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Why does Constantia Durham leave Sir Willoughby Patterne in The Egoist?
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George Meredith
George Meredith, detail of an oil painting by G.F. Watts, 1893; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In George Meredith's novel The Egoist, Constantia Durham leaves Sir Willoughby Patterne because she discovers his profound shallowness. Her realization of his true character leads her to humiliate him by eloping with an officer of the hussars instead of proceeding with their marriage.1