When reading volume 4, I was incredibly interested in the death scene of Amelia. For someone who seemed to care so little for her (since he loves the woman she resembles and not the woman she is) it seems almost out of character for him to have the nervous breakdown he has following her death. He isn't merely putting on a show for the benefit of other people, he disappears out to the woods to be alone in his "wilderness of despair." This moment could have been very cathartic and made a lot of sense if, pardon the crude nature of this statement, he had given a damn about Amelia before this. Walsingham consistently uses and dismisses Amelia throughout the novel, however when it comes to her death, he grows very upset. This leads to a huge dramatic moment where he visits the graves of his parents and contemplates the futility of life in a very dramatic, Walsingham-esque fashion.
Along with the thread of disliking Walsingham, his obliviousness to the whole situation is absolutely astounding. How many times does Sir Sidney have to say "I'm lying to you" for him to ask what his deceit is? When Walsingham is accused of murder and Sir Sidney and Isabella try to speak with him to ascertain his innocence, Sidney quite literally says, "I am a vile, forsworn, deceitful monster." His self absorption is consuming and quite honestly, it is lucky for Sir Sidney that Walsingham is that horrible because it makes the job of hiding her identity much easier. When he's finally told the truth, his immediate reaction is "how could I have been so foolish?" Even in this crazy situation he makes the ordeal about him. He lives in a self-centered world, and the reveal scene of Sidney's true identity is no different.
My thoughts on the self centered nature of Walsingham is that he is the manifestation of the men in Robinson's life. For most of her life she was disappointed by men such as her father, who left the family in order to run away with his mistress. The same self-centered nature seen in her father, her husband, and her multiple lovers is culminated in Walsingham.
I completely agree that Walsingham is self centered. We see this a lot through the text, but I liked how you pointed out how his self centered nature made Sidney's job a lot easier. I hadn't thought of it in that way. Walsingham does seem to also seek for attention.
ReplyDeleteHe most certainly is self centered. He likes to make everything about him and always likes the attention on him. I think he's probably the most dramatic character I've ever encountered.
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