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E. M. ForsterA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
After the kiss, Lucy decides that she must resolve the situation with George. Speaking to Charlotte, she accuses her cousin of telling Miss Lavish about the kiss. Charlotte confesses. Lucy is livid, recalling what happened with Cecil, the book, and George. Lucy hopes that—as the only person who understands what has happened—Charlotte might speak to George. When Charlotte tries to avoid the issue, Lucy presses her. Charlotte ultimately declines, as she believes that this issue is something that "only a gentleman" (175) can settle. As such, Lucy decides to speak with George herself. She knows she must speak to him in private, but she needs to have Charlotte present as a witness.
When Lucy gets the chance to talk to George, she insists that he should not make any more romantic advances toward her. She tells him to leave the house and never return. George is shocked; he cannot believe that Lucy actually intends to marry Cecil. In a meticulous fashion, he lists Cecil's many faults. He points out Cecil's arrogant, dismissive attitude, his penchant for cruel tricks, and his overbearing, controlling attitude toward Lucy. He says that Cecil will "know no one intimately, least of all a woman" (177).
George tells Lucy that he loves her and that he cannot live without her. He wishes that she would give them a chance at happiness. However, Lucy insists that she loves Cecil. She intends to go ahead with the wedding. When George appeals to Charlotte to intercede, Charlotte remains silent. George is defeated. He leaves Windy Corner.
After George leaves, Lucy and Charlotte assure each other that they have done the right thing. They are pleased that the matter is settled and that they will not have to deal with George any longer. Lucy steps outside, still reeling from the emotional experience. When she tells Freddy that George has left, Freddy challenges Cecil to a final game of tennis. Cecil refuses. In that moment, Lucy sees Cecil as the "absolutely intolerable" (180) man that he truly is. She is shocked that she could ever have loved him. That evening, she resolves to end their relationship.
Cecil is "bewildered" (181). He cannot believe that Lucy wants to call off the wedding. As he pesters her for a reason, Lucy decides to be steadfast. She cites his attitude toward Freddy in declining to play tennis. That, she says, is the final example of a litany of arrogant, disagreeable behavior. Cecil is still surprised. He never believed that Lucy might be unhappy. Just as Cecil's behavior revealed his true self to Lucy, now her behavior reveals her true self to him. She has become a "living woman" (183).
Cecil takes the bad news with dignity. He tells Lucy that he truly loved her, but she cannot say the same for him. She uses George's own criticism of Cecil to end the relationship once and for all, claiming that Cecil is "the sort who can’t know any one intimately" (184). Cecil is shocked. Lucy continues her assault, calling Cecil sheltered and controlling. Cecil accepts her criticism. He thanks Lucy for helping him to see himself in a new light. He departs, pausing only for a handshake with Lucy. That night, she goes to bed, her head filled with thoughts about how she will never marry.
As Cecil leaves Windy Corner for the final time, Mr. Beebe arrives. He watches Freddy carry Cecil's bag. In a short, hushed conversation, Freddy tells Beebe about the breakup between Cecil and Lucy. Beebe approves. From his religious perspective, celibacy is the most holy form of existence. As he continues on to the house, he discovers the Honeychurch family sitting in the garden amid a tense atmosphere. Mrs. Honeychurch fusses about her flowers. Noticing her nervous agitation, Beebe suggests that he, Minnie, and Charlotte take tea in the garden.
On the way to the garden, Beebe asks for a quiet word with Lucy. He mentions the broken engagement; Lucy is annoyed at her brother for speaking so freely. In the meantime, Beebe shares a letter from the Miss Alans. They have planned a vacation to Greece. Lucy immediately latches on to the idea as a way to escape her current predicament. She feels that she has to go away and be free of Summer Street, at least for a short while.
When Beebe discusses the matter with Charlotte, she reiterates her desire that no one in the town gossip about the situation. She supports Lucy's plan to go to Greece and her conviction leads to Beebe also supporting Lucy's vacation. His support then convinces Mrs. Honeychurch. When he leaves, he hears Lucy singing a sad song while playing the piano.
Lucy and her mother go to London. There, they meet the Miss Alans and prepare the itinerary for Greece. The Miss Alans ask about Cecil, though Lucy chooses not to tell them what happened. She allows them to believe that she is still engaged. Later, Mrs. Honeychurch criticizes her daughter for not telling the whole truth. According to Lucy, she promised Cecil not to tell anyone until she was already out of England. Under her mother's questioning, however, she becomes quiet and withdrawn.
Sensing that her daughter is reluctant to share the entire truth, Mrs. Honeychurch wonders aloud whether it would be better for Lucy to spend some time away from Windy Corner. Lucy admits that she craves "more independence" (206). She has thought about spending time in London, though once she sees her mother's reaction, she tries to walk back her claims. In an emotional outburst, Mrs. Honeychurch says that Lucy now reminds her of Charlotte. Amid Lucy's shocked denial, her mother lists a number of her faults.
Lucy and her mother travel home. They pass Cissie house, which is once again empty. When they stop at the rectory, Mrs. Honeychurch goes to the church with Charlotte and Lucy elects to wait outside. There, she runs into Mr. Emerson. He immediately begins to apologize for his son's actions. He mentions that George has sunk back into his deep melancholy since the incident. He fears that George has lost any will to live. As such, Emerson now plans to move them to London.
Since Lucy is going to Greece, she says, there is no need for the Emersons to leave Summer Street. When she admits that Cecil will not be going with her, Emerson realizes the truth: Lucy loves George. Lucy breaks down in tears. Emerson encourages her to follow her feelings and marry his son. However, Lucy fears that doing so will anger her family. Emerson admonishes her, then becomes gentler, assuring her that the "Truth counts" (217). His impassioned reasoning convinces Lucy: She can no longer deny her feelings. She resolves to confess her love for George to her family.
