Clara mentions Catharine many times when narrating her childhood, and of how Catharine was perfect for Wieland. However, despite the fact that she is one of the only four people that Clara regularly sees (the fourth being her maid, Judith), Catharine is often left out of the loop. This happens first when the 'voice' makes its second appearance, warning Pleyel when he is walking with Wieland that his beloved Baroness had died (48). When Henry and Wieland return from their walk, they exchange looks, Pleyel's warning Wieland not to disclose anything to Catharine. This voice sounds like Catherine's, so it is understandable that she does not know of it so as to not alarm her, as after all, she is a woman. But this theme of Clara being considered more intellectually able and less protected than Catharine is consistent throughout the novel.
There is mention of Catharine's fragility and how upsetting her could make her ill. Because of Catharine's mild temperament, she has not been mentioned much recently besides the fact that she is too delicate to hear of the recent happenings. But I wonder if she is just delicate or if she has some underlying illness that will be unveiled at some point later on. However, being too delicate for potentially upsetting news was not unheard of for this time period, so perhaps this is just to present a foil of Clara. In many ways Catharine and Clara are truly foils of each other. From what we have seen, Catharine is mild, delicate, and reserved while Clara is bold, independent, and somewhat outspoken.
Catharine really has not served much purpose in the plot of this story as of now. She has only been of significance in the fact that she is married to Wieland and brought Henry into their group and in that hers was one of the supernatural voices heard. Maybe this is the extent of her character or maybe more will be revealed as the book goes on.
I'm going to have to agree with Preethi in regards with Catharine's status as the most minor major character in the story. She makes up 25% of our narrator's initial entourage and contributed nothing of interest to the storyline aside from another voice to be mimicked.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty she is kind of like one of those characters in Harry Potter who is prominent enough that when they die the reader knows things are serious, but the story continues moving along without anything more than a minor hitch.
A strange thing about Catharine's situation is that her role actually makes perfect sense given the time period in which the book is set. Her subservient, delicate portrayal is in sharp contrast to the independent (and seemingly historically inaccurate) Clara. After this conclusion it becomes apparent that Catharine's actions as a "major" character are completely normal and utterly average.
It's curious to think that the reason for Brown's flat female characters are a result of his lack of knowledge about what we would consider the modern female psyche, yet the book pulls a Wuthering Heights and makes up for this with a completely absurd storyline and it draws more parallels by containing them in a contained setting cordoned off from normal society.