Character Analysis
Joyce Lanyon Arrowsmith
More sophisticated than Madeline and of higher social and financial standing is Joyce Lanyon, Arrowsmith's second wife. The way in which she wins his esteem recalls the role of Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer. Joyce in a gingham dress cooking and cleaning in the West Indies is a different Joyce from the fashionable widow who is a leader in the Rolls-Royce set. Her possessiveness and her desire to exhibit Martin and his talents in time become overwhelming, and he goes from one extreme to another in practically abandoning civilization for a chance to pursue his laboratory work in peace.