The Importance Of Motherhood In The House In Paris

Positive connotations are often associated with the word "motherhood." Ideas of love, patience, and a uplifting presence in their child 's life are attributed to good mothers. Women who were raised with a positive mother figure most often turn out to be good mothers themselves. Likewise, it is expected for those with negative motherly influences to become a negative role model. All the uplifting qualities that good mothers seem to possess in modern culture are absent in Elizabeth Bowen 's The House in Paris. Motherhood is a central conflict in the novel, as figures like Madame Fisher and Mrs. Michaelis inflict verbal and psychological wounds on others-- even their own children. The ultimate example of betrayal occurs at the very end of "The Present" when Karen abandons Leopold and …show more content…
In "The Present", she is depicted with whispers and small glimpses of her psyche. It is not until we look into "The Past" that we see how much of monster she truly is. The most telling moment is perhaps in the final minutes of Max 's life, when she encourages him and commends him for having the gall to break his relationship with Karen off. It was "the final commendation he could not bear" (Bowen 203). We can only wonder how long Madame Fisher had chipped away at his confidence. Madame Fisher is portrayed as a maniacal kind of sorceress that is constantly cutting away at the resolve of her prey. Neil Corcoran, a professor in English at the University of Liverpool, depicts Madame Fisher as a vampire-like being in his article "Elizabeth Bowen: The Enforced Return." Madame Fisher is vampiric in that she draws blood out of Max as he cuts himself in his final moments (Corcoran 92). Her house having served as a boarding house for little girls, represented the evil that was inside Madame Fisher. She dominated the house with an evil that was so powerful no one who was touched by it left the house the