Would you mind looking at this phrase?
Would you mind looking at the phrase ‘terrific inscription of forfeited hopes’ in the second passage?
I guess it’s a kind of inscription noting that she is deprived of all hopes. What do you think?
Thank you.

PS: The context is taken from ‘To-morrow’ written by Joseph Conrad.
the context:
In the other house old Carvil (the girl’s father, with an evil repute as a domestic tyrant) wallowing regally in his arm-chair, with a globe-lamp burning by his side on the table, yelled for her, in a fiendish voice: 'Bessie! Bessie! You, Bessie!'

She heard him at last, and, as if overcome by fate, began to totter silently back towards her stuffy little inferno of a cottage. It had no lofty portal, no terrific inscription of forfeited hopes - she did not under¬stand wherein she had sinned.

Question

Would you mind looking at this phrase?
Would you mind looking at the phrase ‘terrific inscription of forfeited hopes’ in the second passage?
I guess it’s a kind of inscription noting that she is deprived of all hopes. What do you think?
Thank you.

PS: The context is taken from ‘To-morrow’ written by Joseph Conrad.
the context:
In the other house old Carvil (the girl’s father, with an evil repute as a domestic tyrant) wallowing regally in his arm-chair, with a globe-lamp burning by his side on the table, yelled for her, in a fiendish voice: 'Bessie! Bessie! You, Bessie!'

She heard him at last, and, as if overcome by fate, began to totter silently back towards her stuffy little inferno of a cottage. It had no lofty portal, no terrific inscription of forfeited hopes - she did not under¬stand wherein she had sinned.

Answer

I'll admit that I have not read this book (and thus don't know the relationship between Bessie and Carvil, nor understand Bessie's circumstances), but I can make some guesses as to what it may mean.

These forfeited hopes are not an indication that she has been deprived of all hope, but more likely a description of those things she once hoped for but gave up on (forfeited).

When we look at the adjective that describes the hopes ("terrific"), as well as the adjective that describes her doorway ("lofty portal"), we see that the author is using fairly grandiose words in the description of something very plain. Her cottage is not grand, it is not fancy. It does not have a list of her forfeited hopes because in the first place she did not hope for much. She has had a simple life and longed for little more than what she needed to survive.

The line after the dash: "She did not understand wherein she had sinned." refers back to this. She has been humble, as is advised by her religion. Why does she feel God is treating her as though she had sinned? She does not understand what she did to deserve this treatment.

Answer

This is a difficult passage.  I believe you are correct.  She is giving in to hopelessness in a quiet way.  Not fighting what she believes is fate.  Here is a link to a discussion of this: https://books.google.com/books?id=bEQb6TS1oLoC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=terrific+inscription+of+forfeited+hopes&source=bl&ots=RzVY7qyQin&sig=QNTKd9LS45Ecpzs553cB7LQhI4I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcysXyp4TbAhWHMGMKHS6TBjcQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=terrific%20inscription%20of%20forfeited%20hopes&f=false

Answers · 2

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