I just watched the film and I don't get it. What was it that made the family change their habits and leave the house after Ruth's death, since the note existed no more? And why so negative about even one night of Hele'n staying there? I'd like to know, if anyone read the book and can tell me.
shareHavn't read the book. However have some ideas about your question. Throughout the film ran the themes of property and empire/imperialism. The Wilcoxes were extremely weathly capitalists whose money had come from Africa and imperialism. To them the house was a simple piece of property, as opposed to Ruth who had a deep emotional tie to it. They didn't much care for the house as it was old, small, inconveniently located but it was property. Therefore they wanted to hold onto it in their greedy quest to own more and more.
Tied to this was the Wilcox's firmly held belief that they could do no wrong. Hence they exploit the Basts not once but twice. They have no regrets, these people are below their social horizon, they do not count, likely the same attitude they have to their African holdings (remember when Margaret first goes to the office "well I suppose this is the imperial end"). They don't allow Helen to stay in the house because she has transgessed their social code, a code they strictly implement to their own benefit (the unimportance of the poor, propertiless and women, and the importance of a conservative moral code). However they themselves feel free to transgress this code at their will, they in their imperial grandieur feel above the rules.
The end of the film therefore can be read as a death of the old order. The illegitimate baby plays outside Howards end, Charles is inprisoned for his crime (did Margaret leave him?).
What I couldn't understand is what Margaret was meant to see in Henry Wilcox? She didn't seem like a gold digger.
Thank you very much, what I found strange is that after Ruths'death the Wilcoxes themselves did not sleep in the house either, or that's the idea I got from the film, and I couldn't see why. I thought it had to do something with the note they burned, but noone outside the family knew about that, so it couldn't be - or could it? Maybe it was a kind of remorse?
shareI think Howards End was Ruth's house rather than Henry's and that they probably stayed there because of Ruth's attatchment to the property and, rather sentimentally a lost, idylic past (the pony, the teeth in the tree). It certainly seemed that after Ruth's death the Wilcoxes stayed in a bigger house in the country near London and seemed to be planning to build yet another house despite already having a property portfolio that was hard to keep up with.
Why did Charles seem so keen to have it when he didn't really seem to like the property and it certainly didn't seem to suit him? Why didn't Charles stay there? I don't think that was entirely clear.
I think there may be an analogy between the character's relationships to property and to each other. Henry seems to want to own as many houses and woment as possible, but there is very little of him in any of either, he is a cold man who does everything by the book. Ruth knows Howards End's every nail, and loves it as much for its faults as anything else, I'm sure she knew of Henry's infidelities but decided to love him still. Helen seems loosely tied to property and people alike, whilst Margaret seems always to be searching under the surface.
I don't think Charles cared all that much about Howard's End, until the Schelgels came into the picture. He certainly didn't want Margret to have it, and then there was was the whole mess with Paul & Helen. I think (in a way,)Charles thought that all Margret & Helen did all day long, was sit around scheming on how to entrap the Wilcoxe men and nab their property, too...lol !!
shareThey didn't stay in the house because none of them really liked it and they had many other properties to chose from. In the book I think Henry owns five, Charles and Dolly own one, and Evie and her husband own one. It was implied that the family only lived at Howards End because Mrs. Wilcox liked it and after she died they were free to live in a more convenient location (proximity to town, fancier etc). They saw the house as a property only and had no attachment to it. I can't remember if it was explained in the movie but Mr. Wilcox had also rented out Howards End to a tenant who was living there for most of the novel/movie until he picks up and leaves (at this point Henry suggested storing the furniture from Wickham Place).
As to your original question, why Henry did not want Helen to spend the night in Howards End, I believe it's a matter of prejudice. Helen's condition would be extremely embarrassing for an upper-middle class person (Margaret, Helen, and Tibby's class) but for an upper class person to be caught up in the situation could ruin his reputation. Henry was concerned with the news of Helen's status of a "fallen woman" getting out and having his name be dragged down by association. You can see his opinion of the lower class at many other points in the movie (calling the servant stupid, caring little about the Basts, etc.) so you can imagine how much he fears being dragged down from the top of his class. The most obvious example of this is how he fleas from Mrs. Bast at the wedding, opting to break off his engagement to Margaret rather than answer questions about his less than clean past.
I agree with georgiain. But it is not just that the Wilcox's are greedy. I think they, rather the Wilcox children because Ruth and Henry obviously do not, also have a deep contempt and condescension for the Schlegels. It is not so much that they want the house; they have strong aversion to the very thought of the Schlegels having Howards End.
shareI agree that Henry was cold and blunt. Ruth was a lot more loving and dreamy, so Howard's End to her was a perfect place to reside. It's very ethereal and whimsical, fitting in with her personality perectly. Henry, being like he was, didn't eeem to like Howard's End much at all for exactly those reasons.He's too uptight and businesslike to appreciate it.
I think both Margaret and the revelations about his past helped him to lose some of his rigidity and value life a bit more, which is why at the end he seems almost content with staying at Howard's End.
A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste
[deleted]