The Inheritance seems like a Cinderella story mixed with Romeo and Juliet. Some of the main characters fit these old stories almost perfectly. We have our heroine falling in love with her prince like Cinderella she is elusive and her evil step sister tries to grab the prince for herself because she has the status to do so. Like in Romeo and Juliet our couple lives each other after a brief meeting and much like Romeo and Juliet can’t be together and are aware of it. The character Tybalt comes into mind when thinking of who helps keep them apart Ida kept pushing Edith and lord Arlington together because all he had was money and she didn’t fancy him. The plot of The Inheritance is mostly around Edith, her inheritance, and Percy. Edith falls in love with Percy because of class they can’t be together then it’s found out that Edith is their cousin so they can be together.
The main characters of The Inheritance novel are Arthur, Percy, Edith, Amy, Mrs. Hamilton, Ida. The minor characters are lord Arlington, the old man, and louis. If you take the characters how they would appear in the other stories Arthur would be like the king holding a ball by inviting Lord Percy. Edith is the princess either forced away from the one she loves like Cinderella or told they cannot be together like Juliet. Amy could also take part like Juliet’s nurse or the carriage that brought Cinderella to the ball since she is the reason Edith gets to accompany them. Lady Hamilton like a queen does not show much but weighs on issues like when she realized her money was being stolen. Ida is an evil step sister she tries to do everything she can to draw Percy to her she doesn’t care the expense. She would probably even cut off her own toe.
The setting of The Inheritance takes place in the English country side primarily in the home of lord Hamilton as described on the first page “in a green park, where troops of bright-eyed deer lay sleeping under drooping trees and a clear lake mirrored in its bosom the flowers grew upon its edge, there stood lord Hamilton’s stately home half castle and half mansion.”pg3 the mansion was describes as pretty and old in fact part of the castle was decaying and the whole mansion was surrounded by a garden the majority of the story happens in the mansion.
The conflict in the story is shown as Edith’s love for Percy she has neither status or money and feels like even though they shared a mutual live for each other that grows more and more as the story goes on. His interest in her starts when he hears her sing. “fair gost”pg8 was the word that he used to describe her and with her song his interest grew until he met her.
With each meeting like Romeo and Juliet they grew fonder of each other and they wanted to be together but were kept apart by Ida. Ida was interested in lord Percy because of his money and status like one of Cinderella’s evil stepsisters and lord Arlington could be looked at as Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet. He was a man that did not have any respect. He was pushy and if he was not insulting the women around him then he was tormenting the one he felt interest for in this case Edith. During the tableau, they were to do a love scene Edith refused lord Arlington would not let go of her she ended up cutting her locks and refused to leave her room. Lord Arlington soon after left with a feeling of regret from his visit. Ida on the other hand takes part in trying to keep Edith from Percy the best she can. Ida even goes as far as telling Edith “you have no right to stand in the way of my happiness as you do, and I hate you for it.”pg50 Ida continues to hurt Edith and at one point she even convicts her of stealing though she is innocent. She is very much like Cinderella’s evil step sisters trying to gain the wealth and status the prince possesses for herself.
Like a fairy godmother an old man visits Edith he tells her about her parents and the great wrong he had done them. He gives her a chest that contained all the documents stating that she was the one to inherit the Hamilton’s money. She had gained the status and money. She threw away all of it because she did not want to disrupt the kindness of the family that took care of her. She like Juliet new that though she loved him they could not be together and like Juliet she would rather go her own path trying to meet the man she lives and though she did not feign death. Her love I believe at least like Romeo would still follow her. Even though in his eyes she still did not have money or status.
Though the story seems to play out like a twisted version of Cinderella mixed with Romeo and Juliet there are differences. Like how Edith does not want to change how her life is even though she finds out she could be with her love the fact that she is not alone is enough for her. And even the few people that are known as antagonist in the story like lord Arlington and Ida are remorseful and even are forgiven in the end. The major twist I see in this is it’s more like Edith was the prince the whole time because she held the family’s wealth and status.
