Ermengarde Stubbs

Ermengarde Stubbs is a character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "Sweet Ermengarde". While Lovecraft is far more well known as a writer of horror and fantasy, "Sweet Ermengarde" is a rare example of a comedy with no supernatural elements. As a parody of a romantic narrative character, Ermengarde subverts the genre's conventions by starting out as a typical love interest who is kidnapped by the villain, then revealing herself as a shameless opportunist who turns every situation to her advantage at the end.
==Biography==
Ethyl Ermengarde Stubbs was raised on a farm in Hogton, Vermont. She is the daughter of Hiram Stubbs, a farmer and alcohol smuggler, and his wife Hannah. After the prohibition, her father asked her to drop her first name as the word "ethyl" made him thirsty (the products he sold contained mostly methyl rather than ethyl alcohol). Although naturally brunette, she dyed her hair blonde, and claimed to be 16 even when she was actually 30.
At about the same time, two men coveted Ermengarde's affection, albeit for different reasons. The rich and dastardly 'Squire Hardman, who had a mortgage on the Stubbses' farm, had recently discovered gold there and hoped to marry Ermengarde as a means to claim it. Meanwhile, Ermengarde's childhood friend, the far less privileged Jack Manly, finally gathered courage to confess his love for her, which she at this point reciprocated.
After overhearing Ermengarde and Jack's plans to get married, 'Squire Hardman took more drastic measures by talking directly to the Stubbses, asking for their daughter's hand, and threatening to foreclose the mortgage if they refused it. When Jack learned about this scheme, he promised Ermengarde to resolve the situation by moving to "the great city", gaining his own fortune and freeing the Stubbses from their financial dependence on Hardman's mortgage.
While her beloved was out in the city, Ermengarde was kidnapped by 'Squire Hardman with the help of two hired thugs, but was duly released once Hardman came to his senses and realized that he could get the farm and the gold by simply foreclosing the mortgage, and thus didn't need to marry Ermengarde at all. Yet soon after Hardman gave up his original plot, another man named Algernon Reginald Jones discovered the gold while out hunting and came up with almost the same plan, deciding that he must marry Ermengarde.
No more than a week after meeting Algernon for the first time, Ermengarde agreed to elope with him. However, once he fell asleep on the train, she found a love letter from another woman among his belongings and promptly pushed him out of the train's window, only regretting the fact that she forgot to steal his money first.
Now alone in the city without money, Ermengarde stayed homeless for a week while looking for employment. When she returned the purse of a Mrs. Van Itty (after checking that there wasn't much inside it), the lady was so grateful that she decided to adopt Ermengarde, announcing that the girl reminded her of her own daughter Maude who had been stolen from the crib so long ago.
Once adopted by the rich Mrs. Van Itty, Ermengarde met Algernon Jones again as her newly-hired chauffeur. A regretful Jones told her how he had married the other woman, who then ran away with the milkman taking all of Jones' money in the process. More importantly, while asking Ermengarde to forgive him, he told her about the gold in her property, inspiring her to go back to it and prevent Hardman from claiming it.
Ermengarde returned home just in time to pay Hardman's money. It was also on this occasion that she was reunited with Jack Manly, albeit only to learn that he had become engaged to another bride, Bridget Goldstein.
In the midst of the reunion, however, the biggest surprise came from Mrs. Van Itty, who recognized Hannah Stubbs as the nurse who stole her own daughter 28 years ago, thus coming to the conclusion that Ermengarde was in fact Maude all along. Reluctant to assume this, as it would mean not only the admission of her actual age, but the fact that she wasn't the Stubbses' daughter and thus would have no claim to the gold, Ermengarde came up with another plan and proposed to marry none other than 'Squire Hardman, threatening to prosecute him for the time he kidnapped her if he didn't agree, and giving him the opportunity to foreclose the mortgage after all, so the two of them could have the property and the gold, which he agreed to. (: "Sweet Ermengarde")
Category:Characters Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Humans