As The Egoist shows, Meredith's most important women characters have become too complex to undergo fairytale metamorphoses, or even (as Clara's softening towards Willoughby and Laetitia's stunning honesty in front of his aunts illustrates) to toe their author's own anti-sentimentalist, antisensationalist line. In his last few novels, Meredith creates another tranche of heroines who respond like flesh and blood to their predicaments. To be sure, even when matched with the less dominant sort of hero, they never gain complete independence. But this was not because Meredith was, after all, ‘one of the boys’. Rather, it was because of his abiding concern with the larger purposes of nature.

‘THE TALE OF CHLOE’ AND THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS

Admittedly, not all his later heroines are inspirational. ‘The Tale of Chloe’, a novella from the same year as The Egoist, and The Tragic Comedians, a full-length novel from the following year (1880), illustrate the poles between which his views of women have swung. Although both heroines are intriguing in different ways, neither, as he himself seems to have recognized, offers a viable way forward for women readers.

Chloe is introduced as pure-hearted but with a ‘playfellow air’, a ‘frolic spirit’ that distinguishes her from the usual angelic archetype beloved of the Victorians (Chloe 5; 233). Living in Regency Bath, she has given her heart and fortune to the faithless Sir Martin Caseldy, who now plans to elope with the young but already married duchess whom Chloe is chaperoning. As the duchess creeps out of their lodging house, she encounters an obstacle. For a moment she is ‘ready to laugh, ready to shriek’ at the strange hindrance (Chloe 10; 263), but then she realizes (horror!) that the object is a body. The virtuous Chloe has hanged herself from the door, giving up her own life to prevent the younger woman's ruin and its possible consequences.