A Room with a View

Though A Room with a View is rooted in English ideas of class and etiquette, the novel begins in Italy. Throughout the novel, the narrator takes a very disparaging view of Italians. Those few who are named are portrayed as immoral and unable to control their sexual urges, while the English characters frequently refer to Italians as though they were little more than rural peasants.

In the city of Florence, these English tourists have retreated into a social enclave that separates them from Italian society. Even the Bertolini itself is run by an English woman who presents herself as Italian. The novel may begin in Italy, but by taking these English characters out of the English society they inhabit, their social mores become even more pronounced: The Bertolini is an England away from England. Inside, wealthy middle-class English people are able to perpetuate their beliefs in a safe place.

The social expectations of England extend to the Pension Bertolini. Inside the hotel and in the social bubble of middle-class English people, everyone is expected to adhere to Edwardian social etiquette. An example of this is the misogynistic attitudes toward women. Charlotte embodies these attitudes. She is an older, unmarried woman who is not wealthy but who still belongs to the middle class, as she adheres to the system of social etiquette.

The ways in which Charlotte frets over Lucy demonstrate Charlotte's strict adherence to this system of etiquette. Though the system has not benefited her in a material nor in an emotional sense, she takes value from perpetuating Edwardian social etiquette. Lucy, she insists, must be careful about when and how she talks to any man, but especially those from outside her social class, such as the Emersons or Italian people. These ideas are reinforced from women in similar positions, as when the Miss Alans act scornfully toward the Emersons for having the temerity to offer their rooms to Lucy and Charlotte. These unmarried women police the boundaries and expectations of the English etiquette system.

The appearance of Miss Lavish, however, presents an alternative world. Miss Lavish is a writer who does not adhere to the social expectations placed on women. She writes books for a living, granting her economic agency at a time when women are expected to inspire men, rather than seek inspiration themselves. Charlotte quickly becomes enthralled by Miss Lavish, and she will eventually betray Lucy's trust by sharing a secret with the writer. To Charlotte, Miss Lavish embodies a dangerous kind of quiet radicalism. She perpetuates many elements of the class system and inherently understands and adheres to Edwardian social etiquette, yet she is also an independent and outspoken woman.

Charlotte is willing to betray Lucy's trust because she is enamored with Miss Lavish as a countercultural figure, someone who possesses everything that Charlotte has been denied during her life. Though Charlotte continues to demand that Lucy respect the Edwardian system of manners, she is delighted when Miss Lavish breaks these unwritten rules. Charlotte's friendship with Miss Lavish hints at the hypocrisy that forms the foundation of Edwardian social expectations.

Mr. Emerson does not understand these unwritten rules. He is a working-class man who married a wealthy woman, though she is now dead. As such, Emerson has the money to travel to these British enclaves abroad, and he is sincerely interested in broadening his mind with foreign cultures, but he functions as an agent of chaos in the Pension Bertolini. Emerson is a disrupting force because he is honest. He speaks truthfully, refusing to cloak his conversation in layers of complex and unspoken rules and expectations.

When Emerson hears that Lucy would like a room with a view, he quickly offers to swap with her. Every middle-class guest is immediately offended. Later, in private, they comfort one another that someone would do something so abhorrent and radical as to offer to swap rooms. His offer foreshadows the choice that Lucy will have to make in the final chapters between following her heart or bowing to Edwardian class pressures.

Emerson is honest and sincere, yet his actions are transgressive in so-called polite society. For people to get exactly what they want, they must accept the offense to Edwardian etiquette. Lucy wants the room, but manners dictate that she must decline the offer. Since she really wants the room with the view, however, it is arranged with the help of Mr. Beebe. He knows which words to say and, even though they essentially follow through with Emerson's plan, the resolution is only the result of a middle-class seal of approval from Beebe. The offer itself was not wrong, seemingly, only the manner in which it was made and the person who happened to make it.

The entire system of Edwardian manners is fragile and absurd, based on the whims of everyone involved but also followed with religious fervor. By accepting Emerson's offer, Lucy indicates that she is not quite as devoted to the middle- class rules as everyone around her, thereby foreshadowing the path her character arc will take.