"Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked"
OK, I promised eolivet an analysis of that intriguing line of Mary's from S02E03 "The truth is we're very much alike so naturally I think she's perfect".
I've already written about it quite a bit in this post so this will quote and use that (because I'm lazy).
So. This is going to be something along the lines of a logical unpicking of the sentence. This will have the effect of entirely negating all that is subtle and intriguing about what she said. As I mentioned on the forums, analysing Mary's oblique and multi-layered remarks is like analysing humour. I did a course on Roman humour (which, I must admit, is not always terribly sophisticated) and while a slave hitting his master over the head with a rolling pin may be hilarious to watch during the course of the play, writing sentences in an essay like, "...the slave's rebellion against the norms of the class-based society which he inhabits manifests itself in physical violence against his master, displaying a Saturnalian contempt for..." (or whatever IDK) does not really get across the fact that actually it's just damn funny.
To unpick this sentence, there are various questions that need to be addressed.
1. To whom is Mary very much alike - Lavinia or Matthew?
2. Is this the truth?
3. Does Mary think Lavinia is perfect?
Before attempting to answer any of these questions, I just want to make a few comments on Mary's character as I understand it.
Sometimes Mary says things she means in a way that suggests she doesn't mean them. Sometimes she says things she means in a way that suggests she means them. Sometimes she says things she doesn't mean in a way that suggests she doesn't mean them. Sometimes she says things she doesn't mean in a way that suggests she does mean them. Very often she cleverly and almost certainly at least partly subconsciously manages to combine these options at once. Sometimes she explicitly means something frivolously and subconsciously contradicts it by her own desires. Take "You must pay no attention to the things I say,". On the one hand, she cannot possibly mean this seriously because the one thing S01 Mary wants is attention and support so it would be stupid for her to consciously want anyone to take that advice. On the other hand, Mary really does have a lot of deep insecurity, I think. There's a part of her that, especially after Pamuk, really does believe she is worthless and it is this part of her that is speaking. It's a cry for attention, not a serious description of her character. Thirdly, CONTEXT. She's about to kiss Matthew! She is explicitly confessing that her earlier behaviour to him was wrong - that whatever she might have said, she was wrong! He shouldn't remember the things she said, he should concentrate on her actions right now and what they're saying...
Get my point? Mary says lots of things at once. There is no one clear cut interpretation.
1. In many ways this is the easiest question to resolve. Mainly because it doesn't make a jot of sense for her to be referring to Matthew. What would that mean? For a start, Mary and Matthew are not alike in temperament or character! Yes, they do share certain core values (one of the reasons they are drawn to each other) but on every single superficial point - which is what people normally mean when they talk about being "alike" - they are different to the point of opposition. (Yes, we could have an argument here about to what extent that is true, but this is not the major point of this post, so let's skip it, right?) Moreover, following this interpretation they are talking about Lavinia here. Let's do a bit of logic chopping here.
"Matthew and I are very alike SO naturally I think she's perfect."
Mary thinking Lavinia is perfect leads naturally on from her [Mary] being alike to Matthew. This suggests Matthew thinks she is perfect. This makes sense because Matthew is in love with Lavinia. If Matthew is in love with Lavinia and thinks she is perfect and Mary is alike to Matthew and also thinks she is perfect then... what Mary is actually saying is that she is in love with Lavinia.
QED
I don't actually think that's the subtext of this scene. Though knowing JF you never can tell.
Is this sophistic? Of course it is, but don't you just love a bit of reductio ad absurdum? Course you do.
The other reasons why this interpretation doesn't work is that if it is correct then so much deliciously subtle wit and intelligence is lost from the phrase. But more of that to come.
So, now we have proved beyond all shadow of doubt that if Mary is referring to Matthew then what she is saying makes pretty much no sense whatsoever, let's look at it in terms of her being alike to Lavinia.
2. Is Mary actually alike to Lavinia? Or rather, the actual question is, "Does Mary consider herself to be alike to Lavinia? As always the question is one of perception, not literal truth. [There's a word I'm groping for here and have forgotten - begins with "ex" I think - where it's separate from opinion, but stands alone as being true. Aaargh.]
