A Room with a View

Alone in Santa Croce

Abandoned on the steps and soon deprived of her Baedeker when Miss Lavish disappears down a side street, Lucy feels indignant tears rise. Inside, the church strikes her as barn-like and bitterly cold. She moves disdainfully past monuments of uncertain date, unable to identify the famous frescoes or the Ruskin-praised sepulchral slab. Gradually Italy exerts its “pernicious charm”: she puzzles out Italian notices forbidding dogs and spitting, watches three Italian children mistake Machiavelli for a saint, and sees the smallest he-baby trip over the bishop’s toes on the praised slab.

Meeting the Emerson Family

Lucy darts forward, too late to save the child, and old Mr. Emerson reaches the boy at the same moment. Together they lift the wailing child until an Italian mother appears and miraculously steadies his limbs. Mr. Emerson praises her as more powerful than all the relics, confessing he believes in those who make their fellows happy. Lucy’s earlier contempt melts into a desire to be gracious. When Mr. Emerson learns that Lucy has been abandoned and robbed of her Baedeker, he and his son invite her to join their tour; after a small struggle with propriety, Lucy asks to see the Giottos and follows the younger Emerson toward the Peruzzi Chapel, feeling like a child in school who has answered correctly.

CHAPITRE II.

Chapter II is set in the church of Santa Croce in Florence, where a lecture on Giotto’s frescoes is repeatedly disrupted by the outspoken Mr. Emerson and his son George. The episode draws Lucy Honeychurch into uncomfortable closeness with the Emersons, culminating in an extraordinary appeal from the old man and the sudden reunion with her cousin Charlotte Bartlett.

Giotto Fresco Lecture at Santa Croce

A earnest congregation listens to a lecturer who directs them to appreciate Giotto’s frescoes not through technical criticism but through spiritual feeling, emphasizing the church’s medieval faith and the artist’s freedom from anatomical concerns. The lecture is delivered to a congregation clutching both prayer-books and guide-books, indicating a clerical-led tour group.

Mr. Emerson Objects to the Lecture

Mr. Emerson loudly objects to the lecturer’s romantic claims, dismissing the idea that the church was built by faith as merely a sign that workmen were unpaid, and ridiculing the Ascension of St. John fresco by pointing to the implausibly floating fat saint. The lecturer falters, and the audience shifts uneasily, with Lucy feeling spellbound yet guilty about her association with the Emersons.

Lecturer’s Group Departs the Chapel

A frigid voice announces that the chapel is too small for two parties, and the lecturer’s flock—including the two little old Miss Alans of the Pension Bertolini—files out in silence despite Mr. Emerson’s protests. The procession departs without a word, and the lecturer is soon heard next door lecturing on St. Francis.

Mr. Emerson Apologizes to Rev. Eager

Mr. Emerson, feeling contrite about having spoiled the visitors’ pleasure, hurries off to apologize to the Rev. Cuthbert Eager. Lucy, pretending to study a lunette, overhears the old man’s anxious voice and the clergyman’s curt, injured replies, while George treats the contretemps as a tragedy and explains that his father offends people precisely because his kindness is genuine rather than performative.

Lucy and George Discuss Art

Wandering through Santa Croce amid beggars, guides, and priests, Mr. Emerson and Lucy discuss Giotto, Ruskin, and the Della Robbia babies, while the old man anxiously watches his son and confides his concern that George is unhappy. Lucy sympathizes with the clergyman’s flock but also feels Mr. Emerson’s appeal, sensing that a kind action must be done tactfully—though George reacts to the word “tact” with disdain.

Mr. Emerson Asks Lucy to Help George

Mr. Emerson makes an extraordinary speech to Lucy, asking her not to fall in love with George but to help her understand him, urging her to let herself go and pull her muddled thoughts into the sunlight. Quoting poetry, he explains that George suffers because the things of the universe will not fit, and he pleads with Lucy to teach his son that beside the everlasting Why there is a transitory Yes of love, work, and rejoicing.