Blog 4—The Way Women Live Now: Lady Carbury and Mrs. Transome

In this blog post, I want to focus in on page 110 of The Way We Live Now (Oxford World Classics edition). If you’re working with a different edition it is in the chapter “Sir Felix in His Mother’s House.” What I found interesting on this page was the ways in which Lady Carbury is an echo of another mother we’ve met this semester, Mrs. Transome. While the two are extremely different in much of their actions, opinions, et cetera there are some interesting commonalities between the two women. On page 110, the narrator tells us that Lady Carbury’s “happiness, like that of most of us, was ever in the future,—never reached but always coming.” Nearly ten years earlier, Mrs. Transome realizes that “her son’s return had not been a good for her in the sense of making her any happier” (22, Penguin edition). Both women married for station and are unhappy in their unions, but manage to get by with hopes of “someday.” For both women, their future happiness is somewhat tied to their sons. Mrs. Transome, before her son’s arrival looked to it as a solution to her misery. Lady Carbury’s “great fears and her great hopes were centered on her son” (110). Yet neither of their sons, both of whom the women have arguably sacrificed a great deal for, view their mothers as much beyond a sometimes-hindrance. Granted, Harold Transome does take care of his mother, he easily dismisses her thoughts/opinions in regards to the estate, his politics, et cetera.   

Additionally, both women were once beauties. Lady Carbury’s appearance is mentioned a variety of times. On page 110 it is relayed that “she would not care how grey might be her hair…if her Felix were to marry this heiress.” Her not caring is dependent upon this one future possibility, implying that she does care how grey her hair is, which is supported by her continued attention to her appearance. Mrs. Transome cares explicitly “how grey might be her hair.” Whenever Mrs. Transome is confronted by a mirror, comments such as “she saw the dried up complexion, and the deep lines of bitter discontent about the mouth” nearly always follow (22).

The final similarity I’d like to bring up now is the fact that both women are portrayed as being more or less deviant. Lady Carbury throughout the novel is seen lying to and manipulating people to various degrees. Roger Carbury describes her as “ essentially worldly, believing that good could come out of evil, that falsehood might in certain conditions be better than truth, that shams and pretenses might do the work of true service, that a strong house might be built upon the sand!” (132). Mrs. Transome’s “life had been that of a clever sinner, and she was equipped with the views, the reasons, and the habits which belonged to that character” (17).  

What I find interesting in these similarities is the fact that they are present in such extremes of characters. Mrs. Transome is a reserved, stoic even woman who is very aware of her class status and does not in the course of the novel’s action deviate from it. Lady Carbury contrarily is social, manipulative, and money rather than class seems to be the driving factor for her. Felix is to marry an heiress, not a peer’s daughter. Hetta should marry her cousin and be settled with his money and estate rather than attempt to rise up the social ladder. Yet, beneath the seeming endless differences between these two women, their cores seem to be very much the same. I think it might be interesting to discuss these underlying similarities in relation to what was going on historically as well as the possibility of influence between the authors.