Talk:The History of Henry Esmond

relationships
Strictly speaking, Lady Castlewood is not Henry's cousin, but his cousin's wife. What makes the marriage disturbing from the 20th century point of view is that while growing up, Henry seemed to regard Lady Castlewood as his foster-mother (and Beatrix as his foster-sister). Apparently, in Thackeray's or Esmond's time (before Freud), marrying or flirting with your adoptive family was not considered incest. CharlesTheBold (talk) 18:35, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

The synopsis says Henry is the child of George. I'm not seeing this. The story hints and creates a mystery of who the father is up to about half way through. Isn't Henry's father Thomas, so Henry would be George's nephew? Thomas was killed in battle and confessed concernng Henry, and wasn't he the third viscount? But I'm only half way through the novel. Maybe something else developes! Reagardless of fatherwood, Thomas was the third viscount.
 * —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arsalanrush (talk • contribs) 18:32, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I essentially agree with this previous comment on lineage. (I'm only about a third of the way through the novel.) I reread the first few chapters trying to figure out the relationships, and it doesn't explicitly reveal who the father is. Glad to know there's more to be said. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fredsaid22 (talk • contribs) 04:21, 8 December 2009 (UTC)