A Room with a View

George Emerson is a young working-class man who has been raised by his father to hold a rebellious, critical mindset. While Mr. Emerson married into his wealth from a working-class background, George has been raised differently. Unlike his father, he has the capacity to move relatively unphased through middle-class society. In company, he rarely makes the kind of social faux pas that distinguish his father as a working-class man at all times. In private, however, George breaks the system of social etiquette with abandon. On two occasions, he kisses Lucy in a move that she and Charlotte believe to be scandalous.

George's private willingness to break with social convention is related to his own understanding of his emotions. Whereas the middle-class characters carefully guard their true emotions, cloaking their sincerity in layers of manners, George is free to express himself. Thanks to his working-class family background and his father's insistence on critical thinking, George is not bound by the same rules that govern the lives of middle-class people. He operates in a liminal space between classes, able to perform many of the behaviors expected of middle-class society while not being necessarily bound to their rules and emotional restrictions.

Operating in this space between classes does not necessarily make George happy. When he is first introduced into the novel, George is portrayed as a sullen, melancholic figure. His father pities him, noting that his son might not actually be depressed but admitting that George's solemn air contains a hint of misery. This melancholy seems apt for a man who does not fit in anywhere. Following the death of his mother, he is caught between worlds. He and his father live a middle-class lifestyle, but they are never accepted into middle-class social circles. In places like the Pension Bertolini, they are ostracized because of Mr. Emerson's inability to adhere to social expectations.

Lucy represents the key to solving this melancholy. Mr. Emerson recognizes in Lucy the same desire for emotional honesty that he has tried to teach his son. Lucy is of a younger generation than most of the middle-class characters. She represents a new future, one in which social class is not as fixed and important. For a Socialist like Mr. Emerson, a classless society is an ambition to be strived for. For his son, George, a classless society might be the only way to address his melancholy. Lucy, someone as seemingly disillusioned with social class as George, is the key to his salvation. As a result, he cannot contain his passion for her.

George's father is a key influence in his life. Mr. Emerson encourages his son to think critically about the world, and this skill is the one with which George finally helps Lucy to see the truth about Cecil and the world as a whole. In an impassioned speech, George criticizes Cecil's misogyny and his character. When Lucy mentions that George suffers from many of these same flaws, George accepts her criticism. His ability to criticize both the world and himself distinguishes him from men like Cecil, whose arrogance hinders his ability for self-reflection. Lucy sees George in a new light. After breaking off her engagement to Cecil, she marries George. She sees that they share the same view of society, as something that can be changed and adapted. George's education in critical thinking and his awkward class position in society may initially cause alienation, but they eventually lead to happiness.

Cecil is the wealthiest character in the novel, a man whose financial means far surpass those of the other middle-class characters, to the point where he never needs a job and can enjoy a life of leisure. This material wealth imbues Cecil with an arrogance that is evident in his interactions with the more provincial middle-class characters.

Cecil divides his time between Rome and London. The time he spends in Summer Street is, to him, boring and dutiful. He only attends the tea parties and church socials out of a sense of duty to Lucy, while at the same time making plans to bring her to London. Cecil aims to raise Lucy to his status, rather than allow himself to descend to her lower status, as he perceives it to be.

Cecil looks down from his lofty, wealthy mantle on the likes of Beebe, Freddy, and Sir Harry, in a way similar to how the middle-class guests at the Bertolini look down on the Emersons. In this sense, his character extends the broad spectrum of class dynamics in Edwardian society and illustrates that—even within the English middle class—there are complicated layers and nuances.

Cecil's relationship with Lucy is a function of his wealth and arrogance. Throughout their brief engagement, he objectifies her in a literal sense. He compares her to a painting or a piece of art, something that is owned and enjoyed by a man without having any agency in its own right. Like his many possessions, Lucy is simply something that can be acquired and enjoyed, though he admits that he may have to refine and train her to better suit his London social circle. He and his mother plan to tame Lucy's more rural and Honeychurch-style traits, turning her into "one of us" (131). George recognizes this flaw in Cecil, claiming that Cecil is incapable of knowing another person simply because he is too wrapped up in his own self. In particular, Cecil's lack of respect for women means that he will never be able to actually know or empathize with a woman.

George's criticism helps Lucy to see this truth about Cecil. She realizes that he does not truly know her or love her, simply because he is not capable of doing so. When Lucy reveals this to him, however, Cecil hints that he may be capable of change. In that moment, he ceases to see Lucy like a painting that he can own and admire. He looks at her "instead of through her" (183), accepting that she is an individual with agency, thoughts, and emotions in her own right. While Cecil disappears from the novel shortly after, Lucy's stinging rejection suggests that—in the future—Cecil may be capable of empathizing with and understanding the women in his life after all.