Mbi Iellarie

The True Heart by Sylvia Townsend Warner is a must read masterpiece of a forbidden love relationship in the Victorian society. Here, the prolific revisionist writer artfully crafts interfigural characters of the Victorian society, with a revisionist feminist pen, to give them a voice and agency in the same society that disregards their worth and place. This is evident in the text where our female orphan protagonist by name Sukey Bond, is ridiculously preached at by Mr Warburton on the prize-giving day. He recalls the life of Sukey's mother as "a French ballet dancer and a laundress", then asks the poor girl to make good use of her youthfulness despite the fact that, she has been a credit to the Warburton Memorial Female Orphanage; and a winner of five distinct prizes including the prize for good conduct and that of the Bunyan's Holy War. Sukey is equally mistreated and referred to as a "Fool" by her supposed mentor in the person of Mrs Seaborn, the rector's wife and one of the patroness of the Warburton Memorial Female Orphanage. This adversary behaviour of Mrs Seaborn stems from Sukey's love declaration for her impaired son Eric Seaborn, whom she as a mother, has hidden from public eyes in Southend, for the pretences of perfection. Sukey's love and attention automatically fills the empty gaps in Eric's life and revamps his views of life in general. Despite the blow and awkward treatment of Mrs Seaborn towards Sukey for loving her son as a low-class orphan, our protagonist still undertakes a journey to London, to dialogue with the Queen on forgiving the moral deviance of Mrs Seaborn (for hiding her son based of the slanting of haven cheated on her husband, before being punished with an impaired child). She even request for a Bible to hand over to Mrs Seaborn, as a sign of moral redemption from the Patroness' fallenness in the Victorian context. This heroic move by Sukey Bond, reveals the orphan as an archetype of innocence and selflessness. However, the orphan's love for the sick privileged Eric and her freewill to redeem Mrs Seaborn from the troop of the fallen woman through moral deviance, with the collection of the Bible from the Queen's own hands on her name (Mrs Seaborn), projects Sukey as a representation of aristocratic nobleness... Reading The True Heart changes the readers perception of the Victorian society, as presented in several male-centred and misogynistic narratives of the Victorian era.