Washington Square: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

That evening Catherine sits in front of the fire for more than an hour, thinking. Recognizing Aunt Penniman’s foolishness makes her feel “old and grave.” She still respects her father, and feels that displeasing him “would be a misdemeanor analogous to an act of profanity in a great temple,” but she believes she must follow through on her “terrible plan.” When she goes to Dr. Sloper’s study, at first she’s unable to speak, but finally she admits that she has been writing to Morris and would like to see him again; she doesn’t intend to give him up.

To Catherine’s surprise, Dr. Sloper greets her confession with an embrace. He explains that if she wishes to make him happy, she has only to give Morris up, and it would be better for Catherine to be unhappy for a few months than for a lifetime. He asks her to trust his assessment that Morris is “a selfish idler.” Catherine asks only to see Morris so that she can explain and ask him to wait until Dr. Sloper has a chance to know him better. She adds that they can wait “a long time,” and Dr. Sloper says that they can wait until he dies, if they like. Catherine is horrified. Dr. Sloper’s words are so authoritative for Catherine “that her very thoughts were capable of obeying him,” but she tells him that if she doesn’t marry before his death, she won’t after.

Catherine tries not to show emotion, since her goal is “to effect some gentle, gradual change in [her father’s] intellectual perception” of Morris’s character, but she has exhausted her arguments. She says she will see Morris once, and Dr. Sloper tells her that will make her “an ungrateful, cruel child” who will have given “your old father the greatest pain of his life.” Catherine weeps as he guides her out of his study. He feels sorry for Catherine, “but he [is] so sure he [is] right.” After Catherine leaves, Dr. Sloper thinks, “I believe she will stick!” and resolves to see it through, as the scenario promises “entertainment.”