The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

First published: 1915

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of plot: Early twentieth century

Locale: England, Germany, and the United States

Principal Characters

• John Dowell, a rich American
• Florence, his wife
• Edward Ashburnham, a British landowner
• Leonora, his wife
• Nancy, a young woman cared for by the Ashburnhams

The Story

Florence Dowell and Edward Ashburnham are dead, both having committed suicide, and Nancy, the Ashburnhams’ charge, is insane. Leonora remarries, and John Dowell, caring for Nancy, is now the owner of the Ashburnham estate in England. He is in love with Nancy, but her mental state prohibits him from marrying her. He considers the tragic history of the Dowells and the Ashburnhams, which led to the unhappy situation in which he found himself.

It had begun innocently enough with the meeting several years before of the Dowells and the Ashburnhams at the German spa town of Nauheim, where Dowell had taken Florence directly after their marriage in America. Florence was suffering from a heart condition, and they came to the spa for her to rest. Edward was supposedly there for the same reason. The two couples got along and spent most of their time together. Leonora came from a penniless, Irish Roman Catholic family; Edward owned an estate in England and a substantial fortune. So it seemed at the outset of their association. Both couples were in their thirties, and they remained in close association over a period of several years. Then the disaster struck.

What Dowell learns, after the deaths of his wife and Edward, is that his own peculiar relationship with his wife had a part in the sudden tragedy. Dowell, a decent, naïve gentleman, had married Florence, who came from a socially prominent family, without knowing much about her, except that she had a serious heart condition. He took her for an innocent girl, determined to get away from a stifling family, but she was, in fact, a problem to herself and especially to young men, given her enthusiasm for very questionable liaisons. She was not a virgin, as Dowell believed (he, however, was), and she was not particularly attracted to Dowell, although he was besotted with her. As a result of her illness, there was no chance of consummating their marriage, and she informed him that her doctors had forbidden her to chance a further sea voyage, once they reached Europe. They were, therefore, to remain in the pricey European hotels and spas permanently. Dowell was to care for his wife without any hope of a normal married life.

The truth, which Dowell learns only after her death, is that Florence had lied to him not only about her sexual state but also about her health. She was not ill and was perfectly able to have sex, but she had no desire to do so with Dowell, who was a pleasant, normal young man, but without sex appeal. Florence began an affair with Edward. He and his wife, who seemed happy with each other, were living a lie as well. The Ashburnhams were also not sexually compatible. This state had perhaps been caused in part by the innocence of both parties at the time of their marriage, and the rigorous Roman Catholic upbringing of Leonora, which left her with some distaste for sexual encounter. They started out in love but gradually drifted apart. They were also at odds because Leonora considered Edward too generous and too indulgent with his estate workers. Leonora continued to love Edward, but by the time she came to terms with her sexuality, Edward had drifted off into a series of affairs. He was not a simple philanderer, but a man who needed love and was easily enchanted by women, some who adored him and some who took advantage of him. Two women cost him a large amount of money, and his family fortune was severely affected. Leonora stood by him, but only on the condition that she be allowed to deal with the estate and to keep him from additional expensive, romantic adventures. They were at Nauheim to save money, having rented out the English estate in an attempt to recoup losses. He disliked her penny-pinching and her harshness in dealing with his estate staff.

Leonora’s vigilance, however, was no match for Florence’s seductive ways, and soon Florence and Edward were sexually involved. Leonora learned of it but grudgingly accepted it, realizing that Florence, at least, had no interest in Edward’s money or in any scandal. Dowell suspected nothing, although there were occasions when he might well have been suspicious, had he not been such an unusually innocent and trusting man, with a great admiration for Edward. Dowell wanted to have a more meaningful relationship with his wife, but he believed that he must not touch her. Leonora had some limited control of the situation, since she knew that Florence was terrified of Dowell’s learning of her conduct. Florence thought that despite the mildness of Dowell’s temperament, he might kill her if he ever discovered the truth.

After several years, things changed regarding the death of Florence. Dowell thinks that the death was natural; it was, in fact, a suicide, which he only learns much later. It may have been caused by the arrival at the spa of a man who knew of Florence’s sordid past, and who, she thought, had told Dowell; he had not. It may have been caused by the fact that Florence, who was in love with Edward, discovered, by chance, that he was in love with his ward, Nancy. He had no intention of revealing this to Nancy, who looked upon the Ashburnhams as her foster parents. Ultimately, Leonora, despairing of ever reviving her husband’s love for her, lost control and told Nancy of Edward’s feelings for her. Vindictively, she urged the girl to give herself sexually to Edward. The girl, shattered, offered herself to Edward, and he, appalled by what his wife had done, rejected Nancy. The situation was so bad that Nancy was sent back to her family, but on the way to the Far East to join them, she had a serious mental breakdown, and was returned to England. Edward, distressed by this and the battle that had broken out with his wife, committed suicide. Leonora, seemingly unaffected by the tragedy, marries a rather seedy man, who she knows cheats on her but not in any way that might cause financial difficulties. Dowell buys the Ashburnham estate, where he takes care of the hopelessly insane Nancy and contemplates the past, which begins to make some sense in the light of information supplied, in the main, by Leonora. Incidents that had seemed innocent he mentally reviews in the context of the betrayals and lies. He is once again a nursemaid for a woman who cannot satisfy his desire for love, but this time it is real.

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