My guess is that at the very least, she wouldn’t have been loved. I agree with the perspective that Catherine forgave Morris, but she would never forget how she was treated and ultimately she would not allow those people to affect her in such a way any longer. Female anger (especially when it’s justified) is obviously terribly frightening to people. The first time he only wanted my money.
At any rate, I am personally interested in the story (as depicted here or in the novel) as my own father is (and probably many fathers are) quite similar to Austin, with my older brother in Catherine’s role. I love how you described Catherine’s voice when telling her aunt about Morris as a “hypnotic possession” because that’s what it was. Those moments were fleeting earlier in the movie, but now there’s no reason for it to be fleeting, now that she is more in-tuned with herself and has gained inner-strength.I have read through all the comments but I didn’t see anything related to the thing that really bothered me the most, or maybe I missed it? I love what you say about the costumes. I don’t think Morris loved her, either – but he wanted her to love him at the end.We’re linking to your article for Academy Monday at SeminalCinemaOutfit.comI don’t see her as hard or bitter, more toughened and aware. To me, this was the act of a woman who had become so jaded that she was capable of truly nasty revenge. She cannot forgive her father or Morris. Those lines gave me chills.Her father won. I think what most surprised me about the ending was that she didn’t *shoot* him….I was expecting her to have enough “passion” left to take a true payment for the grief he’d caused.
After reading your interpretation, I agree that she has shed her ties to her old life of that naive girl. Was she triumphant? Catherine completely ignores Morris, leaving him outside knocking and banging on the door to be let in. If Morris does leave, she will have had some happiness and will have the child.That is really interesting! We see that she has not been totally hardened after all–a bit of the old Catherine is still there, waiting and hoping for Morris to come. As far as finding out what she did about how her father felt I really felt so bad for her, I think her father did love her but he was disappointed with the fact that she wasn’t anything like her mother who he apparently adored, he may have also held it against Catherine that she died in childbirth?No wrong answers here, Anne! Instead of the other parent dying due to his/her birth, he will simply have vanished due to its presence, almost as final a result, and with a fall in social status to boot. The ascent up the stairs says it all. However, I am not one to believe that Morris was only a gold-digger and not in love with Katherine. “I have been taught by masters”. Her aunt asks her if she can be so cruel, and Catherine coldly responds, "Yes, I can be very cruel. The two major men in her life were the ones responsible for this…first her father. When I first watched the movie, I, too, got chills at the “He came back here with the same lies” bit. Morris was an opportunist, her father saw it and rightfully wanted to protect his daughter while at the same time keeping her under his chauvinistic thumb, as I’m sure he kept his beautiful trophy wife. Was she triumphant?
Olivia de Havilland is a true artist and genius. I haven’t changed my mind. This was their wedding night, the remembrance of the inn–and her belief in him, that she was willing to defy her father for his love.Wow, this is so interesting and a beautiful analysis. Directed with a keen sense of ambiguity by William Wyler, this film based on a hit stage adaptation of Henry James’s Washington Square pivots on a question of motive. As for Morris – you could practically see him appraising the house as he strutted around it, both before and after his desertion. Now it’s merely a cool dress for a warm evening – or maybe it’s a bit “Miss Havisham”?
Ms. de Havilland is a new favorite of mine, to me she’s at least the equal of Crawford, Davis, Hepburn and other big names.
But it was pretty brutal. I will never believe that her father loved her. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this production, but it would be interesting to see if any new references are added.Too right, the staircase tends to be the most divisive aspect of interpreting this film. She’d already made up in her mind, long before Townsend had reappeared that he never truly loved her, and that perhaps she wasn’t worth his love. I don’t know, I always love a love story and for this, I will always give Morris the benefit of doubt. Some think of her as a bitter woman at the end, some as a triumphant one. Look at how her expression changes so subtly and gracefully–from cold and distant, to sad, to hopeful, to wistful and nostalgic, to sad again, and then ultimately back to cold and distant, but this time with an air of calculation about her.
The same silly phrases. Oy!