Undine As A Villain

Register to read the introduction… 31, P. 243). Unfortunately, it only took the ransoming of her own son and the death of Ralph Marvel to achieve it. Like her second husband, Raymond de Chelles' family held titles, property, and possessions worth money; however, their lifestyles were much less than ostentatious. Undine wanted grandiose surroundings and to hob-knob with all the social elite. Regrettably, this was not going to be apart of her future with Chelles, nor would her past behavior be tolerated with her new husband. It seemed as though Undine had finally been beat. However, when she reunited with Elmer Moffat, her first, yet short-lived husband and first love, Undine came back to life as she heard of his success amongst New York society, as well as, and more importantly, his …show more content…
Moreover, unlike Undine, whose character seems to continually diminish, Moffat's character seems to blossom before our eyes. While Undine becomes ever-increasingly the villain, Moffat emerges the hero. All we really know of Moffat at the opening of the story is that he is "greedy," lacking money, family and social status and that he used Undine and may be a threat to her and her family. However, as the story progresses, we learn that Undine was taken away from him immediately following their wedding. Apparently, he was not the merger they intended for their daughter or their family. However, after arriving in New York, Moffat assures Undine that he would never betray the secret of their quickie annulment and that he only wishes she would introduce him around to assist in building business relationships. Moffat informs Undine that he came to New York solely to make a name for himself, not because he "wishes to break into her gilt-edged crowd" (Ch. 9, P. 67). Furthermore, Moffat enables Mr. Spragg to gain the money he needs to give Undine in order for her and Ralph to wed sooner. Although we are unaware of all the details of their transaction, a transaction, nonetheless, has taken …show more content…
As Ralph asks for Moffat's help and entrust him with the details of his situation with Undine, Moffat, once again, appears to stick by Undine and protect her. Even Undine has "often wondered" why Moffat helped her (Ch. 41, P. 301). However, Moffat, an "invader" amongst the people he now associated with, "never had the time to nurse old scores," nor the desire (Ch. 41, P. 302). All along, Moffat's intentions were "not just to get ahead of the other fellows," but to "have the best" (Ch 41, P. 303). He believed Undine's intentions were the same; however, Undine herself does not know the full extent of her intention, for she is never satisfied for