Mr. Brympton

At the beginning of the story when Hartley meets Mrs. Railton for the job interview, the latter describes him as Mrs. Brympton's husband who is “generally away”;¹ but when he is there, Hartley just has to “keep out of his way”.² He comes and goes, “never staying more than a day or two, cursing the dullness and the solitude, grumbling at everything, and […] drinking a deal more than was good for him”.³ Hartley describes him as “a big fair bull-necked man, with a red face and little bad-tempered blue eyes”.⁴ He is also said to be “coarse, loud and pleasure-loving”.⁵

Throughout the whole story, Mr. Brympton behaves rather rudely towards the other characters, even towards his own wife. When Hartley meets Mr. Brympton for the first time, he gives her a certain look that immediately tells her that he is not very fond of her. She knows “what that look meant, from having experienced it once or twice in my former places”⁶ and that she is “not the kind of morsel”⁷ he is after. Considering the times the story takes place in as well as the unfortunate habit of lords to abuse their power over female (and sometimes also male) staff as well as Hartley mentioning previous experience with similar 'looks', it is safe to assume that Hartley's description is more than a mere hunch. Mr. Brympton may indeed view women as morsels, that is to say as tasty snacks for the taking/ for his own personal indulgence, and he is only not interested in Hartley because she still looks ill.

Further evidence presents itself as Hartley shares her speculations about his illicit activities with other female staff after seeing him “coming up the stairs in such a state that [she] turned sick to think what some ladies have to endure and hold their tongues about”.⁸ In Hartley's mind, Mr. Brympton is abusing other women, likely the other maids, but due to the times, and due to Mr. Brympton being the master of the house, there's nothing they can do. Another example is Hartley's question whether Mrs. Ansey's friend, who used to work at Brympton Place but left, is “young and handsome”.⁹ This implies the assumption Hartley has that Mr. Brympton takes advantage of women he finds attractive.

Falling asleep one night, Hartley is suddenly awakened by the loud sounds of the ringing bell in her room. At first she thinks that she must “been dreaming”,¹⁰ but looking at the bell, she sees the “the little hammer still quivering”¹¹ against the wall. She is quickly trying to get dressed when she suddenly hears a door open and close again, followed by light steps running down the passage. Hartley gets scared at that and stops for a moment, but pulls herself together again and rushes to Mrs. Brympton's room. To Hartley's surprise, Mr. Brympton is the one who opens Mrs. Brympton's door, saying “How many of you are there, in God's name?”,¹² implying that he is either seeing several pictures of Hartley because of his drunken state, or someone else must have arrived there before Hartley. She feels a bit intimidated by Mr. Brympton's words and she feels “the ground [giving] under [her]; but [she] said to [herself] that he had been drinking”¹³ and asks him for his permission to enter her mistress's room. Mr. Brympton replies with “You may go in, for all I care”¹⁴ and to Hartley's surprise, she sees “that he [walks] as straight as a sober man”.¹⁵

It appears that Mr. Brympton is aware of the servants' opinions of him but does not really care how they view him. There is one moment when he asks Hartley whether she thinks he was drunk last night, and even though Hartley truthfully does not think so, he shrugs it off and walks away while muttering to himself what “pretty notion”¹⁶ his servants have of him (which seems to be a sarcastic comment).

While Mr. Brympton behaves rudely towards the other characters, he does not act rude towards Mr. Ranford, though, which is is rather odd because it seems like Mr. Brympton knows – or at least suspects – that his wife and Mr. Ranford share more than the bond of friendship. For example, he knows that Mr. Ranford occasionally comes over to visit Mrs. Brympton and confronts his wife with this and tells her, “One would suppose he was the only person left fit for you to talk to”.¹⁷ When she tries to justify Mr. Ranford's visits, he even yells at her that she has him if she feels alone. Explaining that he is so seldom there for her, Mr. Brympton immediately blames his wife; that she is the reason why the place is “about as lively as the family vault”.¹⁸ This is the first time Mr. Brympton displays any kind of strong emotion towards his wife. Said emotion being jealousy, it appears that he does care about his wife after all; in his own twisted way. It is possible to interpret this moment twofold: He does love her deeply and romantically which is why he feels provoked to react this way. However, this thought can be largely abandoned because at the end of the story, when Mrs. Brympton faints at Hartley's feet and he sees it, he turns it into a rather cruel joke, that “[i]t's a pity she didn't choose a more convenient moment”.¹⁹ The second option for interpretation is that Mr. Brympton does not love his wife in the classical sense but views her more as his property, and is now afraid of losing control of Mrs. Brympton. This could be the basis for his strong reaction. For as his property, Mrs. Brympton is an extension of himself; as a part of himself threatens disobedience, his ego is directly impacted, provoking a hefty emotional reaction.

Later in the story, he unusually stays on while Mr. Ranford stays away from the house and notices his absence. He teases his wife with: “Where's Ranford? […] He hasn't been near the house for a week. Does he keep away because I'm here?”,²⁰ and it seems like he does not even really care (anymore); he even makes it seem ridiculous with “Well, […] two's company and three's trumpery; I'm sorry to be in Ranford's way, and I suppose I shall have to take myself off again in a day or two and give him a show”.²¹

After leaving the house again, he eventually comes back in the middle of the night when Hartley has come to Mrs. Brympton's room because of her ringing bell. Mrs. Brympton denies ever ringing the bell for her, and before she can close the door on Hartley completely, Hartley knocks again at her door and tells her that it seems like Mr. Brympton has returned. At that, Mrs. Brympton faints at Hartley's feet.

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1 Lewis, R. W. B. The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. (Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968. 457-474, Print.), 457.

2 Ibid., 458.

3 Ibid., 462.

4 Ibid., 461.

5 Ibid., 462.

6 Ibid., 461.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid., 462.

9 Ibid., 464.

10 Ibid., 465.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., 466.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid., 467.

17 Ibid., 464.

18 Ibid., 465.

19 Ibid., 473.

20 Ibid., 468.

21 Ibid. f.