Winstanley Budd.
Relations to other characters.
- Fiancée (later husband) of Jane
- Son-in-law of Julian Lethbury and Alice Lethbury
Mr. Winstanley Budd is a secondary character of the short story “The Mission of Jane”. He attracted Mr. Lethbury´s attention when Mrs. Lethbury reported he would come to visit their house more often than other gentlemen. At first, he is believed to be interested in Elise, Jane´s friend, but his visits continue without Elise visiting Jane. Mr. Budd is an extremely polite and patient gentleman, maybe too patience: he endures too many of his fiancée´s caprices. Possesses a very impulsive temperament: his exaggerated politeness threw him “into the attitudes which endangered the furniture” (Wharton, “The Mission of Jane”). In general, neither Mr. Lethbury, nor his wife are interested what kind of person their future son-in-law is, they see him as the last hope for a marriage for Jane. His material standing is unknown, as well as his family is not mentioned, and this fact confirms that it didn´t matter for the Lethbury´s, whom their daughter would marry. His interest in Jane seems to be genuine: he endures all her caprices and patiently waits a month for her answer to his proposal; he lets the wedding be as Jane wants it to be, and in return to the effort of Mrs. Lethbury to explain him, Jane was not always so exacting, he answers that Jane´s parents never understood or appreciated her. After this conversation Mr. Budd turned cold to Jane´s parents and showed his disapproval openly, which one more time underlines his impulsive character. Jane herself seemed not to be sure, if Mr. Budd is the right gentleman to marry, and at the end of the story Mr. Budd´s character changes rapidly from polite and patient to dominant and relentless, what Jane possibly had known from the start. He possibly did not not want his wife to be near her parents, who don´t appreciate her, and forced her to leave with him.
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