Diana - Tenant ch 32-37

In these chapters, Helen and Milicent display their level of friendship more deeply than they have before, underscoring the emotional need women have for friends. Helen says "How odd it is that we so often weep for each other's distresses, when we shed not a tear for our own!" (272) Relationships with men can never completely fulfill a woman's emotional needs, and Helen's relationship with Arthur is worse than many marriages, increasing her need for female companionship.

The old adage, "the wife is always the last to know," also plays out in these chapters. No wife wants to believe her husband is unfaithful. She will tread every path of denial in an effort to prove her intuition wrong. Helen is no exception. We cringe as we read about her effusive greeting of Huntingdon near the shrubbery (285), because we know the truth. We sympathize and read more quickly as the moment of revelation draws close. When Huntingdon declares to Annabella he does not love Helen, "not one bit, by all that's sacred!" (291), we grow indignant at his blasphemy and flinch at the pain he inflicts on Helen, who hears his declaration.

Helen's hurt is so deep, she even turns away from Milicent. Helen finally stops blaming all those around her for Arthur's misdeeds and their horrible marriage and fully accepts the blame. "I wanted no confidant in my distress. I deserved none--and I wanted none. I had taken the burden upon myself: let me bear it alone" (293).

As Hargrave courts her, we not only wish she had married him, we wish him success, although Helen would be breaking her own marriage vows by succumbing to him. He loves her so intensely that she begins to respond, and we cheer him on. However, we're brought up short when she reminds us in her final refusal of him that her integrity is all she has left. "I have nothing left me but the solace of a good conscience and a hopeful trust in Heaven, and you labour continually to rob me of these" (322). We realize that we, too, have labored to rob of her those, and we repent.