WOMEN AND FRIENDSHIP.

FORSTERS NOVELS

DOPPELGANGER

IN

E.

M.

In Howard End Mrs. Wilcox is briefly introduced quite soon in the novel; and although she dies very soon she has inconspicuous significant power over the threads of the novel. She is presented as deeply graceful and magical, a ind of spirit in !owards "nd. !er son calls her #the mater$ as if she does not exist outside that role. Margaret meets her some time later when %uth Wilcox is lonely and ill in &ondon while her family are touring in the 'ontinent. (heir strange relationship is pivotal in the novel. Within a fortnight and after some misunderstandings they become closer than anyone can get, although there is a mar ed contrast of characters. Mrs. Wilcox seems to be a country, restrained woman, totally absorbed by her family and home and utterly uninterested in the exterior world, while Margaret is her counterpart, an active intellectual &ondoner. %uth recogni)es that Margaret puts #the difficulties of life splendidly$ and that what Margaret says is *ust what she should have li ed to say about them herself. +,-.. "ven though Margaret/s luncheon party in honour of %uth is a dismal failure for Margaret/s friends and for Mrs. Wilcox who feels out of focus Margaret seems to feel that %uth is exerting some ind of influence and power over her. 0n the other hand, Margaret/s company and her vivacity and eloquence eep the lonely and displaced older woman from brooding. 1ll these, together with Margaret/s help with the 'hristmas shopping are the foundations of an ever2lasting relationship. 3evertheless, their relationship exists on two levels, the symbolic and the realistic. Symbolically %uth represents a goal, a model of proportion and connection that Margaret attains in the course of the novel, but realistically, %uth is *ust as impressed with Margaret/s many virtues. When the first Mrs. Wilcox dies Margaret ta es her place and later becomes the second Mrs. Wilcox. %uth/s presence is felt all over the novel and both become one character. (his experience materiali)es the concept of the d4ppelganger 2 or doubleganger 2 a literary device used to represent the double or twin, the mirror image of a character/s personality, a self which expresses all the normally inexpressible desires under another identity. 1fter %uth/s death Margaret/s actions fulfil the former5s shortcomings, limitations and failures. 3ow it is Margaret/s tas to amend them, because it is Margaret the character

that perfects %uth, the character that possesses the practical and intellectual portion that Mrs. Wilcox lac s, the character that can connect the intellectual with the spirit. Mrs. Wilcox hunts for a #spiritual heir$ for !owards "nd, which is, after all, her spiritual home, and in some mysterious manner, she becomes aware that Margaret potentially ran s to preside over the house. %uth/s prophetic words # I should li e to give you something worth your acquaintance in memory of your indness to me6$ +78. and Margaret/s reply that she cannot be paid bac with anything tangible come true after %uth/s death. %uth/s substantial presence is never felt again but her inconspicuous substantial soul permeates through Margaret/s. When !enry proposes to Margaret she accepts to marry him on the grounds that #love must confirm an old relation rather than reveal a new one$ and she promises to marry him #in this spirit$. +9:7. What does the world relation imply here; %elative; %elationship; 'an one already consider Margaret a family member; <o they evo e %uth/s marital relationship with !enry; 0ne may certainly conclude that they do recall %uth and that Margaret/s struggle is now not only individual but also dual=double=twin. Margaret merges with %uth Wilcox and they become one entity. When Margaret enters !owards "nd alone for the second time, one cannot clearly distinguish which Mrs Wilcox she is. Miss 1very is a mysterious weird figure who should have been the owner of !owards "nd, hadn/t (om !oward, her future husband, been illed in the war. Miss 1very mista enly calls Margaret #Mrs. Wilcox$, thus ma ing her the spiritual owner of the house. Miss 1very has already placed the Schlegel/s furniture in the house where they seem to fit perfectly *ust as Margaret and !elen/s son do fit in there. (his old lady considers that the house has been empty for too long > fifty years > and asserts that she will see Margaret/s #lights shining through the hedge of an evening$. Miss 1very/s prophetic words still reverberate in Margaret/s ears when she gets to &ondon. Miss 1very/s actions seem to be founded on some ind of second vision and to set the ultimate direction in which the current of %uth/s spirit will carry the rest of the characters. 1t the end of the novel !elen/s son playing in the hayfield symbolically represents the union of conventional and unconventional thoughts and ideals, of men and women finding their place and connections in life, of belonging to the same spirit. (hus !owards "nd quietly, subtly, actively sets to wor to deliver itself into the hands of its rightful possessor.

