A Story of a Wedding Tour – Margaret Oliphant
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Notas de aula
The story at a glance
- "A Story of a Wedding-Tour" by Scottish novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897), from the 1890s.
- Janey, a lonely orphan, marries the wealthy Mr Rosendale because he is "in love" with her — the first person who ever has been.
- Within a week she discovers he loves only her beauty and cares nothing for her. When he is left behind by the train in France, she seizes the chance and runs away.
- Ten years later he sees her from a train, comes back to find her — and dies. Their son John becomes his heir; Janey feels like his murderer.
- Key ideas: marriage and women's powerlessness, love vs possession, freedom and identity, chance and fate, guilt.
Janey's background
- An orphan with a tiny property, Janey is brought up by her guardian Mr Midhurst and his wife — honourable and dutiful, but with no love to spare for her.
- She spends her life at schools in England, France and Germany, educated for her "commercial value" as a future governess.
- Oliphant's irony: the Midhursts' careful duty ("Was not this real goodness…?") is set against their complete lack of warmth.
- Just as Mrs Midhurst is writing the governess advertisement, Mr Rosendale — thick-set, not handsome, rich — asks to marry her.
- The two words "in love" go to Janey's head: "Nobody had ever loved her." She marries him "quite willingly for the sake of this".
The wedding tour
- After a week, Janey is "frightened, horrified, and even revolted": he is in love with her beauty but "as indifferent to herself" as everyone before.
- He calls her "a little beauty", reads his paper, sleeps, plays billiards, and overwhelms her with caresses she shrinks from; she is "petted like a little lapdog" and then left alone.
- On a night train through France she watches him snoring with his mouth open — "the worst that a middle-aged man can look".
- At Montbard he gets out; the train leaves without him. She sees his face "convulsed with rage" — and feels first terror, then a flood of relief: "Safe!"
- Her fluent French, learned at school, now lets her act alone.
The escape
- Alone in a hotel room, she counts her money: a hundred pounds her guardian gave her — enough to live on for two years. She never gave it to her husband.
- In the mirror she sees a new face: "Janey herself, the real woman, whom nobody had ever seen before."
- She takes a slow local train, drawn to a young mother and baby; she gets off with them at St Honorat, a village by the sea.
- She tells her first fib: "My husband is—at sea".
- The image: "The cage door had been opened and the bird had flown away." Yet at night she fears his fury: she must "stand by it to the death".
Ten years later
- Janey — "Madame Jeanne" — has a son, John, and earns a modest, useful living teaching English and music, playing the church organ and sewing.
- Rosendale, now a red-faced, gouty, bad-tempered man, passes St Honorat in the rapide and sees her on the platform; he shouts "Stop the train!"
- Terrified he will take her son, Janey hides John with the priest, resolving to say, "I may be your wife, but I am not your slave."
- Drawn back to the station, she helps a servant lift out a stricken passenger — and recognises her husband.
- He never regains consciousness and dies the next day. John becomes his heir; Janey, "struck with a great horror", feels herself "the murderer of her husband".
Methods and themes
- Third-person narrator with a warm, ironic voice that comments directly ("I am afraid that Janey…").
- Structure: three chapters — marriage and escape; the new life; ten years later — with a circular pattern: "the train brought back to Janey the man whom the train had separated from her".
- Symbols: the train (fate, separation), the caged bird, the mirror (a new identity), the money (independence).
- Themes: marriage as possession; women's lack of rights (the priest insists her husband has "his rights"); freedom; guilt and moral complexity.
- Section B pairings: "Lappin and Lapinova" (a marriage failing), "The Copper Beeches" (women and money), "The Shrinking Shoe" (love and choice).
Slides
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Questões de prática
Prévia grátis — 8 de 38 perguntas. Cadastre-se para ver todas.
1.Who wrote 'A Story of a Wedding Tour'?
Easy- AMargaret Oliphant
- BVirginia Woolf
- CGeorge Eliot
- DElizabeth Gaskell
2.Why does Janey agree to marry Mr Rosendale?
Easy- ABecause he is handsome
- BBecause her guardian forces her
- CBecause she loves him deeply
- DBecause he is 'in love' with her, and nobody had ever loved her
3.What career had Janey been prepared for?
Easy- ANurse
- BShopkeeper
- CGoverness
- DSinger
4.How are the Midhursts presented?
Medium- APoor and struggling
- BHonourable and dutiful, but without love for Janey
- CCruel and dishonest
- DWarm and affectionate
5.What does Janey discover within a week of marriage?
Medium- AHer husband loves her beauty but is indifferent to her
- BHer husband is poor
- CHer husband is kind and thoughtful
- DShe is ill
6.How does Janey feel she is treated?
Medium- ALike a queen
- BLike a servant only
- CLike a partner
- DLike a little lapdog — petted, then left
7.Where is Rosendale left behind by the train?
Medium- AMarseilles
- BSt Honorat
- CMontbard
- DParis
8.What word does Janey say to herself when she realises she is alone?
Medium- AFree?
- BSafe!
- CHelp!
- DLost!
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