Sylvia's Lovers Part III

Sylvia becomes pregnant and has a daughter, whom she calls Isabella after her mother. But soon after the birth, she learns that Philip lied to her about Charlie, letting her think he had left her, when he had been press ganged. She reacts violently and cannot forgive her husband, somewhat like Cathy in Wuthering Heights, and tells him she will never live as his wife again. Philip is shocked but is then overcome by remorse and leaves the town, ending up joining the army. Sylvia is relieved in some ways, but she gradually realises that while Philip was very much in the wrong, she should try and forgive him. Her impassioned emotions become calmer and she tries to accept the limitations of being a town based wife. Philip makes the best of Army life, though he is not naturally cut out for it. He is injured and sent home and manages to get a place in a charity for old soldiers. However, in a short time he decides he must go back home and ask forgiveness of his wife. Sylvia by now is prosperous and busy with looking after her daughter Bella. She is startled when one day a young well to do woman comes into the shop and she finds that this lady is Charlie Kincaid's wife. He has become an officer in the military and has gone up in the world, marrying a girl with some money. She thinks that Philip would not have found consolation and married another woman in the way that Charlie did. Philip, having been lucky enough to get a place in an almshouse, throws it up to go to Monkshaven. He rescues Bella, his daughter from a drowning accident and Sylvia goes to see him and forgives him. He dies, impoverished and lonely but he has put things right as best he could. Sylvia rears her daughter but she dies young. Bella goes to America. the story ends sadly, but both Philip and Sylvia have grown and matured. However, Sylvia has never adjusted to the constraints of living in a town as a woman after the busier healthier more active life she had lived on the farm. Gaskell noted this, that as women rose in the world they often found that their activities were more limited, especially during the Victorian era.