By : E. M. Forster (1879 - 1970)
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The story revolves around three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century: the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings (Margaret, Helen, and Tibby), whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group; and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background. The idealistic, intelligent Schlegel sisters seek to help the struggling Basts and to rid the Wilcoxes of some of their deep-seated social and economic prejudices.
The Schlegels had briefly met and befriended the Wilcoxes when both families were touring Germany. Helen, the younger Schlegel daughter, then visits the Wilcoxes at their country house, Howards End. There, she is romantically attracted to the younger Wilcox son, Paul; they become engaged in haste but soon regret their decision. The engagement is broken off by mutual consent.
Later that year, the Wilcoxes move to London, taking an apartment close to the Schlegels'. Margaret Schlegel befriends the Wilcox matriarch, Ruth. Howards End is Ruth's most prized possession; she feels a strong connection to it. Her husband and children do not share her feelings for the old house. Perceiving that Margaret is a kindred spirit, while on her deathbed, Ruth decides to write a note to bequeath Howards End to Margaret. When the widowed Henry Wilcox reads this note, it causes him great consternation. Henry and his children burn the note without telling Margaret about her inheritance.
A few years later, Henry Wilcox and Margaret Schlegel renew their acquaintance. Their friendship blossoms into romance and Henry proposes to Margaret, who accepts. It is apparent that their personalities could not be more different. The courageous, idealistic, compassionate, high-minded and romantically inclined Margaret tries to get the rigid, unsentimental, staunchly rational Henry to open up more. Henry's children do not look upon her engagement to their father with a friendly eye. But the only real opposition comes from Charles and his wife Dolly; as they fear that Margaret endangers their inheritance to Howards End.
Leonard is living with but not married to Jacky, a troubled, vulnerable "fallen" woman for whom he feels responsible. Helen continues to try to help him, apparently out of guilt for having meddled with his life in the first place for making him quit his job, but also perhaps because she is secretly attracted to him. Helen soon encounters the starving Basts and brings them to Evie Wilcox's wedding celebration, whereupon Henry recognizes Jacky as his former mistress. He flees from the scene, cutting off his engagement to Margaret. His first thought is that the Schlegels and Basts have concocted a plot to expose him, but he later calms down and tells Margaret the truth. Ten years previously, when he was on business in Cyprus, despite being married, he seduced Jacky and then carelessly abandoned her. Margaret, dreadfully disturbed by this, confronts Henry about his ill-treatment of Jacky. Henry is deeply embarrassed and ashamed about this. Such are the ways of the world, to his mind. Margaret, for various reasons, wishes to save the relationship and forgives him.
The Schlegel sisters drift apart, partly because of Margaret's impending marriage into the Wilcox family, partly because of Helen's profound disapproval of Henry's treatment of the Basts. Much distressed by what she has heard from Leonard about the circumstances of Henry's acquaintance with Jacky in Cyprus, she is overwhelmed by love and pity for him; she sees Leonard as a strikingly altruistic and romantic figure. Helen and Leonard are thrown together in an atmosphere of great anguish and succumb to their feelings of mutual passion. Finding herself pregnant, Helen leaves England, travelling to Germany to hide her condition, but she later returns to England upon receiving news that Aunt Juley is ill. Helen refuses to meet her sister Margaret, who, following Henry's suggestion, travels to Howards End in order to surprise her there. Henry and Margaret had designed an intervention with a doctor, presuming Helen's dishonest behaviour was a sign of emotional weakness or mental illness. As soon as they encounter Helen at Howards End, they see the truth. Helen is expecting.
Margaret decides it is her duty to stand by her sister and help her. She tries in vain to convince Henry that if she can forgive him his sin, he should forgive Helen hers. Henry, indignant, remains unconvinced. Leonard arrives at Howards End, still tormented by the affair and wishing to speak to Margaret. He is not aware of Helen's presence, having lost contact with her. Charles Wilcox then bursts upon the scene and in an effort to ingratiate himself with his father, attacks Leonard for purportedly "insulting" Helen. He strikes Leonard with the flat edge of a heavy old German sword. Leonard grabs onto a nearby bookcase, which collapses on top of him. Due to undiagnosed heart disease, he dies on the spot. Margaret informs Henry of her intention to leave him.
Charles Wilcox is found guilty of manslaughter and convicted to three years in prison. The shame and its effects have a great effect on Henry, causing him to take a good look at his life and examine his morals. He learns the value of empathy and begins to connect with others. Writing a new will, he leaves Howards End to Margaret, as his first wife Ruth had wished. He further stipulates that, after Margaret's death, the property will go to her nephew, the son of Helen and Leonard. Helen is warmly reunited with Margaret and Henry. Fully supported by them, she decides to bring up her son at Howards End.
The scene of the tragedy is revealed as a place of poetic justice and redemption. Margaret has resolved the conflict by making a complex, thoughtful, remarkably noble moral choice to stand by her sister, while at the same time reversing her decision to leave her husband. Indeed, by staying married to Henry, lovingly supporting him through his hour of need, she acts as a uniting force, bringing all the elements peacefully together. Leonard Bast's son with Helen is set to inherit Howards End from the Wilcox family, making some amends for the tragedy.
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