Siteadmin, Check users, Administrators
12,071
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 168:
Line 168: + +
→Social class
Class tension pervades the script on several levels. Rhoda Penmark gives no indication of ever having learned the maxim ''noblesse oblige'' (literally, "nobility obliges"), and Christine Penmark gives every indication of being utterly ineffectual in imparting any such lesson. Leroy Jessop is a [[Literary type#Allegorical types|type]] of the member of the lowest class, who notices that a member of the highest class is not behaving in a "noble" manner at all, and is determined to attack that person (not realizing that his target can strike back with lethal force). Hortense Daigle seeks to vindicate herself by blowing the lid off what she sees as scandalous behavior by certain persons, who have always looked down on her on account of her lack of station, who have either wronged her (like Rhoda, though she doesn't fully realize that until much later) or are trying to "cover up" to avoid embarrassment (like Claudia Fern).
Class tension pervades the script on several levels. Rhoda Penmark gives no indication of ever having learned the maxim ''noblesse oblige'' (literally, "nobility obliges"), and Christine Penmark gives every indication of being utterly ineffectual in imparting any such lesson. Leroy Jessop is a [[Literary type#Allegorical types|type]] of the member of the lowest class, who notices that a member of the highest class is not behaving in a "noble" manner at all, and is determined to attack that person (not realizing that his target can strike back with lethal force). Hortense Daigle seeks to vindicate herself by blowing the lid off what she sees as scandalous behavior by certain persons, who have always looked down on her on account of her lack of station, who have either wronged her (like Rhoda, though she doesn't fully realize that until much later) or are trying to "cover up" to avoid embarrassment (like Claudia Fern).
The class distinctions are also important in explaining Christine Penmark's longstanding blindness to her daughter's bad behavior. Christine convinces herself that criminals are made in the environment of a social class to which she, of course, does not belong, because she is somehow above such classes. What throws her into panic mode is realizing that she is descended from a very dangerous killer who always escaped punishment by fleeing from one jurisdiction to another, and it is that fact that frightens her by making her realize that crime respects no class distinctions. Little does she (or indeed anyone else) realize that crime does not respect genetic heritage, either.
== Alteration of the ending ==
== Alteration of the ending ==