The Viscount Who Loved Me

In a well-crafted essay, explore how Kate’s interactions with Edwina, as well as Anthony’s interactions with his siblings (Colin, Benedict, Daphne, etc.) offer insights into their respective family dynamics and how they understand their role as an older brother or sister. Be specific and avoid plot summary.

At several points throughout the novel, Anthony compares women to dogs, saying that he can effectively order and control both “species.” Choose one such scene and examine it in contrast to a later scene where Anthony’s attitude on how to relate to women has changed.

Anthony recalls enjoying William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing with his father. Anthony memorized the song “Sigh No More” from the play, the lyrics of which include lines such as “Men were deceivers ever” and “The fraud of men was ever so / Since summer first was leavy.” Since Anthony learned the song simply because he liked it, consider these lyrics (or other lyrics from the song) and how they may inform Anthony as a romantic lead. Then, identify a scene in the novel in which Anthony’s thoughts or actions contradict the song’s claims about men.

As the narrative moves between Kate and Anthony’s perspectives, this creates dramatic irony, a literary device wherein the reader becomes privy to information one character may not yet know, such as the other’s thoughts and feelings. Identify one significant scene in the novel which creates dramatic irony and conduct a close-reading of that scene where you analyze how the narration attaches significance to things the characters do not yet understand (irony, suspense, foreshadowing, etc.).

When Anthony learns his father died from a bee sting, he does not believe such an insignificant creature could truly bring down a great man. Examine another scene in the novel where Anthony misjudges the significance of someone or something, and what that misjudgment does for his development as a romantic lead. Use quotations from the novel to support your argument.

The novel relies on allusions to and tropes from Shakespeare’s comedies, specifically Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. Like those plays, this novel’s romantic leads often miscommunicate and make assumptions of what the other means or feels, assumptions that often turn out to be incorrect. How does the novel work within these tropes, while also pushing back against other common romance tropes?

Identify at least two conclusions Anthony has made about love, his life, and/or his duty, and conduct a thoughtful examination of those beliefs to identify logical fallacies in them. Then, find at least two passages that correspond to those fallacious beliefs, and examine by what means he realizes his errors in reasoning and reconsiders his position.

How does the novel portray the effects of unresolved childhood trauma at the beginning of Kate and Anthony’s relationship, and how do they un-learn what that trauma taught them about themselves, both individually and together?