Analysis Of Cecil Vyse In Mrs Quasimodo

dominance exerted by fellow characters up until she rejects the majority of such ties, as occurs in ‘Mrs Quasimodo’. Cecil Vyse is an antagonist who inflicts a considerable amount of constraint, primarily stemming from his desire to preserve ‘Lucy as a work of Art’. The narrative depicts Cecil viewing the heroine as ‘a woman of Leonardo Da Vinci’s’, leading to the degrading comment that ‘no woman of Leonardo’s could have something so vulgar as a story’. This description portrays Cecil’s inability to value Lucy’s voice, contrasting with the character of Mr Darcy who, despite heartache at her refusal of his proposal, cherishes the opinion of Elizabeth- ‘I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus
But ‘the string breaks’, the diminishing of ties with these individuals results in Lucy gaining more of a voice, as portrayed in the confrontational statement ‘I won’t be protected. I will choose for myself what is ladylike and right’. ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ also depicts the heroine disassociating herself from restricting characters by destroying the source for her unhappiness- ‘The bells. The bells. I made them mute’, ‘I sawed and pulled and hacked’. The portrayal of this destruction in order to achieve silence implies the overcoming of voices resulting in the ability to express oneself. This level of destruction and violence is also visible in ‘Little Red Cap’, especially in the line ‘I took an axe to the wolf as he slept, one chop, scrotum to throat’. Moreover, the word ‘mute’ depicts how Mrs Quasimodo is silencing the voices of her husband’s mistresses and also of those individuals who branded her ‘the village
The poem depicts a clear progression towards fulfilment and self-discovery away from an initial sense of loss and detachment due to the fulfilment of the heroine’s maternal instinct. The phrase ‘to break the ice’ has a metaphorical meaning: to create a social atmosphere where people are strangers and not speaking, thus developing an initial sense of loneliness. However, a development is seen away from this initial state at the moment when ‘my daughter, my girl’ emerges, ‘bringing all spring’s flowers’- suggesting a progression towards contentment. Furthermore, the line ‘the blue sky smiling’ uses pathetic fallacy to depict that on the return of Persephone even the sky appears to be smiling, starkly contrasting with the sombre state of the initial stanzas. Lucy Honeychurch also acts upon her shortcoming of timidity and gains a voice by the climax of the novel, leading critics like Alan Wilde to comment that ‘all the pieces fall into place when Lucy comes to understand herself and the people around her’ . The last chapter portrays an outspoken Lucy whose remarks such as, ‘George, you baby, get up’ and ‘Oh, bother Charlotte’, are