It's hard to tell how similar Mary and Lavinia actually are because Lavinia's character is so... bland. Apart from them both loving Matthew I can't say I see many similarities at all. However, they do share one thing brought out in that episode and therefore at the top of Mary's mind: they both have a secret in their past and these secrets share the fact that they did something with serious consequences if it got out but for reasons that were not bad in themselves. (Lavinia is guilty of wanting to help her father, Mary of giving into a very unwise passion whose emotional consequences she could not predict.) I think it is that aspect of Lavinia that could awaken Mary's empathy - they are both dealing with the consequences of actions they would have wished to avoid and which will paint them as blacker than they are. In that respect they are similar and I do think Mary feels for Lavinia over this.
However, is this really terribly relevant? This is Mary! Is she likely to be attempting to make a serious point? (Even if she makes one by accident.)
Perhaps not because...
3. She says she thinks Lavinia is perfect. Well, clearly Lavinia is not perfect because (a) nobody is - and Mary is nothing if not realistic if not cynical about character limitations; (b) Lavinia just confessed to stealing political secrets. However virtuous her reasoning, that hardly qualifies her for being a perfect human being.
But Mary does give reasoning for why she thinks Lavinia is perfect: because she is similar to Mary herself!
The unravelled subtext of what Mary is saying is: "Lavinia and I are alike. I think I am perfect so naturally I think Lavinia is too!"
But can that possibly be what Mary means? I hear you saying. Yes, of course, just as much as she means that she wants Matthew to forget everything she has ever said...
Mary is one of the most self-critical characters I've ever come across. She does not think she is perfect, far from it. But she does possess an aristocratic arrogance and self-confidence which is she is not above mocking.
But this is not all that she is mocking here. She is also, in my opinion, mocking her feelings and thoughts about Lavinia. Mary might genuinely understand (as the other characters are only just starting to) that Lavinia isn't going anywhere - that she is Matthew's fiancee, that they are going to get married and that the only thing to do is to accept her and make the best of it and try to make her welcome for Matthew's sake at least - but her silent complicity and agreement with Violet and Rosamund's scheming I think made it plain that she would not really be too sorry if Lavinia really was a scheming harlot and could be thrown out of the nearest air lock. Naturally - she's in love with Matthew. But of course all that Lavinia's scandal came to was to show her, if possible, in an even better light than before. Who wouldn't want a wife who was so devoted to her family that she would steal state secrets? (Hmm.) Mary is clear-sighted enough to appreciate her secret hopes (however conflicted with genuine good feeling towards Lavinia) and how they have been dashed. In some ways Lavinia is really perfect. As perfect as Mary and everyone else (including the viewer if we're going to get all meta about the script - to be fair, JF often encourages a meta interpretation of the script for better or for worse) hope that she is not.
Lavinia is spotless. Mary has to admit it. She does admit it. She has no reason at all to break them up. And in acknowledging that, she has to acknowledge the death of her deepest desires. But at least by this stage she is seeing the amusing, self-mocking side of it, whereas in the previous episode she was still incredibly upset by it. (No, I'm not playing down Mary's love here at all - but everyone has defence and coping mechanisms which have to kick in eventually, and Mary is nothing if not a survivor, and self-mockery is as good as any.) There's something that I can imagine would appeal to Mary's sense of bleak humour in everyone scheming to make Lavinia out to be evil in order to break her and Matthew up - only to discover that she is practically perfect! If anything, the truth can only raise her in the estimation of those who know it. (In which case, it's rather interesting she doesn't encourage Lavinia to tell Matthew about it or tell him herself to clear up any suspicion he might hear about it.)
Mary's not perfect but compared to what was being thought of her, Lavinia is. And Matthew doesn't know any of this; he cannot have any idea of what is running through Mary's head. However, if he has any sense he will be rather worried by Mary calling anyone "perfect". It's not sarcastic, but it's not sincere either.
But perhaps Matthew has taken her too much at her word and is not inclined to pay any attention to the things she says anymore.
Well, there we go! Sentence analysed! I hope it makes sense; I'm afraid it's very difficult to write coherently about something with so many layers of meaning to it and I am sure that there are other interpretations, but this is mine. :-)
Now I absolutely MUST go to the library for a couple of hours before riding!
