation would make a game possible, but he is too selfish and self-absorbed to bother with the fun of others. This final refusal is the last straw, and Lucy at last sees that Cecil is an unbearable man.

Chapter Seventeen Lying to Cecil:

Summary:

Cecil is horribly hurt, and he wants explanations. Lucy eludes him as long as she can, but finally she tells him many of the things that George has helped her to realize. Cecil is selfish, condescending, and cruel to other human beings. He is barbaric to women, and will not respect Lucy enough to let her decide how to think and act. None of the art or books he has studied has helped him to be better to other people. Cecil is floored; he concedes that she is right. He is more in love with her than ever. When he says that she speaks with a new voice, he means that she seems more herself than he has ever seen; she mistakes his meaning and thinks he is accusing her of being in love with someone else. She becomes very defensive, but he assures her that he intended no such meaning.

They part, Cecil full of new respect for Lucy. Lucy resolves never to marry. She will become a lone woman; she must forget that George ever loved her. She has lied to both Cecil and George, and she must now stick with the lie. She will stay with her choice. The narrator condemns her choice, calling it a sin against passion and truth. Forster writes, "The night received her, as it had received Miss Bartlett thirty years before" (170).

Analysis

Even though she has accepted that she can never be with Cecil, Lucy still lacks the courage to go to George. She has learned so much from him; although she repeats much of what he said about Cecil, it is because he has articulated what she knew already but was afraid to admit. His power comes in part from his unconventional upbringing. He simply does not have the same fears as Lucy, and he is therefore free to confront his own feelings.

Lucy has made the right choice by ridding herself of Cecil, but Forster disapproves of the decision to become a spinster. Lucy is sinning "against Eros and against Pallas Athene" (170), the gods of love and truth. He promises that such sins always lead to great suffering. The gods need not intervene; the suffering comes by the dictates of nature.

There are now parallels between Lucy and Charlotte. Charlotte becomes an ominous warning; she is a potential future version of Lucy. In A Room with a View, a life of companionship and passion is depicted as infinitely superior to a life of solitude and self-denial. Virtue becomes an impossible pursuit for the spinster, because a person cannot grow in isolation. Charlotte represents a woman who never realized her potential, who gave up marriage but embraced all the stifling rules of propriety. The result is passive aggressiveness, loneliness, and undirected resentment.

Chapter Eighteen Lying to Mr. Beebe, Mrs. Honeychurch, Freddy, and the Servants:

Summary:

Mr. Beebe rides his bicycle to Windy Corner, bringing amusing news. Since the Miss Alans lost Cissie Villa, they have decided to go to Greece instead. He sees Freddy and Cecil first; he does not know that the engagement has been broken off. He speaks to them glowingly of the Miss Alans and their proposed trip. Cecil is unresponsive, and he gets on the victoria to go. With Cecil in the carriage, Freddy discreetly tells Mr. Beebe that Lucy broke off the engagement. Then the boy rushes off to escort Cecil on his way. Mr. Beebe is delighted by the news.

It is a windy day, and Mrs. Honeychurch is busy trying to save the plants in the garden. Mr. Beebe goes in to find Lucy tinkering on the piano. After some polite conversation, Mr. Beebe tells her that he knows she broke off the engagement. Lucy thinks that Mrs. Honeychurch, Charlotte, and Freddy don't really approve of the decision. He changes the subject, and tells her about the Miss Alans going to Greece. Lucy's interest is piqued. The idea seizes her that she should accompany the Miss Alans. She speaks of a longing to see Constantinople, so near to Greece, and maybe even beyond; she becomes more attached to the idea with each passing second.

A moment later, Mr. Beebe has a word alone with Miss Bartlett. Miss Bartlett seems surprised that Freddy told Mr. Beebe what happened. She advises Mr. Beebe to keep quiet about the incident. He and Miss Bartlett take Minnie out for food. He wonders why Lucy needs so desperately to go to Greece. Charlotte agrees that Lucy should go; she says elusively that Lucy has good reason. She will try to persuade Mrs. Honeychurch to let her go, but she asks that Mr. Beebe help. Intrigued and perhaps worried by Miss Bartlett's obtuseness, he agrees to help.

Forster lets us in on Mr. Beebe's thoughts: he is delighted by the idea of Lucy remaining celibate. Celibate himself, he imagines the same sort of life for Lucy. He returns to Windy Corner and meets Mrs. Honeychurch and Freddy outside. He asks them how they feel about the end of the engagement, and they both admit that they are relieved. He goes inside with Mrs. Honeychurch, while Freddy goes to join Lucy, who is playing the piano. He persuades Mrs. Honeychurch that Greece is necessary. They go in to give the good news to Lucy, who is singing to Freddy. She receives the news happily, but not overwhelmingly so. She continues to sing, and Mr. Beebe goes along his way. As he leaves, he hears the end of the song. The song is about living quietly and forsaking passion, but Lucy finishes with a tone that seems to condemn the lyrics.

Analysis:

Once again, nature reflects the characters' states of mind. Lucy is confused and upset, and the wind outside is as dramatic and violent as her emotions are. These parallels between emotion and weather continue with the theme of connection between man and nature.

