Character Analysis
Mrs. Montague joins her husband later in Hill House, and she totes a companion named Arthur around with her. Mrs. Montague and Arthur both have a fascination with the paranormal, and, just like Dr. Montague, they wish to prove its existence. Their methods, however, are more, let's say, creative—and certainly less scientific—than Dr. Montague's, which is saying something, considering the lack of science in the doctor's method. Their techniques include séances and planchettes.
Woman's Intuition
Mrs. Montague is a comic relief character, a riff on the traditional mother figure. On the surface, she seems to be an honest, caring woman who is only trying to help those in need. She even says:
"Perhaps you do not feel the urgency which I do, the terrible compulsion to aid whatever poor souls wander restlessly here; perhaps you find me foolish in my sympathy for them, perhaps I am even ludicrous in your eyes because I can spare a tear for a lost abandoned soul, left without any helping hand; pure love—" (8.94)
That's sweet and all, but it really doesn't stack up with her actions. She constantly belittles her husband without any thought about his feelings and needs. Her experiment with the planchette shows that she's a person only interested in herself and her boy toy Arthur. Notice how the planchette's readings can all be read as vague reiterations of her favorite classic Gothic tropes—or as reminders to Arthur to buy flowers for his aunt (7.97).
When Eleanor's life is in danger on the library stairway, Mrs. Montague can be found "sheltering [herself] against the probable collapse of the stairway" (9.44). How's that for pure love? In a way, Mrs. Montague is as needy and controlling as mother figure as Eleanor's own mother was. Maybe this is part of the reason Eleanor goes over the edge in the end?
The Art of Manliness
If Mrs. Montague is a caricature of the traditional mother figure, then you can imagine what her companion, Arthur, is a comedic riff on. Yep, the traditional father figure. Arthur's whole world is tied up in the idea of being a proper man. By proper man, we don't mean a gentleman of good breeding with great manners. No, we mean that Arthur's all about doing manly things in the manliest of ways.
How do we know this? Well, as the headmaster of a school, the only curriculum he seems interested in is sports, literature and mathematics clearly being the domain of sissies in his mind. He lectures Luke on the "Mark of a Man" (8.97). The dude even brings a revolver to a ghost hunt (7.144). As Sigmund Freud would say, sometimes a revolver is just a revolver, but when you bring it ghost hunting, then it's clearly compensating for something.
The Gossip Chain
Okay, we know what you're thinking. If Dr. Montague is also a father figure, then why haven't we paired him and Mrs. Montague together as the parent caricatures? Two reasons: first, Dr. Montague is a father figure but less of a caricature than Arthur; and second, because Arthur and Mrs. Montague go together better than she and her husband do.
In fact, it's even hinted that Mrs. Montague and Arthur might be having an affair. Arthur says, "I shall have no difficultly summoning the rest of you in case I observe anything worth your notice, or I require—ah—company" (7.144). The tone of "company" suggests some scandalous stuff brewing. Not that we're gossips or anything; we're just calling it like we see it.
Why is it, though, that Dr. and Mrs. Montague have such a strange relationship? Arthur's machismo really sends up Dr. Montague—does this mean that Dr. Montague is somehow an unsatisfactory husband? Why is he so interested in dated, moralistic literature? Is it because he knows his wife is having an affair? Or is it because he's afraid of sexuality? The novel doesn't answer these questions, but Mrs. Montague and Arthur wouldn't be there if they weren't adding to the psychological complexity of the story in some way.