Maude Clare

• What theme does Maude Clare link to?

  Conflict and resolution

  Love and marriage

  Truth, lies and secrets

  Outsiders
• Maude Clare is set immediately after a wedding, it makes sense for there to be smiles but title suggests otherwise
• 3 main women and Lord Thomas' wedding
• Lord Thomas' mother went through the same thing with her husband, generational, women will win men over
• "Nell" has implications of death and has to die for new love to be present
• Who are the 3 women in Maude Clare?

  Maude Clare

  Thomas's mother

  Nell
• Maude Clare and Thomas used to be a couple
• Maude Clare gives Thomas gifts as he will need blessings to manage in life "My half of the golden chain" special memento
• "Lilies are budding now" shows Maude Clare and Thomas should be marrying, lilies are a symbol of death and suggest fertility, their relationship ended prematurely
• Thomas gets embarrassed when Maude Clare mocks him
• Forbidden love as Rosetti rejects lovers due to religion, is Maude Clare religious?
• Maude Clare has clear disdain for the union between Nell and Thomas so gives Nell a "fickle heart" declaring she no longer wants anything to do with Thomas
• "Take it or leave it as you will" reminds Nell she can still leave him like in No thank you John
• Nell acknowledges Maude Clare is smarter and prettier but he loves her more due to her class, opposite of sisterhood as they are competing for affection
• Nell is like Nora at the beginning of the play as Maude Clare is like Nora at the end of the play
• "My lord was pale with inward strife" he's lying and marrying the wrong woman and he is trying to contain his emotions and masculinity
• Nell recognises Thomas doesn't love her yet "I'll love him till he loves me best"
• Unlike Nell, Nora realises that women sacrifice their identity for men but their love is always selfish and self-serving
• Maude Clare dwells on the idea that marriage is not ideal because it doesn't fulfil love
• "Half of the golden chain" is a gift from Maude Clare and it's only whole when together and suggests that marriage deteriorates real love
• Nell gets the last word in the poem but the final thought is from Maude Clare which emphasises the impending doom on their poem
• A03: This poem is different to the Pre-Raphaelite theme of tragic love as it isn't infused with love and tragedy through the introduction of death but instead the love triangle which leaves all parties alive, unsatisfied and longing for fulfilled love
• Maude Clare shows how she is willing to walk away and leave Thomas despite loving him and there is no melodrama
• Nell suffers with inner conflict with herself to be better than Maude Clare and gain Thomas's love to stabilise her position
• Thomas is still torn about wanting Maude Clare despite having just married Nell so he "was pale with inward strife" due to the conflict between what his heart wants and what is best for his social class