ABSTRACT
The problem facing the young heiress Cecilia Halkett late in George Meredith’s novel, Beauchamp’s Career (1875), is a familiar one. In an emotionally fraught and socially awkward situation, what kind of language best preserves the feelings and dignity of all concerned, while still conveying the truth? Common, familiar words feel too blunt. More formal and elevated language provides an emotional buffer, but sounds stilted and artificial. Caught between these unacceptable alternatives, Cecilia hesitates as she seeks the right words with which to discourage a marriage proposal she knows is coming but which she cannot accept, because she has just agreed to marry a less attractive and eligible man she does not love. She has a hard time bringing herself to utter the direct, bald, “commonplace” statement “I am engaged,” but rejects the synonyms that present themselves: betrothed, affianced, and plighted. Her problem, as Meredith sums it up, is this: “Between the vulgarity of romantic language, and the baldness of commonplace, it seemed to her that our English gives us no choice; that we cannot be dignified in simplicity” (448).
