Gwendolen Harleth

Gwendolen Harleth
First appearance	Daniel Deronda
Created by	George Eliot
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Lady
Spouse	Henleigh Grandcourt

Gwendolen Harleth is the heroine of George Eliot's novel Daniel Deronda; she acts as a foil to Mirah Lapidoth. The character was played by Romola Garai in the BBC's serialisation.

Biography

Gwendolen Harleth is beautiful and wilful, but her family falls on hard times, soon after the novel begins.

Unable to work on the stage and unwilling to be a governess, eighteen-year-old Gwendolen marries the abusive, authoritarian Henleigh Grandcourt... though she has promised his mistress, Lydia Glasher, that she will not. "It was not," Eliot says of Gwendolen, "that she wished to damage men, it was only that she wished not to be damaged by them." Before deciding to marry Gwendolen, Grandcourt had told Lydia that he planned to marry her. Gwendolen and Grandcourt have an unhappy marriage, and Gwendolen is racked by guilt when Grandcourt drowns, as she had been wishing for him to die. Grandcourt had recently made a new will, in which he left the majority of his fortune and estates to his son by Mrs. Glasher, if his marriage to Gwendolen did not produce a male heir.

Portrayals on screen

Daniel Deronda has been adapted for the screen twice. The first time, in 1921, Gwendolen was played by Dorothy Fane. The second, better-known version, a BBC production from 2002, had Romola Garai as Gwendolen.

External links

• The text of Daniel Deronda at Project Gutenberg
• A profile of Gwendolen Harleth at the PBS website