%uth/s spirit is present in !owards "nd the night Margaret spends with her sister there. 1lthough Margaret is battered she seems to gather strength from %uth/s presence that is guarding them there. Margaret tells !elen? #6.. you and I and !enry are only fragments of that woman/s mind. She nows everything. She is everything. She is the house, and the tree that leans over it6. I cannot believe that nowledge such as hers will perish with nowledge such as mine$. @ust then Miss 1very, who has been wor ing in the house, calls out #Aood night Mrs. Wilcox$ and one wonders which Mrs Wilcox she has greeted. Borster seems to reinforce the idea that %uth/s spiritual strength transcends the inflexible substance of life, and that, metaphorically, her glowing everlasting qualities prevail and gain complete power over the place and the people she loves so much. 1s the novel ends the return of the imagery of hay reminds the reader that this novel has been constructed over the opposition of outer and inner live, of the developed and the undeveloped heart, but steadily and inexorably, inner life triumphs over the outer and both Margaret/s and %uth/s thoughts and ideals > their souls 2 become only one. When the reader examines closer Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Wilcox one finds some analogies. Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Wilcox are related to the theme of connection with the universe and although they are both loved and worshipped by their families they are unable to communicate with them. (hey both die off2stage and become #spiritual heirs$. 0nly connect is also a motto of a Passage to India. ". M. Borster endows Mrs. Moore with creative reality. (his round character, this aged woman is the most clear2sighted, perceptive, refined and mentally straightforward character in her circle. She ma es possible partial reconciliation between India and 1nglo India. (his reconciliation comes about through the figure of Mrs. Moore. Mrs. Moore/s lac of pretension and open mind put her immediately into fran and free relations with most of the Indian characters, especially with 1)i), who respects and becomes fond of this woman at once. She ma es the acquaintance of 1)i), in a mosque. She has sympathetically ta en out her shoes, which delights him? she tal s to him as to an equal, which pleases him more? she understands what he is tal ing about which gratifies him most of all.

(his old lady/s sensitive reactions to life, philosophic and respectful religious speculations allow her to become a local goddess, through 1)i)/s feelings and 1dela/s reaction. (he mention of Mrs. Moore/s name at the trial clears the confusion from 1dela/s mind and in this way 1)i) is saved from further misfortune. India has strange effects on her and she becomes, after she leaves India to die on the voyage home, nearly a regional deity. "ven when her values are destroyed and she dies, her spirit is not extinguished and she dominates the subsequent action. 1s #"smiss "smoor$ she develops to the crowd around the courthouse into a !indu demigoddess who has to save 1)i). She is not presented to us as a specially remar able lady, but she has her moments of perception, she expresses Borster/s own awareness of the nature of things, and when at the trial 1dela suddenly perceives reality and nows that whatever did happen in the 'aves > and what the reader never nows > certainly 1)i) did not assault her. It is, as if it were through Mrs Moore/s eyes that she sees what really happened. More than once after the episode at the caves one reads that Mrs. Moore new something unapproachable to Bielding and 1dela. (he perplexing girl also considers that only the old lady can, somehow, ta e the sound of the echo bac to its origins and close the wrec ed reservoir from where evil has been loosened. Mrs. Moore can, in some way, return the ruined unity and bring peace to those who are in touch with her as "smiss "smoor, a ind of !indu goddess. &i e Mrs. Wilcox, Mrs Moore is a redemptive character since she does incredible things for others, even though she can neither cope with what the caves spea to her nor can she save herself. Mrs Moore is also perceived, *ust as Mrs. Wilcox as a Magna Mater figure. She transcends her death and ultimately rescues 1dela and 1)i) from further disgrace. She perpetually remains in 1)i)/s thoughts that despise all the other "nglish people. (he mention of her name to 1)i) persuades him to be generous with 1dela and give over an action for damages. In spite of the gloomy disappointment in which she dies, she is right when she says to %onny that there are many types of failure, some of which are successful. Coth discern on particular problematical circumstances an absolute certainty about the accuracy of an incident. Mrs. Wilcox new of !elen Schlegel/s secret love for Daul and Mrs. Moore perceived of <r. 1)i)/s innocence, although very few words are spo en by either of them. (hey are both peculiarly mysterious; their personalities passing on an ama)ing force far2flung further any real evidence

for it. Coth belong to the side of the clash the reader is least li ely to sympathi)e. It is significant that when Bielding reappears, in the last part of the novel, it is as the husband of Mrs. Moore/s daughter. Mrs. Moore herself reappears in the flesh and spirit of her son %alph and her daughter Stella. It is the spirit of love, and of intuitive perception, which triumphs despite apparent personal defeat. Mrs. Moore/s has been a failure of appreciation and comprehension, but not of affection. !er memory and her son/s presence in India change 1)i)/s attitude from resentment to respect. Mrs Moore, li e the wasp, broods over the novel as a symbol of acceptance, of unconscious life that goes on, heedless of the disputes of the passing moment and of the return of good. Mrs. Moore will be there when "ngland and India ali e are forgotten. Mrs. Moore/s mystical apprehension of India pervades in the last words of the novel. #3o, not yet$. (he reader feels with her that #outside the arch there seemed always an arch, beyond the remotest echo a silence$ and that she is at last #6at one with the universeE$ Mrs. Moore/s li e Mrs. Wilcox/s intuitive love and understanding pervade after the main causal features to that love have died away. Mrs. Moore has a developed heart and is ind to those whom she meets, thus her death becomes significantly powerful and redemptive for them. She manages to reconcile 1)i) with her lot through her immorality and in spite of her personal defeat her spirit lives on in the lives and spirits of the others.