I'm thinking about the rest of your post, but I wanted to comment on this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I'm not seeing Helen as saintly (I haven't actually finished part 2 yet). She took on Arthur when she was warned away. (It is interesting to see that "I can change him" was still an expectation in young women all the way back then - and just as effective then as now, we see.)
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I thought it striking that even given her own history, that Helen thought it would be efficacious to warn Lowborough about Annabella. The reality was that warnings worked in no case; Gilbert didn't listen to his mother about Eliza either, until he went off her on her own accord.
With many of the potential matings, it seemed a case of a rock and a hard place. While Helen would have benefited from heeding her aunt's warnings, the suitors her aunt was pushing on her were also poor choices. (And I wondered by the aunt was seen as a font of wisdom and affection by the end of the book.) The aforementioned Annabella seemed relatively clearheaded, as she wanted the standing of Lowborough combined with the appeal of Arthur. I did wonder why she got so muddled about her own best interest later. Gilbert, of course, employs his typical sneers about the matings that eventuated; only the Wilson/Millward match meets his approval, and presumably his sister's. As an aside, I thought Brontė's expositions about how they all ended up were awkwardly inserted; at one point, I back up my audio because I thought I'd missed something as he shoved the timeline ahead several years.