The Golden Compass post 3

"Mrs. Coulter selected her lovers for their power and influence, but it did no harm if they were good looking. Did she ever become fond of a lover? Not once. She could not keep her servants either." (Pullman, 295)

Although this particular snippet was not in The Golden Compass, I consider it extremely important. It sheds new light on Mrs. Coulter's personality and whether she actually loved Lord Asriel. Pullman seems to think otherwise; perhaps she was seduced by Lord Asriel's power and prowess, but would have ultimately discarded of him. There is another interpretation here too- this particular snippet may have referred to her life prior to when The Golden Compass began, in which case her sorrow and grief were real at the end of the book.

Though this is a short paragraph, it contains a great deal of information. Pullman has also brought in something that may seem irrelevant, but is in fact important too. Mrs. Coulter cannot keep someone of a high stature or low, either. She was fond of nothing except perhaps her own power (taking this passage to mean her personality in general and not before the events of The Golden Compass).

Such callousness might be expected of a villain, though it is hard to quantify her, or anyone for that matter, as a villain. No one is pure black and white- all, including Lyra, are shades of grey.

Would she have grown weary of Lyra after a while? This passage seems to suggest everyone and everything would bore her; looking at it differently, however, may mean she underwent a dramatic character transformation to the point where she discovered what her real priorities were. It is rather doubtful she has, at least not as far as the first book in the series, but one can hope.

She discarded of her husband because he could not bring her where she desired to go and she discarded of Lord Asriel too. This particular method of tossing away people seems to be part of her personality.