Christabel LaMotte’s poem at the opening of chapter seven sets the tone for relationships between several characters in the novel. The lines, “In no Rush of Action/This is our doom/To Drag a Long Life out/In a Dark Room” illustrate frustration and possibly even despair felt by other female characters, such as Ellen Ash and, to a less apparent extent, Val.
When examining Ellen Ash’s diary, Beatrice is initially disappointed that most of the writing seems to be focused on daily tasks; and even when she reads of more intimate details of the couple’s life (such as Randolph reading to Ellen every night), Beatrice finds it difficult to picture due to “…the vague adjectival enthusiasm of Ellen Ash” (p.128). However, Beatrice later finds other entries that show Ellen’s disillusionment toward her life and her husband, “I can never say enough in praise of Randolph’s unvarying goodness and forbearance with my feebleness and inadequacies” (p.128). This diary entry clearly shows some resentment towards her marriage, which the narration reveals is “recurred like the regular tolling of a bell throughout these pages…And then she [Beatrice] became implicated, began to share Ellen’s long days of prostration in darkened rooms.” This return to the image of “darkened rooms” is important, as it could be symbolic of the shallowness felt by Ellen Ash, always living in her husband’s shadow. This realization of Ellen’s intelligence continues throughout her diary entries, particularly when she writes about Melusina. The whole passage shows Ellen’s deep level of introspection toward her own life, commenting that as a younger girl she wanted to “be a Poet and a Poem, and now am neither, but the mistress of a very small household.”
Disenchantment also comes to the surface of Val and Roland’s relationship at the end of chapter seven. When Val comes home after getting a ride from Euan MacIntyre, she tells Roland that MacIntyre invited her to go to Newmarket, which she declined. Roland responds to this news by saying, “It would do you good to have a day out,” to which Val replies, “Listen to yourself. It would do you a lot of good. How repellently patronising.” Even this brief exchange shows the tension in their relationship, which does not seem to get any better as the night goes on. Roland takes hold of Val, not out of love or affection, but “will and calculation…There were two ways out of this, a row or making love, and the second way was more conducive to eventual dinner and a peaceful evening’s work” (p.140). Roland has no desire to comfort Val or even really spend time with her; he is focused on his work above anything else. Roland’s dream at the end of chapter eight compounds this problem, as he dreams, “Something struggled to get out, and as he moved across the floor of the room he was dreaming” (p. 165). It is obvious that Roland and Val are unhappy with their relationship, even if they cannot own up to it.
In conclusion, both the Ash’s marriage and Roland and Val’s relationship have very similar problems. Ellen feels over looked and unfulfilled, even belittled by her husband, despite her intelligence and eloquence in her journals. Val feels patronized by Roland at times; the whole situation made worse by the fact that Roland has seemingly no romantic interest in her. It will be interesting to see how these two situations develop and unfold as the novel goes on.
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