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Book 4, Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Our Mutual Friend, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Society, Class, and Character
Greed and Corruption
Marriage, Adoption, and Family
Education vs. Real-World Experience
Misfits and Outcasts
Summary
Analysis
Bella wakes up early to make breakfast for Mr. Wilfer, who gets out of bed without waking Mrs. Wilfer. They both sneak out of the house and take a steamboat to Greenwich, where Rokesmith waits for them on a pier. They all go to a church, where Bella and Rokesmith get married. Bella sends back a letter explaining everything to Mrs. Wilfer. Mr. Wilfer, Bella, and Rokesmith have dinner that evening at a hotel to celebrate.
Bella’s wedding is a joyous occasion, but it also exposes the divisions in the Wilfer family as Mr. Wilfer has to literally sneak out of bed in order to avoid alerting Mrs. Wilfer to Bella’s plans. While Lizzie maintained the belief that it was better to support Gaffer, even when he wasn’t a good father, Bella shows how sometimes doing the right thing might involve being disobedient.
Themes
Bella, Mr. Wilfer, and Rokesmith head back home. Bella asks questions about what she was like as a little girl, and Mr. Wilfer says she was always very good. She makes Mr. Wilfer promise that he doesn’t feel like she’s abandoning him now that she’s gotten married, and he happily gives his blessing.
The fact that Bella was good as a little girl suggests that there is something fundamentally good about her, in spite of how she sometimes gets tempted or acts impulsively. Mr. Wilfer has shown good judgement throughout the novel, and so his approval of Bella’s marriage is a sign that she has made a good decision, even if her mother doesn’t realize it yet.
Themes
