Inheritance Reimagined: E.M. Forster’s Rewriting of Edwardian Inheritance Society in Howards End (research paper)

Julie Hastrup-Markussen

When E. M. Forster published Howards End in 1910 it was at the height of ‘the inheritance society’ and the gulf between rich and poor was great and problematic; a fact that Forster was very well aware of. Yet in spite of this, the main character in Howards End, Margaret Schlegel, is a financial independent rentier living off of the wealth of her ancestors. In this study, I argue that Forster in the novel shifts the focus from inherited money to inherited values in order to pardon a society of great inequality. Drawing on an aristocratic principle, he deals with inheritance as an inalienable and spiritual subject rather than as a legal and economic subject thus steering clear of dealing with the poor in ‘the lowest abyss’.