58 pages • 1 hour read
Marie BenedictLady Clementine
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Elizabeth I’s Portrait
During her wedding to Winston Churchill in St. Margaret’s Church, Clementine Churchill, put off by the conversation between her husband and the bishop, sees a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, one of the longest-serving sovereigns. Clementine notes that Elizabeth “would have never tolerated being kept waiting like this, and I feel almost as if she’s taking me to task for allowing the bishop to detract from my moment” (38).
This portrait and the mention of Elizabeth symbolize The Complexities of History and Gender, by recalling one of the great sovereigns of England’s past. Throughout her reign, Elizabeth remained unmarried and childfree, ruling alone from 1558-1603. Elizabeth remains notable not only for her gender but also for the way she defied stereotypes associated with women and feminine roles. Right after Clementine sees this portrait, she considers her own place in history, and begins to chafe against being ignored. She vows that “without the education, accomplishments, or nobility of my intended” (38), she will make her mark on history. Unlike Elizabeth, Clementine marries, but she does so determined to exercise political and personal agency just as the Tudor queen did.
The Dove
During her trip to the East Indies with Terence, Clementine begins to feel attracted to him and makes an advance, which he gently rebuffs. He nevertheless makes it clear how much he admires her, and before she departs from Bali he gives her a dove to take home to England. He tells her that the bird is a symbol of her own transformation.
During her time abroad with Terence, Clementine has the space and time to reflect upon her marriage and her own role in society. She chafes against how dependent she has been on Winston’s approval and recognizes, through her attraction to Terence, that she too has valid needs and a longing to be fully seen and appreciated. In giving her the bird, Terence reminds Clementine of her own value and her need to “take flight” by embracing her own agency. When Clementine first returns to England and the pressures of her normal routine, she at first thinks she has forgotten the bird, only to rediscover it in her car. The bird and Clementine’s rediscovery of it thus symbolize the way Clementine finds herself and her own voice as she matures and grows both personally and politically.
Clothing
Clothes form an important motif in the novel, helping to signal social status and Clementine’s growing solidarity with working-class women. Clothes are important to Clementine from the very beginning, as she struggles to dress “appropriately” for someone of her class. Without the appropriate gloves or gowns, she almost misses meeting Winston at Lady St. Helier’s mansion, and his invitation to Blenheim initially goes unanswered because of her lack of suitable dresses. Once she marries Winston and allies with him in marriage and politics, her clothes move beyond the empty symbolism of the aristocracy to camaraderie with those shut out from full participation in society—in particular, the women whom she champions during the First and Second World Wars.
This relationship between Clementine’s advocacy and her clothes begins on her wedding day. The maid Mary gives her clothes to wear as a disguise, which foreshadows Clementine’s care and consideration for women and workers later in the novel. Walking in the chill, Clementine notes that, “Mary’s wool coat is too thin,” before considering how “Mary makes it through the winter in such a coat” (6). In recognizing that Mary’s coat reflects Mary’s poverty and that Mary nevertheless must endure the chill while wearing it, Clementine confronts the social inequalities that mark British society.
Later, when touring sites in England bombarded by the Germans during World War II, Clementine adapts her style to reflect her solidarity with the working women she champions: As she notes, “I adopted the bandana style of headscarves as soon as I saw that the female factory workers throughout the country tied up their hair in this style for safety and to keep out dirt and dust,” and proudly reflects, “I’ve been told my wardrobe of scarves has become my trademark, aligning me with the British women and showing my support of them” (319, emphasis added). Clementine’s clothes now demonstrate how committed she is to raising the status of all women in Britain, functioning as a tribute to all the nameless Marys who assist Britain in winning the war.
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By Marie Benedict
