Virginia Woolf's three pager The Legacy is a great little piece about English love. It is set like a detective story. You believe that the hero is in love with his wife, who recently died and left a legacy to all her friends. He is totally unaware of what had happened in her life before her death because he had been busy as a politician. He had been ignorant until after the funeral when he is left alone with all the things that she had in front of her.
He has been given the legacy of her diary. A happy marriage she had from the beginning: travelling, listening to speeches he made in a big hall... He was her God, he was the centre of her universe. However, towards the end of her life, she met a mysterious B.M., initial of a man who is possibly a left wing activist who thinks that she should change for the better. Who is B.M.? This mysterious person is soon transformed from just friend into someone who is more intimate. She dined with him alone when he is not in town.
What is happening? The man is totally clueless until his past finally catch up with him: his wife is having an affair with B.M., and B.M. is his wife's secretary's brother.
B.M. and his wife have killed themselves because their liason is forbidden. Their affair will destroy this man, his career in the parliament, and will destroy each other's life. They have no children: there is certain amount of regret in his tone, but the reason may also be apparent: she is still a child.
A short piece showing the love between two person can be so disatrous. The man will be forever affected but unable to do anything because he didn't do anything before her death. His career is saved, but his heart is not.
This short story reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, the couple who came from rival families. The woman in this story comes from the upper class, with good breeding and sensible brain. She wants to do something in her life to make the life of others different so she goes and help the poor. However, can she really change? No. She is unable to give up her easy life to be with someone she loves. B.M. was unable to do anything, either. Is it because he is poor? Is it because he had to work to earn money so he killed himself to be with her after death? We are not given the details, but we can picture him in our mind. He is a ragged man, wearing old waistcoat and dirty hat, possibly no hat because he is a socialist. He does not have a proper job because he does not want to work for the upper class, but he does not have the labour skills to do the hard job, either. He probabaly come from a middle class family, but his parents didn't leave him much to go by.
I like this story because it is short and to the point. It finishes at the right point, not revealing much so you can be imaginative. Virginia triumphes again.
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