In trying to sketch various characters, I was much taken with Soames' novel reading, the idea that "literature coloured his view of life," and his absorption of the message conveyed by the theatre of his era. Do you think he may have a bit of a Marianne Dashwood nature about him? In trying to figure out his marital relationship, he seems to have unreasonable expectations that everything will work out in the end, but is unsure or unwilling to deal with the here and now.