Editha

I found Howell’s Editha to be disturbing, and when thought of in a more timely setting, strangely unsettling. We see Editha in love, with a man who had once considered the ministry. Poor Editha is concerned that her suitor has not properly earned her affections, because she gave them away, as she said without “thinking”. When she encouraged him to go to war, she did so in the hopes that he will be a Hero, not only for her but for God and country too. She knows that he does not believe in war, and uses the “order of Providence” to try and persuade him, and perhaps herself, that this war is right. When he deferred to her will, she was overcome with emotion, not by his sacrifice, but by the fact that he humbled himself to her. Her letter was foolishness, a girl’s emotions and pride all twisted up by the news of the day. Instead of being a true love, she convinced someone who didn’t believe in war to go off in participate in it.
The trip to George’s mother was sad. I think Editha was mourning George as school-girl would, still not comprehending that he only went because of her. She was wallowing in her grief as only a Victorian widow could. Meeting the mother was a wake-up call that she desperately needed, but only slightly answered— she never thought she was sending him to his death, she just thought he would come back a hero; she did not understand the mother’s relief that George didn’t kill any other innocent boys like himself. I think Editha was spoiled and far removed from the normal world, and had no sense of reality in sending out the man she was supposed to love to face the horrors of war. A dedicated sense of pride and nationalism is wonderful thing, but it shouldn’t overshadow personal conviction and moral stance, nor should it stand in the way of true love.