Lucy's new urge to travel is different from the positive power of travel seen earlier in the novel. This travel would not be the transforming experience of Florence; a trip to Greece would be a way for Lucy to run away. Lucy, resolved to remain unmarried, would travel to the corners of Europe with two confirmed spinsters. She would travel all the way to Greece because she is afraid of remaining at Windy Corner with George living so close.

Mr. Beebe is another male character with plans for Lucy. He is far wiser and kinder than Cecil, but he cannot help imagining (mistakenly) that Lucy would be happiest making the same choices that he himself has made. But as Forster's world shows, celibacy is not the best choice, at least not for Lucy. Companionship is better by far, and Mr. Beebe's vision of Lucy's future is sterile compared to life with George. In keeping with the themes about women and their independence, Lucy should choose for herself. Her treatment of the song hints at her state of mind. Although Lucy tries to do justice to the song on its own terms, her voice seems to mock the solitude and asceticism praised in the lyrics. That kind of life is simply not suitable for her needs.

Chapter Nineteen Lying to Mr. Emerson:

Summary:

Lucy and Mrs. Honeychurch meet with the Miss Alans at their hotel near Bloomsbury. They discuss making the final preparations for their trip to Greece. Lucy has still told no one of the end of the engagement; this leads to the Honeychurches being forced to tell a few uncomfortable lies. After they leave the Miss Alans, Mrs. Honeychurch gets after Lucy about keeping the end of the engagement a secret. She cannot understand the reasoning behind it. Lucy cannot bring herself to tell the truth: she is afraid that if George hears about the end of the engagement, he will confront her again. Mrs. Honeychurch is hurt. She thinks Lucy is leaving again simply because she is tired of Windy Corner. Lucy reminds Mrs. Honeychurch that next year the girl will come into her money. The reminder brings tears to Mrs. Honeychurch's eyes. Lucy speaks of moving to London and taking a flat with some other girls. Mrs. Honeychurch is upset by the idea. They continue to argue, and Mrs. Honeychurch says that Lucy is reminding her of Charlotte. Lucy is horrified by the idea, but sure enough, Lucy is beginning to sound like Charlotte. There is the same fussiness, the same worry in her words.

They take the train home. On the carriage ride back from the station, Lucy sees that Cissie has been abandoned. George and Mr. Emerson have left. Lucy and Mrs. Honeychurch stop to pick up Charlotte, who wants to go to church. While Mrs. Honeychurch and Charlotte go to services, Lucy decides to wait in Mr. Beebe's study. She goes in, and there sits Mr. Emerson, dozing quietly. They have moved out of Cissie, but Mr. Emerson has not yet left Surrey.

Mr. Emerson has heard about the confrontation with George; he now knows of all that has happened between George and Lucy. Lucy tries to be standoffish at first, refusing to talk about George. Mr. Emerson speaks about love, and the body, and George's honesty. The man's honesty and forwardness disarm Lucy. He tells her that George has "gone under," just as his mother did. Finally, we hear the story of how Mr. Emerson "murdered" his wife. Because of his stand against organized religion, Mr. Emerson and his wife did not have George baptized. When George was twelve, he contracted typhoid. Mrs. Emerson feared it was divine retribution. While Mr. Emerson was away, Mr. Eager came and spoke with Mrs. Emerson. The clergyman fueled the fears Mrs. Emerson was having. George was never baptized; Mr. Emerson stood firm. But even after George recovered, Mrs. Emerson was never the same. She died soon afterward. This story is the basis for Mr. Eager's outrageous slander that Mr. Emerson murdered his wife "in the sight of God."

George, Mr. Emerson says, will go on living. But he will not think life is worth the trouble. He is his mother's son. After Lucy left them in Florence, George became deeply depressed. It has happened again. Lucy is increasingly troubled, and Mr. Emerson tries to justify his son's actions while apologizing at the same time. She tries to convince him to stay at Cissie villa. She explains that she will be going to Greece; there is no need for them to move on her account. Greece leads to questions about Cecil: Mr. Emerson assumes that Cecil will accompany her. At first she tries to lie about it. Mr. Beebe enters suddenly, and talks with the two of them briefly. He mentions that Lucy is going to Greece with the Miss Alans, and then leaves. Now Lucy is caught in her lie, and she admits to Mr. Emerson that she is going without Cecil. She tries to explain herself, but Mr. Emerson quickly grasps the truth. He tells her that she is in a muddle, and speaks of the importance of getting through it. And then he tells her that she loves George. Lucy denies it at first, but Mr. Emerson continues to speak of George and love. George will be a comrade for her; he will be faithful and devoted. Mr. Emerson speaks of love and the beauty of passion, desire, and the body; Lucy is crying, terribly confused and frightened. She speaks of the ticket already bought, and the trust her family has in her, and the impossibility of backing out of Greece and all of her deceptions now. Mr. Emerson replies that Lucy no longer deserves their trust. She has deceived all of them. Mr. Beebe enters, hearing the last bit about trust. Mr. Beebe asks what they're talking about, and Mr. Emerson tells him that Lucy and George are in love. Mr. Beebe is disgusted. Lucy tries to talk with Mr. Beebe, pleading for advice, but the clergyman has become very angry. He tells her to marry George if she likes. Lucy now has a great battle before her: if she follows passion, she must tell her family about her hypocrisy. Mr. Emerson strengthens her with a final speech about the difficulties she will face. She will need to be strong. He finishes by telling her that she is fighting not only for Love and Pleasure, but also for Truth.

