Passage Analysis p. 197

 

In Chapter 10 of Book 2 we are introduced to Mrs Sparsit’s Staircase and Louisa’s metaphorical desecnt down it. After a long day of performing chores for the Bounderby household, “Mrs Sparsit looked towards her great staircase and saw Louisa still descending”(197), suggesting that she is continuously watching Louisa and waiting for her to mess-up and symbolically fall to the pressures of Victorian society. From this constant stalking of Louisa we can infer that Mrs Sparsit is plotting to destroy Louisa’s marriage to Bounderby. Dickens juxtaposes Mrs Sparsit seeing “Louisa still descending” (197) with Louisa “[Sitting] by Mr. Harthouse…talking very low” suggesting that Mr. Harthouse has a negative influence on Louisa. The fact that Dickens places Mrs Sparsit’s spying session on Louisa and Mr Harthouse next to Mr Harthouse and Louisa “[whispering] together” in the garden, suggests that Dickens is implying that Mr Harthouse is provoking Louisa in descending down the staircase because he is seducing her fully-knowing that she is a married woman.