I've already written about it quite a bit in this post so this will quote and use that (because I'm lazy).
So. This is going to be something along the lines of a logical unpicking of the sentence. This will have the effect of entirely negating all that is subtle and intriguing about what she said. As I mentioned on the forums, analysing Mary's oblique and multi-layered remarks is like analysing humour. I did a course on Roman humour (which, I must admit, is not always terribly sophisticated) and while a slave hitting his master over the head with a rolling pin may be hilarious to watch during the course of the play, writing sentences in an essay like, "...the slave's rebellion against the norms of the class-based society which he inhabits manifests itself in physical violence against his master, displaying a Saturnalian contempt for..." (or whatever IDK) does not really get across the fact that actually it's just damn funny.
To unpick this sentence, there are various questions that need to be addressed.
1. To whom is Mary very much alike - Lavinia or Matthew?
2. Is this the truth?
3. Does Mary think Lavinia is perfect?
Before attempting to answer any of these questions, I just want to make a few comments on Mary's character as I understand it.
Sometimes Mary says things she means in a way that suggests she doesn't mean them. Sometimes she says things she means in a way that suggests she means them. Sometimes she says things she doesn't mean in a way that suggests she doesn't mean them. Sometimes she says things she doesn't mean in a way that suggests she does mean them. Very often she cleverly and almost certainly at least partly subconsciously manages to combine these options at once. Sometimes she explicitly means something frivolously and subconsciously contradicts it by her own desires. Take "You must pay no attention to the things I say,". On the one hand, she cannot possibly mean this seriously because the one thing S01 Mary wants is attention and support so it would be stupid for her to consciously want anyone to take that advice. On the other hand, Mary really does have a lot of deep insecurity, I think. There's a part of her that, especially after Pamuk, really does believe she is worthless and it is this part of her that is speaking. It's a cry for attention, not a serious description of her character. Thirdly, CONTEXT. She's about to kiss Matthew! She is explicitly confessing that her earlier behaviour to him was wrong - that whatever she might have said, she was wrong! He shouldn't remember the things she said, he should concentrate on her actions right now and what they're saying...
Get my point? Mary says lots of things at once. There is no one clear cut interpretation.
1. In many ways this is the easiest question to resolve. Mainly because it doesn't make a jot of sense for her to be referring to Matthew. What would that mean? For a start, Mary and Matthew are not alike in temperament or character! Yes, they do share certain core values (one of the reasons they are drawn to each other) but on every single superficial point - which is what people normally mean when they talk about being "alike" - they are different to the point of opposition. (Yes, we could have an argument here about to what extent that is true, but this is not the major point of this post, so let's skip it, right?) Moreover, following this interpretation they are talking about Lavinia here. Let's do a bit of logic chopping here.
"Matthew and I are very alike SO naturally I think she's perfect."
Mary thinking Lavinia is perfect leads naturally on from her [Mary] being alike to Matthew. This suggests Matthew thinks she is perfect. This makes sense because Matthew is in love with Lavinia. If Matthew is in love with Lavinia and thinks she is perfect and Mary is alike to Matthew and also thinks she is perfect then... what Mary is actually saying is that she is in love with Lavinia.
QED
I don't actually think that's the subtext of this scene. Though knowing JF you never can tell.
Is this sophistic? Of course it is, but don't you just love a bit of reductio ad absurdum? Course you do.
The other reasons why this interpretation doesn't work is that if it is correct then so much deliciously subtle wit and intelligence is lost from the phrase. But more of that to come.
So, now we have proved beyond all shadow of doubt that if Mary is referring to Matthew then what she is saying makes pretty much no sense whatsoever, let's look at it in terms of her being alike to Lavinia.
2. Is Mary actually alike to Lavinia? Or rather, the actual question is, "Does Mary consider herself to be alike to Lavinia? As always the question is one of perception, not literal truth. [There's a word I'm groping for here and have forgotten - begins with "ex" I think - where it's separate from opinion, but stands alone as being true. Aaargh.]
