Line #17 Literature/SweetErmengarde


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sweet_ermengarde.jpg]]
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3	"Sweet Ermengarde, or, The Heart of a Country Girl" is a comedic short story by Creator/HPLovecraft, written around 1920 and first published posthumously in 1943.
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5	It is a parody of the formula {{melodrama}}, in which an innocent young woman is romanced by a strong upright young man and menaced by a DastardlyWhiplash villain, and everything turns out all right in the end.
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7	Ethyl Ermengarde Stubbs, who isn't as simple as she makes out, is romanced by poor but honest Jack Manly and menaced by the wicked 'Squire Hardman. There's a kidnapping, an elopement, a poor woman alone and friendless on the streets of the heartless big city, and many other dangers, but it all comes right in the end (for Ermengarde, if not necessarily for anyone else).
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9	!!This story contains examples of:
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11	* AffablyEvil: Hilariously invoked for a single line with Squire Hardman; when he realizes the fortune attached to Ermengarde [[StatingTheSimpleSolution could be obtained simply by foreclosing her house rather than conducting a elaborate damsel-in-distress scheme]], the Squire lets Ermengarde go and ''politely apologizes'' for the AndNowYouMustMarryMe bit before reverting instantly back to Whiplash mode.
12	* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: 'Squire Hardman attempts to force Ermengarde to marry him. [[spoiler:In the end, ''she'' forces ''him'' to marry ''her''.]]
13	* AuthorAppeal: H.P. Lovecraft adored cats, and 'Squire Hardman's depravity is established when he kicks, not a dog, but an "unquestionably innocent" cat.
14	* AwfulWeddedLife: 'Squire Hardman is defeated and married at the end, in that order, with the marriage being described as "the last terrible punishment".
15	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Ermengarde is presented as being innocent but is really a vain amoral sociopath and ''attempted murderer''.]]
16	* CheatingWithTheMilkman: One of Ermengarde's false suitors goes off after her rejection and marries the woman he really loves, only for her to "run away with the milkman and all the money in the house".
17	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Jack Manly and Ermengarde have loved each other since they were at school together.
18	* ComplexityAddiction: 'Squire Hardman threatens to foreclose on Farmer Stubbs's mortgage in order to force Ermengarde to marry him in order to get his hands on Farmer Stubbs's land. About halfway through the story he suddenly realizes that since it's the land he really wants, he can just go ahead and foreclose, and leave Ermengarde out of it.
19	* DastardlyWhiplash: 'Squire Hardman is the cliché with all the knobs turned up until they fall off. He is rich and elderly, dark and cruelly handsome, carries a riding crop, and has a moustache which he twirls viciously. When in a bad mood, he kicks an "unquestionably innocent" cat to relieve his feelings -- ''while'' twirling his moustache ''and'' his riding crop, an impressive feat of dexterity if nothing else. His favorite pastimes are gnashing his teeth and swishing his riding crop. And, of course, he has a mortgage on the Stubbs farm and threatens to foreclose if he doesn't get the girl.
20	* DestinationDefenestration: At one point, Ermengarde defends her virtue by pushing a man out the window -- of a moving train. (He reappears again later at a dramatically appropriate moment, prompting the narrator to remark: "He had survived--this much was almost immediately evident.")
21	* EitherOrTitle: The full title is given as "Sweet Ermengarde, or, The Heart of a Country Girl".
22	* {{Elopement}}: Algernon Reginald Jones persuades Ermengarde to elope with him, but she discerns his true nature before they actually get married.
23	* GoldDigger: With the exception of Jack Manly, [[spoiler:who ends up falling in love with someone else anyway]], every man who seeks to marry Ermengarde is said to be at least as interested in her father's land and business as in her personal attractions.
24	** In the end [[spoiler: ''even Ermengarde herself is one of these.'']]
25	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Ermengarde, supposedly, but it's a running gag that the hair of gold comes out of a bottle, and her heart isn't as sweet and innocent as she makes out either.
