Baptista faces a dilemma
'O, it is not possible to think of that!' she answered hastily, shaking her head. 'When I get home it all will be prepared - it is ready even now - the things for the party, the furniture, Mr Heddegan's new suit, and everything. I should require the courage of a tropical lion to go home there and say I wouldn't carry out my promise!'
Which is right and which is wrong?
Baptista Trewthen is engaged to be married to David Heddegan, although she does not love him. She meets her old lover, Charles Stow, who tries to persuade her to marry him. It seems that he still loves her. What should she do? Marry Heddegan or Stow? Which is right and which is wrong?
Imperatives and choices
An imperative is a command. It is something that we feel we have to do. Look at Baptista's response to Charles' requests. See how often she uses the word 'must':
'I must go back now - this is altogether too painful.'
'I must do it now.' (referring to marrying Heddegan)
'I must go home by the Tuesday boat.'
She does not feel that she has a choice in marrying Charles. The imperatives are that she must marry Heddegan. All the social and moral pressures are for her to do this.
She feels the moral pressure of keeping the promise she has made to him. She feels the moral pressure of obeying her parents who have arranged the marriage. She also feels the social pressure of keeping to the arrangements. Society will look down on her if she breaks the engagement. The party and all the arrangements have been made to show society's approval of the wedding. The failure to go ahead will become public knowledge.
Impetuous sense of love
Charles tells her firmly that none of these obligations matter:
'But there would be no necessity for you to go home and face them in that way.'
He is saying that the moral and social bonds that she feels so strongly exist only in her mind. She does not have to keep to them if she does not want to. She can exercise her free will if she so desires.
Charles succeeds because he uses the force of his personality to persuade her to marry him. We do not sense any great passion between them.
He wants her to believe that he has an impetuous sense of love for her. There is little sign of this in Hardy's description of their meeting.
The truth is that she is wrong to be marrying two men she does not love - Heddegan and Stow. She simply bends in front of whoever seems to be the strongest force at the time.
Her punishment
We learn very early in the story that she does not like teaching:
'Well, I simply hate school. I don't care for children - they are unpleasant, troublesome little things.'
When she learns that she is to look after and teach Heddegan's children, she feels that she is being punished for her deception:
'I hate teaching, it kills me. I am bitterly punished - I am, I am!'
This is a sign of the moral forces that are within us all. We have a strong sense of what is right and wrong. If we deliberately do something wrong, then we feel some sort of justice if events seem to punish us for what we did.
A happy ending
This story has a happy ending. She learns to love and respect the children. Most of Hardy's stories are tragedies. People who make mistakes are punished. Baptista avoids tragedy - but only just!
A Mere Interlude by Thomas Hardy (HKCEE)
