Who Mr. Wentworth is
Mr. Wentworth lives on a quiet New England estate with his children. He is grave and anxious, presiding over a household where pleasures must first pass the test of conscience.
His strictness does not mean that he or his family lack kindness. Their honesty and care are real, but their fear of doing wrong leaves little room for easy enjoyment.
What Mr. Wentworth wants
Mr. Wentworth wants conduct to answer to a clear sense of right and wrong. When his European relatives arrive, he watches their relaxed manners with uncertainty rather than sharing their ease.
He cannot readily decide whether their enjoyment expresses a different custom or something morally troubling. His concerns give the novel's contrast between duty and pleasure a personal, domestic form.
Mr. Wentworth and the others in the story
His son Clifford has been sent down from Harvard, and Mr. Wentworth remains upset about his youthful excess. Clifford's easygoing nature sits uneasily beside his father's strictness and concern for proper behavior.
Felix Young offers to paint Mr. Wentworth, a proposal that challenges the family's suspicion of portraits as vanity. Through this cheerful visitor, the household encounters someone who treats happiness as natural rather than a cause for guilt.
Questions
Who is Mr. Wentworth in The Europeans?
Mr. Wentworth is the father of Charlotte, Gertrude, and Clifford, and the host of their visiting European relatives.
Why is Mr. Wentworth wary of the Europeans?
Their easy enjoyment unsettles his conscience, because he worries that pleasure may involve wrongdoing.