26	* HillbillyMoonshiner: Hiram Stubbs, Ermengarde's father.
27	* JustInTime: After many incidents, Ermengarde and Jack, traveling separately and in at least one case without any apparent effort, both arrive back at the farm just as 'Squire Hardman is about kick Ermengarde's parents out.
28	* KickTheDog: When he discovers that he has Jack Manly as a rival for Ermengarde's hand, 'Squire Hardman relieves his feelings by kicking an "unquestionably innocent" cat.
29	* LongLostRelative: Ermengarde, alone in the big city, meets a rich elderly woman who takes her in because she reminds her of her long-lost daughter. Sure enough, it turns out at the end that Ermengarde ''is'' the long-lost daughter.
30	* LudicrousPrecision: Ermengarde is 5 feet 5.33... inches tall and weighs 115.47 lb. Approximately.
31	* {{Melodrama}}: Parodied.
32	* MorallyBankruptBanker: 'Squire Hardman has the mortgage on Hiram Stubbs's farm, and threatens to foreclose if he doesn't get his way.
33	* NamesToTrustImmediately: Jack Manly.
34	* NominalHero: Jack Manly. The story even includes a scene where the good guys nearly give in to despair until "suddenly Jack remembered he was the hero". [[spoiler:He turns out to be completely useless in the end, though.]]
35	* ObviouslyEvil: 'Squire Hardman, a full-on moustache-twirler with a statue of Satan on his mantelpiece.
36	* ParodySue: Ermengarde Stubbs, sweet sixteen (she claims), whose hair is golden (she dyes it), whose complexion is "beautiful but inexpensive", and who is beloved by every eligible bachelor in the district (because she's the heir to her father's land). Under her fluffy innocent exterior she has a ruthless pragmatic streak that shows at occasional moments, and she turns the tables on the villain in the end.
37	* PyrrhicVictory: Hardman technically [[TheBadGuyWins wins]] as [[spoiler: he gets both things he was after]] but in the worst way possible.
38	* PreppyName: Algernon Reginald Jones.
39	* PronounTrouble: Invoked for laughs.
40	-->''But these tender passages, sacred though their fervour, did not pass unobserved by profane eyes; for crouched in the bushes and gritting his teeth was the dastardly 'Squire Hardman! When the lovers had finally strolled away he leapt out into the lane, viciously twirling his moustache and riding-crop, and kicking an unquestionably innocent cat who was also out strolling.\
41	"Curses!" he cried -- Hardman, not the cat -- "I am foiled in my plot to get the farm and the girl!"''
42	* RagsToRiches: Parodied.
43	** Jack Manly sets out to seek his fortune so he can save the Stubbs farm, and [[spoiler:fails completely, returning at the end looking "worn and seedy" and approaching 'Squire Hardman for a loan]].
44	** Ermengarde is adopted near the end by a wealthy old woman who is impressed by her honesty in returning the old woman's lost purse. (After, the narrator notes, having looked inside and found it didn't contain anything worth stealing.) She also inherits her father's land and [[spoiler:gains control of 'Squire Hardman's fortune by marrying him]].
45	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: To start with, Ermengarde's main suitors are the rich and evil 'Squire Hardman and the poor and honest Jack Manly. Later, 'Squire Hardman drops out of the race but his place is taken by the city sophisticate Algernon Reginald Jones.
46	* RunningGag: Ermengarde claiming to be only sixteen when she's actually pushing thirty.
47	* SophisticatedAsHell: One source of humour in the story is the narrator and the characters switching without warning between high-flown melodramatic speech and 1920s colloquial speech.
48	* WhipOfDominance: MorallyBankruptBanker Squire Hardman carries a riding crop with him as a symbol of his high status, sadism, and villainy. He's described to be often twisting it or to be swishing it around.

Context Literature / SweetErmengarde