Posted by Xenia on July 24, 1997 at 16:26:10:
In reply to Re: Harriet and Anne, have they something in common? posted by Kathy F. on July 23, 1997 at 23:45:35
] I think that AE's only sense of duty was to Lady Russell. I'm not quite sure about that, though. Perhaps LR pushed the duty thing on her--AE had a duty to marry well, to bring credit to her family. I don't think AE felt any other duty towards her unfeeling family.
] Kathy F.
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And perhaps to her dead mother. Lady Russell mentions how she would love to see Anne take her mother's place at Kellynch and I can see that having a powerful effect on Anne - she would have lost all status there married to an almost penniless sailor and that might have swayed her at a young age. I know I feel a huge sense of responsibility to my mother even though she's been dead more than half my life and my ideas about the right way to fulfill it have changed as I've got older. At 20 my equivalent of Lady Russell could have talked me into anything with the words, "your mother would have wanted it." I'm glad to say she didn't.