The Everlasting Why

How to make George's question mark print in Merchant-Ivory's "A Room with a View"

In celebration of the life of the magnificent Dame Maggie Smith, who so brilliantly played the brittle but headstrong and ultimately good-hearted spinster chaperone Charlotte Lucas in Merchant-Ivory’s “A Room with a View”, here’s a way to bring a bit of the film into your home.

As you know, I love stories that come with art and art that comes with stories, and this is an easy-to-do DIY for one of the best pieces of story-art that ever was.

Towards the beginning of the film, our hero, George Emerson, meets our heroine, Lucy Honeychurch. They exchange quizzical glances across the dinner table at the pensione where all the English guests are discussing their experiences of Florence, and at one point George forms a question mark with the food on his plate and tilts it towards Lucy. Upon overhearing Lucy and Charlotte complain that their rooms do not have views of the river, George’s father declares that they will switch rooms so the ladies might have the view. After much drama and debate concerning the propriety of accepting, the ladies do accept the kind offer and move into the new rooms.

George then abruptly reenters the rooms, strides past them, and goes to a print on the far wall which has scribbled upon it the same question mark - the Everlasting Why - and turns the print around to its proper side which has a portrait of Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington. Without saying a word, he makes his exit, leaving Lucy curious and Charlotte perplexed.

What is the Everlasting Why?

Well, of course, it’s THE question, and it’s asked here by E. M. Forster in the tradition of the great writers and philosophers who came before him - Socrates, Shakespeare, Montaigne, Diderot, Voltaire - who were the great thinkers, the great explorers of the self, the great seekers of like minds, and also the great wits of history. But whereas they - E.M. Forster included - expended volumes of writing on the answer, the fictional George Emerson condenses his answer to the Everlasting Why with the Everlasting Yes, shouting his creed from the trees of of the Italian countryside at the top of his lungs: BEAUTY! JOY! LOVE!

To remind yourself of George’s creed and the simple power of love to balance out the despair that lurks in the Everlasting Why, you can easily craft a version of the Wellington Question Mark.

1. Find a frame with a bit of age to it at a thrift store. I chose a smaller version, with the window measuring 6”x8”.

2. Print out the public domain image (below) of the Count d’Orsay’s oil portrait of Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duc of Wellington; frame the print.

3. Cut out a backing from brown kraft paper or a grocery bag, or you might tea stain some paper. Scribble a question mark. I did mine in heavy pencil and sprayed a quick coat of fixative so it won’t smear, but you could also use pens or paints. Glue or tape the paper to the back of the frame.

4. Find a scrap of old ribbon, or if you’re lucky you’ll have a length of picture hanging chain. I’ve hung mine on ribbon with eyelet screws, but in a pinch you could use staples if they hold securely.

5. Hang your piece one front or back, and enjoy the secret of the other side - and let it remind you to answer the Everlasting Why with your own creed of beauty, joy, and love!