On the carriage ride home, Lucy tells them the truth. She no longer is afraid of convention. She sees the beauty of passion and desire. Mr. Emerson's words have strengthened her.

Analysis:

The chapter title, "Lying to Mr. Emerson," puts the reader in suspense. It continues the theme of the last three chapter titles, all of which are about Lucy's lies to the people around her. She deceives everyone, herself most of all, by refusing to admit that she loves George. But because the reader is hoping that Lucy will finally tell the truth here (the penultimate chapter), the title intensifies the suspense.

Mrs. Honeychurch sees the danger of Lucy turning into Charlotte. And in this chapter, we do see signs of Lucy behaving a little like her cousin. Charlotte's fussiness and passive aggressiveness, as Forster depicts them, are the results of repressing passion and living in solitude. Living alone is seen as inferior to companionship; even kindly, wise Mr. Beebe has limitations. He cannot understand passion, and when he learns the truth about Lucy's feelings, he reacts with disgust.

The conversation with Mr. Emerson ties together many of the novel's important themes. It is the climax of the novel; Lucy finally wins the battle against her own self-deception. Mr. Emerson gives Lucy the courage to work through her muddle. Part of his power is his ability to ignore convention. He exists completely outside the world of propriety and cultivated manners. Although Forster tells us that Mr. Emerson is a deeply religious man, he is against organized religion and his refusal to have George baptized made him the target of Mr. Eager's slander. Because he has no respect or sense of these conventions, he can help Lucy to overcome them. The theme of the body and passion is here: Emerson earnestly defends the beauty of the body and desire. He also recognizes Lucy's muddle, and helps her to overcome it. The importance of being honest with oneself, an important theme of the novel, is one of Emerson's last arguments. Lucy must remain loyal to truth, or she will be unworthy of her loved ones. Propriety and repression, enemies of truth and passion, are overcome. To return to an earlier theme, Mr. Emerson helps Lucy to see, once and for all, that the delicate is not always the beautiful. To get her happiness, Lucy will have to fly in the face of delicacy.

Chapter Twenty The End of the Middle Ages:

Summary:

Forster tells us that the Miss Alans did go to Greece, and beyond. They ended up going around the whole world. But they went without Lucy. We are again in the Pension Bertolini, with Lucy and George. They are in Lucy's old room; George insists it was his, but Lucy remembers that she took old Mr. Emerson's room. She corrects him. His errors only endear her more to him. They play with each other as newlyweds do.

Lucy has a letter from Freddy; the people of Windy Corner, with the exception of Freddy, continue to be angry with her about her past hypocrisy. They do not approve of the match with George. Mr. Beebe and Mrs. Honeychurch are both quite angry. Lucy and George courted throughout the autumn and the winter. It is now spring, and, lacking Mrs. Honeychurch's consent, they have now eloped and gone off to Italy.

Lucy thinks about how many unlikely events have led to their happiness. If Charlotte had seen Mr. Emerson in the rectory that day, she would not have allowed Lucy to go in. Mr. Emerson and Lucy would never have talked, and Lucy would have gone off to Greece. But George insists that Charlotte did know. His father told him that when he was dozing by the fire, he woke and saw Miss Bartlett walking away. Lucy does not know what to make of it. George suggests that Charlotte wanted Lucy to meet with Mr. Emerson; somehow, deep down, she wanted George and Lucy to end up together. George has read the book by Miss Lavish, and details of it are taken straight from George and Lucy's time in Florence. Something about the affair touched her, and though she fought against it, in the end, at the last moment, she helped them. Lucy initially says it is impossible, but then, after reflection, believes that it might be true.

Analysis:

We return to Italy. The chapter is entitled "The End of the Middle Ages." We leave behind the Gothic, the sterile, the sexless, the severe. Historically, the end of the Middle Ages came with the beginning of the Renaissance, time of new knowledge, growth, and beauty. Italy was the heart of the Renaissance. Forster uses the well-known paradigm of European history as a model for his heroine's growth. From the muddle (note also the similarity between the words "Muddle" and "Middle") of England, she has arrived at new clarity. She is now with George, and before them they have many years of growth, love, and learning.

A Room with a View is social commentary, but even at his most critical Forster treasures human beings. It is characteristic of his vision that Charlotte, sternest opponent of the love between George and Lucy, in the end turns out to be the instrument of their reconciliation. She fought them on the surface but hoped for them deep down. The beauty of people can be seen in all of the important characters of the novel; Forster allows even Charlotte to have her moment of grace.

• Biography of E.M. Forster
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• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 17-20
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