Sentiment and symbol, temper and typology: the double-function of reserve in Charlotte Yonge’s The Heir of Redclyffe

Abstract

Eight chapters before Charlotte M. Yonge ’ s novel The Heir of Redcly ff e ends, the hero, Guy Morville, suddenly dies. The rest of the action focuses on Guy ’ s cousin and rival, Philip Edmonstone. As strange as this choice is, it is only the last in a series of strange choices which Yonge makes. The oddity of these choices is striking, since, in the fi rst several chapters, Redcly ff e reads like most novels from the era. Published in 1853, Redcly ff e contains many features common to Victorian realist fi ction: there is a conten-tious inheritance question, two unmarried sisters, and two gentlemen suitors who are distant cousins – one, poor but virtuous; the other, wealthy but proud. Given the expectations of the Victorian novel genre, the reader would anticipate that the proud lover be reformed, and then accepted into the family with the female cousins. He would then reconcile with his rival, and each would marry the appropriate sister. Finally, the wealthy suitor would hire the poor cousin as his clergyman, and all would live happily ever after. However, not only are these expectations ignored; they are completely subverted. It is the poor cousin, Philip Edmonstone, who proves to be proud and intractable, while the wealthy cousin, Guy Morville, becomes humble, courageous, and genuinely loving. More surprising, eight chapters before the novel closes, Sir Guy, the novel ’ s central hero, con-tracts a fever and dies. The fi nal chapters end with Philip as the inheritor of the Redcly ff e estate, reformed but broken; his newly acquired wealth and wife bitter reminders of his past behavior, coming as they do with the knowledge that he is responsible for Guy ’ s death.