The Remains of the Day 603proposal although he was deeply in love with her.
(His love for her was so deep that even after 20 years
of her marriage, he hoped to reconcile with her.)
Ironically, at the end of the novel, after he has regret-
ted his actions, his ambitious ways are so ingrained
in him that all he can think of is how to please his
new employer, Mr. Farraday.
Like Stevens, Miss Kenton believed that mar-
riage was the death of one’s career. When Lisa, a
favorite maid of Miss Kenton’s, eloped with the
footman, Miss Kenton confided in Stevens: “[Lisa’s]
so foolish. She might have had a real career in front
of her . . . So many young women like her throw
away their chances, all for what?” Later, however,
Miss Kenton, realizes that it is worth sacrificing
one’s ambitions for love and marriage, a realization
Stevens, blinded by his pursuit of ambition, can
not reach. Hence, even when Miss Kenton taunts
Stevens with Mr. Benn’s marriage proposal, Stevens
does not stop her from accepting it.
All four of the characters—Lord Darlington,
William, Stevens, and Miss Kenton—believe that
familial ties are antagonistic to the fulfillment of
ambitions. (Even Lord Darlington had fallen out
with his godson because the former persisted in
helping the Nazis.) They choose to put their ambi-
tions as their first priority but come to regret their
decisions: They realize love and kinship are more
important than their ambitions but can no longer
salvage the situation.
Aaron Ho
ethicS in The Remains of the Day
Kind deeds never go unpunished in The Remains
of the Day. After the Great War, Lord Darlington
becomes acquainted with a German friend, Herr
Bremann. Despite being enemies during the war,
neither Lord Darlington nor Herr Bremann bear
each other any grudge because they know they were
doing their duty. Due to the Treaty of Versailles,
signed in 1949 after the armistice that stopped the
war, Germany suffered economically. With each
passing visit, Herr Bremann gets thinner. His eyes
have a haunted look. Eventually, he shoots himself
and his family is dispersed. Lord Darlington, a gen-
tleman who takes badly to Herr Bremann’s suicide,
desires to put an end to the injustice Germany has
suffered. He pulls several heads of state together to
sympathize with the Germans. Unknown to him, he
is being manipulated by the Nazis in bringing about
another war. Although Lord Darlington is morally
upright, he dies lonely and broken.
Like Lord Darlington, William Stevens, Mr. Ste-
vens’s father, was punished for trying to do the right
thing. When three gentlemen he was driving were
gossiping about his employer, he stopped the car and
opened the door. Instead of threatening the trio, he
kept silent. Only when they, on their own accord,
promised not to badmouth William’s employer did
he resume his chauffeuring duty. This incident
demonstrates William’s loyalty but also his reticence
and ineloquence. Yet, like Stevens, William was so
responsible and loyal that he always put his duties
before his personal life. Since William was Stevens’s
subordinate, whenever Stevens tried to show concern
for William, William would often be businesslike
and cut Stevens off. However, on William’s deathbed,
he regrets the moral propriety with which he has
conducted his life. He says to Stevens, “I hope I’ve
been a good father to you. I suppose I haven’t.” Like
Lord Darlington, William led a life guided by strong
moral values but died with regret.
Like his father, Stevens’s ethical code of conduct
does not allow him to indulge his personal feelings
while he is on duty; Stevens aspires to be known for
his dignity. Even though he attempts to define the
word “dignity” throughout the novel, for him the
meaning is ultimately tied to work alone. For him,
“dignity” is the ability of a butler to be composed in
trying situations. For example, Stevens did not stay
by his father while he was dying because Stevens
was on butler duty. Or when Miss Kenton, the
housekeeper whom Stevens loved, announced that
she was going to accept a marriage proposal, he did
not stop her partly because he was, again, on duty.
Perhaps it could have been predicted that—since
he had neither family nor friends—he was likely to
follow in the footsteps of Lord Darlington and his
father: They had abided by a set of moral principles
but ended in despair and regret.
It is, however, difficult to call Stevens entirely
ethical. He schemes, prevaricates, lies, and eaves-
drops on private conversations. He is petty, proud,
spineless, vain, and megalomaniacal. For instance,