I recognize that Lucy's mother is more conservative than her daughter, but her dislike of the elderly ladies she describes as "the tiresome Miss Allens" has always bothered me. What could have spurred her to have such an attitude towards these lovely sisters since she'd never met either. Could the middle class prejudices been sufficient reason?
-- Ew lover, you gonna make me clutch my pearls --
In another place she does talk to Freddy about the "right kind of people"...I forget the quote. She definitely had a snobbish side of her attitude aimed at a certain class. So I would answer yes to your question: "Could the middle class prejudices been sufficient reason?"
I also imagined her comment was based on behind the scenes discussions she had with Lucy about her interaction with the Miss Allens. NOT that Lucy described them as "tiresome," but that HOW Lucy described them led mother to automatically class them as tiresome. IOW, while I don't dislike Mrs Honeychurch, she was definitely uppity. See how she makes fun of Charlotte behind her back.
Interestingly, I thought Cecil's condescension toward the Honeychurches was intended to show us that while Mrs Honeychurch felt superior to folks of a certain class (the Tiresome Miss Allens), she herself was a member of a class over which others felt superior...kind of like a pecking order.
I think partly that, and also that she may have been a bit jealous of her daughter's inexplicable (to her) fondness for the sisters.
"You drank too much!" "That's a thing?"
I thought it might have been that Mrs Honeychurch thought the Miss Alans were not particularly prompt in making their mind up about renting the house. I think she said something like - the tiresome Miss Alans with their iffing and butting.
I may be wrong though.
No, you're right-- apparently, they had been dithering about whether or not to accept the villa. They were writing and asking lots of questions, and finally knowing that the butcher called a satisfactory number of times a week (according to Mr Beebe) tipped them over the edge into deciding to move in. And Lucy even says to Cecil something about "all the trouble I've been to over the Miss Allens" when he tells her about the Emersons moving in. So it wasn't a matter of her mom being snobbish or jealous. They were just two old ladies who couldn't make up their minds, and she was tired of hearing about the indecision.
shareI haven't read the book. I need to read it.
share^ I think this answer hits the nail.. I recall in the book there were a lot of letters coming in and going out dealing with all their petty questions and concerns about renting the cottage. I don’t think Mrs. Honeychurch thought herself superior in class to them, but perhaps more grounded and pragmatic in her comfortable country estate as a widow and mother.
The role of single women in Victorian society is explored through several characters in the film: the self-pitying and meddling Aunt Charlotte, the adventurous and dithering Miss Alan sisters, the lady novelist, the bossy pensione owner, the widowed mothers of Cecil and Lucy, and Lucy herself weighing all the options of traditional marriage, unconventional marriage, adventurous world traveller, and sharing a flat as a working typist in London.
It was a small community, and every new addition would be important. I got the impression she just assumed two elderly, unmarried sisters would be boring, and would rather someone younger and/or male moved in.
share