The Romantic Comedians: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Romantic Comedians: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate dynamics of relationships in a romantic comedy setting, focusing on a cast of well-defined characters. At the center is Judge Gamaliel Bland Honeywell, a wealthy and dignified widower who navigates the complexities of love with his much younger second wife, Annabel. Despite his chivalrous demeanor, the judge struggles to understand Annabel’s deeper emotional needs, leading to a marriage fraught with misunderstandings. Annabel, depicted as a vibrant yet naïve woman, grapples with her past heartbreak and seeks love that the judge is unable to provide, ultimately driving her towards a former childhood friend, Dabney Birdsong.
Other significant characters include Mrs. Bella Upchurch, Annabel's cheerful mother, and Edmonia Bredalbane, the judge's more liberal twin sister, who offers a contrasting perspective on love and relationships. The narrative also touches on Amanda Lightfoot, the judge’s steadfast childhood sweetheart who symbolizes unwavering devotion. Through these characters, the analysis presents a rich tapestry of romantic entanglements, societal expectations, and personal aspirations, highlighting the often humorous but poignant misadventures in the quest for love and fulfillment. This exploration invites readers to reflect on the complexities inherent in romantic relationships and the various motivations driving each character's choices.
The Romantic Comedians: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ellen Glasgow
First published: 1926
Genre: Novel
Locale: Richmond, Virginia
Plot: Fiction of manners
Time: The 1920's
Judge Gamaliel Bland Honeywell, a wealthy widower, sixty-five years old. He is tall, dignified, and well preserved but spindle-legged. His hair and beard are silvery, his mustache is dark, his eyebrows are beetling, and his nose is Roman. His views are conservative, Southern, nineteenth century ones. Especially interested in young women, he is chivalrous toward all women. Unless he is careful of his diet, he suffers from dyspepsia. Retired from the bench, he now practices law and enjoys respect for his legal ability. Lacking a commonsense knowledge of human nature, he enters a marriage that is doomed from its beginning. Although he is kind and generous to Annabel, he is nevertheless chained to his habits and his enjoyment of physical comfort, and he is unable to perceive her urgent need for the kind of love he cannot give. He accepts the blame for Annabel's leaving him because, as he says, he is older and should have known that marriage to him would not be enough for her.
Annabel, his second wife, twenty-three years old. Appealingly fragile in body, she has a freckled, heart-shaped face, nut-brown hair with coppery glints, and gray-green eyes. She is a frank and somewhat selfish realist but much more naïve than she thinks. Bitter and filled with hatred over Angus Blount's deserting her, she resents the genteel poverty in which she and her mother live, and she accepts the judge partly to forget Angus and partly to escape the atmosphere of her home. Vivacious, impulsive, and extravagant, she is cold and hardly appreciative of what the judge does for her. The judge is drawn by her elusive charm, but he cannot conquer her aversion to him, her fear and resentment of his being affectionate. Insisting that she has no desire to live without love, she is determined to attain her goal regardless of consequences.
Mrs. Bella Upchurch, Annabel's mother, a widow, brisk, cheerful, plump, pretty, and talkative.
Edmonia Bredalbane, the judge's twin sister, large, raw-boned, and heavy-bosomed. She is a woman of liberal views and unorthodox behavior, the mate of four husbands and reputedly (though she denies it) the mistress of many rich lovers. She is a gaudy dresser with tinted brown hair. To the judge, she appears to flaunt her past instead of being ashamed of it. Having more worldly perception than her brother, Edmonia attempts to keep him from making a fool of himself and tries in vain to promote a marriage to Amanda.
Amanda Lightfoot, the judge's childhood sweetheart, fifty-eight years old, unmarried, handsome, tall, willowy, regal, blue-eyed, and silver-haired. She dresses in an old-fashioned manner in the colors that Gamaliel used to like on her many years earlier. She has accepted her plight in an excessively ladylike manner, remaining pious and chaste through the years, tediously faithful to the man she lost but never ceased to love.
Dabney Birdsong, Annabel's childhood playmate, now a successful architect. He becomes her lover, and she deserts the judge for him.
Angus Blount, Annabel's false lover, who married a French woman after deserting Annabel.
Dr. Buchanan, the judge's physician.
Cordelia Honeywell, the judge's deceased first wife, to whom he was peacefully and unexcitingly married for thirty-six years. He continually remembers Cordelia's tastes and ways and contrasts them with Annabel's.