This section will tell you about the significant relationships of the main characters. ‘The Unexpected’ has only one significant relationship and that is the engagement between Randall and Dorothea. Randall becomes so ill and this changes his appearance, so much so that Dorothea, when she sees him, refuses to make a firm commitment to marrying him, instead running as far away as possible. In ‘The Arch Deceiver’ there are several relationships between Tony a number of other women namely Milly, Unity and Hannah. Although Unity and Hannah discover Tony is a deceitful, lying person they still want to marry him. Tony is engaged to Milly but even though he has flirted with other women they still get married. I think they didn’t split up because Tony lied to Milly by telling her that he didn’t mean anything he had said to the other two women but unknown to Milly this was a complete lie. In ‘News of the Engagement’ there are three relationships: Phillip and Agnes, Phillip’s mother and Mr Nixon and Phillip and his mother. We learn about Phillips engagement at the start where it says: “Hence it came to be on 20th of December I had proposed to Agnes and been accepted by Agnes” We learn about Phillips Mothers engagement at the end of the story where Mr Nixon talks to Phillip. It says: “Its no use me beating about the bush. What do you think of me as a stepfather?” We know Phillip and his mother are quite close because he writes to her every week although neither of them tell each other of their respective engagements in their weekly letters.
I will now analyse the three stories and record their similarities and differences. All of the stories tell of a relationship between friends or between people who love each other. They all feature women doing unexpected things for their times for instance in ‘The Unexpected’ the woman cares about the man’s looks and won’t marry him just for his money; in ‘The Arch Deceiver’ the woman doesn’t marry for money but for love; and in ‘News of the Engagement’ Phillip’s mother gets engaged when she is quite old and has already been married before so she appears to be looking for companionship as well as love. They differ in the ways in which they portray their stories even though they all talk about woman doing things and encouraging their right to do what they wish. They describe how men and women related to one another in the 19th Century. ‘The Unexpected’ tells us that women were starting to care about a man’s looks and not necessarily about how much money they had. This was probably unusual to the Victorians as women were considered to be totally dependent on their men and not think for themselves. ‘The Arch Deceiver’ describes how, although men lie and cheat, some women are strong enough to say ‘no’ and keep their dignity whilst others are more forgiving and willing to believe what they are told. ‘News of the Engagement’ shows a woman despite her age, getting married for love and possibly companionship – not money or looks which again is not a normal thing for a woman to do.
These stories were written at a time when the suggestions that women could behave independently would have been shocking.
In the Victorian times women would have been so dependant on men that they would not have acted independently. They would have married for money and status and not cared about the age or appearance of the men. ‘The Unexpected’ shows Dorothea suddenly realising that looks do matter and that she could not commit to caring for a man who was so ill despite his wealth. This is confirmed at the end where it says ‘Never!’ ‘Not for all his thousands! Never, never! Not for millions’. This would not be expected of a lady at this time as they would have been instilled with a greater sense of duty and so she would have been expected to go ahead with this marriage, if not out of love then out of duty.
‘News of the Engagement’ would have shocked people because it shows Phillip’s mother, a fairly old woman, getting engaged to Mr Nixon at such a late time in her life. I don’t think it was usual for a woman, once widowed and over a certain age, to be expected to marry again for love. Women over a certain age were not considered desirable or wanted. This is confirmed by the sons’ own admission at the end where it says ‘I had never thought of my mother as a woman with a future. I had never realised that she was desirable and that a man might desire here, and that her lonely existence in that house was not all that she had the right to demand from life’
‘The Arch Deceiver’ shows Milly accepting Tony’s offer of marriage even after he lied to her and tried to marry all the other girls before finally turning to Milly again. Tony only asks the other women to marry him because he wants to rebel against his father ‘Now, of all the things that could have happened to wean him from Milly there was nothing so powerful as his father’s recommending her’. Firstly he asks Hannah but because he has asked her publicly and her father is present she wants to prove to her father that she can say ‘no’ although secretly she would have liked to accept. This is confirmed by ‘I have spirit and I do refuse him!’ says Hannah, partly because her father was there and partly too, in a tantrum because of the discovery” and ‘Never – I would sooner marry no-nobody at all!’ she gasped out, though with her heart in her throat, for she would not have refused Tony if he had asked her quietly, and her father has not been there’. She is hopeful that he will pursue her later. However Tony asks Unity, who I believe feels second best and therefore refuses out of pride. “Take her leavings? Not I” says Unity “I’d scorn it!” And away walks Unity, though she looked back when she’d gone some way, to see if he was following her. Having been refused by the previous women Tony accepts that through is lying the only person who will accept him is the one he didn’t really want. However he continues to lie even at the end – “You didn’t really mean what you said to them?” “Not a word of it!” declares Tony. I think Milly accepts what he tells her because she wants to and she loves him. I also think that Tony can’t help himself, he is just a compulsive liar and tells people what they want to hear at the time. During the times this story was written I think women would have been expected to accept that men lied and cheated and should just be grateful that a man was prepared to marry them in the first place – just a Milly did. I think the previous women only refused out of pride. In Hannah’s case her honour had also been questioned and in those days if a man had behaved dishonourably then he would have been expected to marry the women in order that no child was borne out of wedlock. Hannah’s face was scratched by a bramble but it might have appeared as though she had been forced to do something against her will. Her father obviously thinks the worst and demonstrates the fact that fathers’ during that time were domineering. “My daughter is not willing, sir!” “Be you willing Hannah?” I ask ye to have spirit enough to refuse him, if yer virtue is left to ‘ee and you run no risk?”
In conclusion, I think all the stories teach us valuable lessons and how important it is to treat women as individuals. ‘The Unexpected’ teaches us that beauty is only skin deep and that to love someone means you accept everything about them. ‘The Arch Deceiver’ teaches us not to mess with peoples’ feelings and that once you tell a lie you will always be found out, not always with the result you expect. ‘News of the Engagement’ teaches us not to be selfish, self-centred and to think of others before ourselves.
