Gwendolen Harleth, later Gwendolen Grandcourt, is a central character in

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

's 1876 novel '' Daniel Deronda''. She acts as a

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

to Mirah Lapidoth.

Biography

Gwendolen Harleth is beautiful and wilful, desired by many men, a fact which she revels in. However, her family falls on hard times soon after the novel begins. It becomes the once proud Gwendolen's fate to work as a

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

to support herself and her family. She desperately tries to escape that fate, and explores the possibility of working on the stage as an actress. She is sorely disabused of that notion, when she learns that beauty and charm alone are not enough to gain her followers on the stage— it requires years of training and hard work. Unable to bear the idea of being a governess, Gwendolen decides to marry the abusive, authoritarian Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt—though she had promised his mistress, Lydia Glasher, that she would not do so, since that would disinherit the children Glasher has with Grandcourt. Glasher had previously left her husband for Grandcourt, and had also been given promises of marriage, but he has never kept his word. Eliot says of Gwendolen, "It was not that she wished to damage men, it was only that she wished not to be damaged by them". Gwendolen and Grandcourt have an unhappy marriage, and Gwendolen is racked by guilt when Grandcourt drowns, as she had been wishing for him to die and hesitated for a moment before trying to save him. Grandcourt had recently made a new will, in which he left the majority of his fortune and estates to his son by Mrs. Glasher, if his marriage to Gwendolen did not produce a male heir. He created the new will specifically in an effort to coerce Gwendolen to do her wifely duty with him to produce a legitimate and male heir. Throughout her ordeals, Daniel Deronda acts as a moral guide. He buys back jewellery she has pawned when she becomes impoverished, and he counsels her when she is distressed about the state of her marriage to Grandcourt and her actions vis a vis Lydia Glasher and her children. When she is uncertain what to do when she is widowed, he encourages her to do good.

Onscreen portrayals

''Daniel Deronda'' has been adapted for the screen twice. The first time, in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

, Gwendolen was played by Dorothy Fane. The second version, a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

serialisation from 2002, has Romola Garai as Gwendolen.

References

External links

* The

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...

of ''Daniel Deronda'' at

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*
profile
of Gwendolen Harleth at the PBS website {{DEFAULTSORT:Harleth, Gwendolen Fictional socialites George Eliot characters Fictional governesses