Etymology (Diagnosis)
- Daniel G. Dorrance was an eminent New Yorker businessman and politician who was born in 1811. Since he was a member of New York’s upper class society - just as Edith Wharton was - Wharton might have intended to connect Paul Dorrance’s character with some of Daniel G. Dorrance’s attributes.
- Phonetically compared Dorrance is similar to durance [ˈdurəns] which is another term for imprisonment. With Paul Dorrance’s life in context, this comparison is sufficient due to the fact, that Dorrance feels like being imprisoned perpetually - he sees no way to break out so “he fits himself painful into his furrow”.[i]
-As well as durance, the term endurance can be phonetically compared. Endurance is another term for the situation of bearing something which does not cause positive feelings in the moment of experience. Since Dorrance is aware that he has cancer (which is at least what he thinks) he has to endure living with his doom as well as with his decision to marry his mistress.
- Durance is an approximately 300 meters long river in France. But except the phonetic similarity there is no other obvious connection between the stream and Paul Dorrance.
For further readings:
Eleanor Dorrance, née Welwood:
- During the height of the Middle Ages, Eleanor was a name for women of high nobility in Western Europe. Furthermore, it was one of the most famous names given to female neonates during the first decades of the 20th century (when “Diagnosis” has been published).
- The name Eleanor can have two different meanings, depending on the country of origin:
Provençal: Aliénor - the foreign/ the strange
Germanic: Helen (Ele roots from Hele) - Light
Both translations can be connected to Eleanor: even though Paul Dorrance has married Eleanor until the end he does not entirely know how she is and was. She kept her secret and Paul obviously underestimated her by calling her “[p]oor child”.[i] She has always been in a greater or lesser extent been a stranger to him.
As already mentioned in “Light and darkness”, Edith Wharton conveys emotions and mood by using light. Translating Eleanor's character into light, it could have been intended that she is seen as Paul Dorrance’s only hope (when light mediates hope, as it often does in literature) in his time of passing away: “For he understood now that he must marry her; he simply could not live out these last months alone.”[ii]
- Eleanor of Aquitaine was the Queen of England and France in the 12th century and is known as one of the most influential women of the High Middle Ages. She was married to Louis VII of France but sought for annulment of the marriage. This divorce triggered a conflict between England and France which persisted for more than 300 years since Eleanor married Henry II of England shortly after her separation from Louis VII of France.
In conclusion, Eleanor Dorrance, née Welwood, can be compared to Eleanor of Aquitaine not only by her name but also by some other facts, such as her divorce.
For further readings:
[i] Wharton, Edith; Robinson, Roxana (2007): The New York stories of Edith Wharton. New York, NY: New York Review Books (New York Review Books classics). p.490; 397; 383
[iii] Ibid. p.396.