51 pages • 1-hour read
The Enchanted April
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Themes
The Transformative Power of Acceptance and Understanding
While in San Salvatore, each woman has the opportunity to rest and relax away from the demands of her life. One of the most important lessons that each learns, both because of their newfound freedom and because of the bonds that they develop with one another, is that acceptance and understanding have the power to transform relationships.
Mrs. Wilkins is the novel’s principle model for love, understanding, and acceptance. She is the first to accept eccentricities and differences in others, and it is in part because of her genuine, earnest persona that the other women eventually soften. As soon as she arrives, “a great desire to love and be friends with everybody” (105) comes over her. She does not notice Caroline’s efforts to snub her, nor do Mrs. Fisher’s domineering manner or judgmental nature upset her. Mrs. Arbuthnot takes affront at both women’s behavior, but Mrs. Wilkins urges her to have more understanding for two people with whom she is as yet unfamiliar. She then applies this same degree of understanding and acceptance to her husband. Due to her generosity of spirit, Mellersh is indeed transformed. He is kinder to her and caring toward the rest of the women.
Mrs. Wilkins inspires Mrs. Arbuthnot, who realizes that the love she and Frederick once shared must still be there, below the surface. Although she still identifies as a Christian, she understands that her piety came in the way of their relationship. She should be a better model for love and Christian forgiveness and treat her husband with the same regard she shows to the needy she serves at church. She, too, is rewarded for her kindness, as she and Frederick reconcile. She also softens in her treatment of Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline, and in doing so finds that she has gained two new friends.
Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline begin the novel determined to spend a month alone and not make friends with the other women. Mrs. Fisher notes how much she dislikes “the pose of the modern young woman” (99) and disapproves of Lady Caroline in particular. Lady Caroline finds Mrs. Fisher “utterly” distasteful and Mrs. Wilkins overly friendly. Soon, however, they “ripen like fruit by the beneficent sun of San Salvatore” (169). Moved in part by the beauty of their surroundings and in part because Mrs. Wilkins’s genuine spirit of acceptance is infectious, they find themselves willing to be open to the idea of new friends. Lady Caroline strikes up a meaningful, genuine friendship with Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Fisher even begins to smile and laugh.
Thus, in each case, it is kindness and acceptance directed toward an individual that catalyzes their transformation rather than an inward desire for change. In learning to accept and understand one another, the women forge new friendships and become happier in their own lives.
The Demands of Marriage and Propriety
The demands of marriage and social propriety shape each of the women’s lives in this novel and connect the narrative with von Arnim’s larger body of work. Through the situations and feelings of each female character, von Armin examines how societal expectations around marriage impact women’s lives and experiences.
Mrs. Wilkins seems shy and timid at first because she is shown through the framework of her marriage to a man who prefers her that way. Mellersh wants a wife who will remain silently by his side at social engagements, maintain the household to his exact specifications, and center his needs above her own. Mrs. Wilkins is unhappy with the reality of marriage, and some of that unhappiness is evident to Mellersh. His response is not empathy, but irritation, and he characterizes her as “the wrong one” (36) to have married. It is not until the prospect of the castle arises that Mrs. Wilkins’s true nature rises to the surface, and it is Mrs. Arbuthnot rather than Mellersh who notices how earnest, emotional, and desirous of meaning she truly is.
Mrs. Arbuthnot struggles too in her marriage. Although her husband is loving and would be happy to center her more in their marriage, Mrs. Arbuthnot values propriety above all else. Since Mr. Arbuthnot earns his living through writing salacious books, she cannot allow herself to emotionally connect with him. She views marriage as an unpleasant state of affairs that must be endured and prays regularly for her husband. Mrs. Arbuthnot’s entire life comes to be shaped by propriety, which in turn affects her relationship dynamics.
Mrs. Fisher represents a worldview that, although passé, is not entirely eradicated by the time of the novel’s writing. Mrs. Fisher remains locked in the past century, and notes with disapproval any “modern” sensibilities. She is traditional in her orientation toward gender and marriage, and notes with displeasure Lady Caroline’s lack of a husband. It is only at the end of the novel that Mrs. Fisher realizes that it is possible for even the elderly to evolve and change the way that they understand and interpret society, so that she feels less confined by the propriety of the 19th century.
Lady Caroline experiences the importance of marriage and propriety as a distinct kind of familial and societal pressure. She does not want to marry because she is still in love with a man who died during the war, but also because she is not sure that marriage will provide her with meaning or direction. She knows that in the eyes of her family and society, she must marry in order to remain respectable in spite of her great fortune and social standing. As in the cases of the other three women, Lady Caroline’s life and identity are shaped by the idea that women’s places are in the home and it is only through marriage that women can find social acceptability.
While both Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot find happiness in their marriages again at the novel’s end, Mrs. Fisher’s widowhood and Lady Caroline’s enduring single status subtly imply that, despite societal expectations, some women may be perfectly content to live on their own.
The Importance of Self-Discovery and Personal Freedom
Personal freedom and self-discovery become increasingly important as the novel progresses, as each woman finds that solitude and freedom gives her the space for self-reflection. Ultimately, a holiday that began as an opportunity to get away from their lives becomes instead a way to think critically about their hopes, dreams, and goals, allowing them to return to their lives with clarified intentions.
Both Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot are dissatisfied with their lives, albeit for different reasons. Each woman sees the opportunity for a holiday abroad as a chance to relax, but also to get away from the strict confines of their homes in England. In San Salvatore, each woman is finally without her husband for the first time in years. Mrs. Wilkins observes: “She had not been in bed without Mellersh once now in five whole years, and the cool roominess of it, the freedom of one’s movements, the sense of recklessness, the audacity in giving the blankets a pull if one wanted to” (49) is something she enjoys. Ultimately she and Mellersh reconcile, but it is important to note that they do so because she has the freedom to spend time alone and to reflect on her life.
Mrs. Arbuthnot too has the opportunity to reflect once she is free from the tasks of her daily life. She finds that she even stops praying when she arrives at San Salvatore. She is able to focus on herself rather than the needy, her vicar, or her husband Frederick. Once alone, she realizes that she does want marriage. She loved Frederick once and would like a relationship in which both partners love and value each other. She could never have come to that conclusion in England, busy as she was enduring an unhappy relationship and distracting herself from it.
Mrs. Fisher at first brings her usual habits and severe social views to the castle, but as time goes on she finds that she now has the opportunity to discover new facets of herself. She initially resists friendships with the other women and ponders inviting her friend Kate to join the party. However, as the novel progresses, she slowly begins to question some of her strict social assumptions and becomes more sociable. She even realizes that inviting Kate would be a mistake, because she wants the freedom of being with new people and seeing herself in a new way. Her time at the castle provides precisely that sort of freedom for her, helping her to feel rejuvenated in her old age.
In these ways, the women’s freedom during their time in Italy leads to self-discovery and personal enrichment. They thus return to their lives at the novel’s end feeling refreshed and happier, now understanding how they want to live in their usual lives back home as well.
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