It's hard to tell how similar Mary and Lavinia actually are because Lavinia's character is so... bland. Apart from them both loving Matthew I can't say I see many similarities at all. However, they do share one thing brought out in that episode and therefore at the top of Mary's mind: they both have a secret in their past and these secrets share the fact that they did something with serious consequences if it got out but for reasons that were not bad in themselves. (Lavinia is guilty of wanting to help her father, Mary of giving into a very unwise passion whose emotional consequences she could not predict.) I think it is that aspect of Lavinia that could awaken Mary's empathy - they are both dealing with the consequences of actions they would have wished to avoid and which will paint them as blacker than they are. In that respect they are similar and I do think Mary feels for Lavinia over this.
However, is this really terribly relevant? This is Mary! Is she likely to be attempting to make a serious point? (Even if she makes one by accident.)
Perhaps not because...
3. She says she thinks Lavinia is perfect. Well, clearly Lavinia is not perfect because (a) nobody is - and Mary is nothing if not realistic if not cynical about character limitations; (b) Lavinia just confessed to stealing political secrets. However virtuous her reasoning, that hardly qualifies her for being a perfect human being.
But Mary does give reasoning for why she thinks Lavinia is perfect: because she is similar to Mary herself!
The unravelled subtext of what Mary is saying is: "Lavinia and I are alike. I think I am perfect so naturally I think Lavinia is too!"
But can that possibly be what Mary means? I hear you saying. Yes, of course, just as much as she means that she wants Matthew to forget everything she has ever said...
Mary is one of the most self-critical characters I've ever come across. She does not think she is perfect, far from it. But she does possess an aristocratic arrogance and self-confidence which is she is not above mocking.
But this is not all that she is mocking here. She is also, in my opinion, mocking her feelings and thoughts about Lavinia. Mary might genuinely understand (as the other characters are only just starting to) that Lavinia isn't going anywhere - that she is Matthew's fiancee, that they are going to get married and that the only thing to do is to accept her and make the best of it and try to make her welcome for Matthew's sake at least - but her silent complicity and agreement with Violet and Rosamund's scheming I think made it plain that she would not really be too sorry if Lavinia really was a scheming harlot and could be thrown out of the nearest air lock. Naturally - she's in love with Matthew. But of course all that Lavinia's scandal came to was to show her, if possible, in an even better light than before. Who wouldn't want a wife who was so devoted to her family that she would steal state secrets? (Hmm.) Mary is clear-sighted enough to appreciate her secret hopes (however conflicted with genuine good feeling towards Lavinia) and how they have been dashed. In some ways Lavinia is really perfect. As perfect as Mary and everyone else (including the viewer if we're going to get all meta about the script - to be fair, JF often encourages a meta interpretation of the script for better or for worse) hope that she is not.
Lavinia is spotless. Mary has to admit it. She does admit it. She has no reason at all to break them up. And in acknowledging that, she has to acknowledge the death of her deepest desires. But at least by this stage she is seeing the amusing, self-mocking side of it, whereas in the previous episode she was still incredibly upset by it. (No, I'm not playing down Mary's love here at all - but everyone has defence and coping mechanisms which have to kick in eventually, and Mary is nothing if not a survivor, and self-mockery is as good as any.) There's something that I can imagine would appeal to Mary's sense of bleak humour in everyone scheming to make Lavinia out to be evil in order to break her and Matthew up - only to discover that she is practically perfect! If anything, the truth can only raise her in the estimation of those who know it. (In which case, it's rather interesting she doesn't encourage Lavinia to tell Matthew about it or tell him herself to clear up any suspicion he might hear about it.)
Mary's not perfect but compared to what was being thought of her, Lavinia is. And Matthew doesn't know any of this; he cannot have any idea of what is running through Mary's head. However, if he has any sense he will be rather worried by Mary calling anyone "perfect". It's not sarcastic, but it's not sincere either.
But perhaps Matthew has taken her too much at her word and is not inclined to pay any attention to the things she says anymore.
Well, there we go! Sentence analysed! I hope it makes sense; I'm afraid it's very difficult to write coherently about something with so many layers of meaning to it and I am sure that there are other interpretations, but this is mine. :-)
Now I absolutely MUST go to the library for a couple of hours before riding!