The fictitious Three Barns is the scene for which Rex Gascoigne takes Gwendolen to a hounds throw. A hounds throw is a traditional, stuffy, aristocratic British pastime that involves hunting for wild game on horseback with the aid of sporting dogs (Encyclopædia Britannica). This scene was particularly pivotal in Daniel Deronda, for it characterizes Gwendolen as brazen in her anti-conformation to Victorian notions of femininity. Gwendolen’s attendance of the hounds throw is particularly bold in that hounds throw events were considered a “kind of violent exercise unseeingly in a woman” and that “no lady of good position” ought to participate (Eliot, 86). Additionally, the Three Barns scene exemplifies Gwendolen’s anti-conformist attitude through her carefree attitude about Rex’s marriage proposal. She declines any reciprocal love for Rex and confides in her mother that she “shall never love anybody” and that she “can’t love people” (Eliot, 101). Gwendolen’s comments about love speak to her opinions of marriage as a restrictive and boorish institution which places strict limitations on a woman’s freedom. The Three Barns scene is paramount to our understanding of Gwendolen and goes onto demonstrate how her values are questioned and challenged in her subsequent marriage. The Three Barns scene captures a quintessential part of British Victorian culture as to drive the characterization and storyline of Gwendolen. 

Works Cited: 

Eliot, George. Daniel Deronda. Simon and Brown, 2018. 

“Field Trial.” Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/sports/field-trial. Accessed 30 April 2021. 

Gillray, James. Hounds Throwing-Off. 1800. The British Museum, London, England. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hounds_throwing-off._(BM_1868,0808.6877).jpg. Accessed 30 April 2021.