A lesser parallel
Posted by Hil on November 05, 1997 at 22:00:50:
In response to Time of the Wolff**Read Carefully in case of Spoilers If you haven't finished all of this week's reading **, written by Cassia on November 05, 1997 at 19:21:26
] When we see the last of Fergus Wolff at the end of Chapter 17, we know him to be playing a role parallel to that of Blanche Glover in the A-C relationship. His relationship with Maud hasn't been resolved to his satifaction, he attempts to destroy things between R and M, he is so very, very, jealous. Depite his name, I've always pictured Fergus as a large bear of a man in an aran sweater. He stalks the halls of the Ash Factory, making it his own even though he's working on a French author! Fergus can be accused of doing the same thing to both Maud and Roland, he takes so much space he doesn't leave any room for them to do their work. His loudness works in the same way as Blanche's silence: it builds a wall that suffocates the rest of the world.
] Like Blanche he attempts to derail the relationship between our lovers. Unlike Blanche's case, Fergus' interference, by forcing them to run, pushed Roland and Maud together. Foolish Fergus.
] No matter how many times I read the novel, I am always left with the same question, does Fergus value nothing beyond himself? Does this mean that Blanche's reasoning is as selfish?
I have always seen him as very lupine - calculating, hungry for action, on the prowl, predatory. I think he is jealous of M and R, but I don't really think this is out of any affection for Maud. I doubt that he ever had anything but self interest in that relationship anyway. And I doubt that he would even try kidding himself that he cared for her. He just wants to possess her life and meddle in it because he likes being in anything that is going on that might have some benefit to him.
Blanche on the other hand,I don't think is quite as self-centred as Fergus. I think she really does care for Christabel, (I don't think C feels her space and creativity are harmed by B, in fact the opposite early on, until B betrays her by pinching the letters), and her actions in trying to derail C & A's relationship stem from her distress at facing the knowledge that C has now turned away from her, and has found a much deeper love.
However, if we take your arguement that implies a closer parallel, do you not have to accept that if Fergus is Maud's ex-lover, then Blanche must have been Christabel's sexual partner for a while?
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