Some time later, Lucy and George are married. They are on their honeymoon in Florence, staying again at the Pension Bertolini where they first met. Their room now has the view across the Arno that prompted their first encounter. Now, they have no compunction about kissing each other, and do so often. George stands by the window and reflects on the way fate has conspired to bring him to this point.
On the other side of the room, Lucy reads a letter from her brother. Freddy criticizes her and George for their "elopement" (220). Lucy does not believe that she and George ran away to get married; she feels that they were forced to take matters into their own hands when her mother refused to give her blessing to the marriage. The mood in the Honeychurch family is still tense; Mr. Beebe has also become critical of her decision and is no longer interested in either Lucy or George. Lucy hopes to repair her relationship with her family. If she lives truthfully, she believes, then eventually love will find a way to resolve any dispute. George takes Lucy to the window and kisses her again.
At the window, Lucy thinks about Charlotte. She worries that her cousin will grow old alone. Then, she thinks about the small details and decisions that have brought her closer to George. Each of these minor actions has affected their destiny. Remembering how she met Mr. Emerson at the rectory, she wonders whether Charlotte conspired to leave Lucy outside so that she might encounter Mr. Emerson.
George confesses that Charlotte came and roused his father, telling him to meet Lucy in that particular spot. George suggests that Charlotte orchestrated the meeting in a broad sense, part of a long scheme to bring Lucy and George together. Lucy believes that this may be possible. She leans into her husband's arms as cab drivers' calls echo in through the window. A driver sings and they become aware of "a love more mysterious than this" (222).
In the closing stages of A Room with a View, Lucy takes control of her life. She has spent her life being told what to do and how to act in accordance with a set of rules that no longer mean anything to her. After her second kiss with George, she sees the situation as untenable, but Charlotte refuses to act, and society seems to lack any means for women to confront men.
For the first time, Lucy decides to address her problem by directly confronting George. She breaches social etiquette by speaking honestly and emotionally to a man about romance and love. Ironically, Lucy's desire to resolve a situation that might be scandalous can only be achieved by breaking the social norms that have become so engrained in her mind. Furthermore, her moment of agency gives George permission to speak in a similarly frank manner. Denuded of social etiquette, George no longer needs to skirt around the issue: He tells Lucy that she should not marry Cecil and then proceeds to list Cecil's faults. Much to Lucy's surprise, she agrees with George.
To Lucy’s further surprise, George accepts her criticism of his own actions as valid. By arresting control of the situation and taking agency over her life, Lucy sets in motion a series of events that will change her life forever. This minor social transgression has an avalanching effect, increasing in scope and seriousness in an unstoppable fashion. A short time later, Lucy breaks her engagement to Cecil.
After Lucy ends their engagement, Cecil is distraught. He cannot imagine why Lucy might want to break up with him. The irony of Cecil's sadness is that—in the moment when Lucy ends the engagement—his behavior hints that he might actually be capable of change and that he might one day be able to become a man whom Lucy could love. Lucy's assertive demonstration of agency has a transformative effect. For the first time, he sees her as a person rather than an object that he is trying to possess or shape according to his own desires. The irony of this change is that only rejection from another person can allow Cecil to come to respect other people's opinions.
Added to this, Lucy's rejection is one of the first times in Cecil's life that he has been denied something. He is a very wealthy man who has never needed to work. He is someone who has grown up with everything he could ever want, only to suddenly be denied something that he already considered to be his. The psychological shock is enough to prompt change in the man who has embodied so much of Edwardian social norms. Lucy does not just take back control of her life—she changes Cecil's view of the world.
The final chapters also explore Lucy's relationship with the truth. In four of the final five chapters, the chapters are titled after who is being lied to. Lucy lies to everyone, from George to Cecil to Mr. Beebe to Mrs. Honeychurch to Freddy to the servants, and then to Mr. Emerson. Lucy lies to everyone but, above all, she lies to herself. She has internalized the social norms of Edwardian society to the extent that she cannot envision a way to be together with George, even though she increasingly understands that she loves him.
She can delude herself no longer, however, after her conversation with Mr. Emerson. Importantly, the two do not discuss whether George and Lucy are in love. Instead, this is assumed as a fundamental reality. Instead, they discuss the truth. Emerson pleads with Lucy to be honest with herself. She is being burdened by lies, and she is in danger of making herself miserable. Lucy must accept the truth, he says, with all its pain and sacrifice, rather than accept the fate society thrusts upon her. Lucy is so burdened by her frequent lies to everyone that she cannot see a sustainable future for herself. There is no way for her to envision a future with George because such a marriage would be a huge breach of social etiquette.
Emerson convinces her, however, and the final chapter jumps ahead several months and shows the consequences of Lucy's decision. She accepts the truth of her love and marries George. As a result, she endures friction with her family. Lucy accepts these consequences as worthwhile, not only because she loves George but because she has accepted the importance of being emotionally honest with herself. Lucy chooses George and, at the same time, she chooses the truth.
Finally, the implication at the novel’s close that Charlotte may have acted to bring George and Lucy together through urging Emerson to speak to Lucy suggests that Charlotte, like Cecil, may be capable of healthy emotional growth and change. This suggests that, while Edwardian social norms may have a detrimental and distorting effect on middle-class people, there is hope for a more authentic way of living so long as people like Charlotte and Cecil start favoring genuine connection over rigid conformity to social norms, as Lucy and George have done.
By E. M. Forster
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