“Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you.”
Por qué es buena
A blunt denial flips into a promise, which is why the line lands so warmly.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
Not in the least, because I'll be right beside you.
00:00 / 02:05
00:00 / 02:05
Roderick Asks Stella to Leave, Explained
The Uninvited · 1944
Capítulo 17 de 28 · 2'05"
Roderick has come to Stella with a plan and a proposal, but he has misread her. He asks her to leave Windward forever and offers a small flat in London; she answers with her mother, who she believes is calling her back to the house. "You talk about destroying that house," she says. "You'd be tearing me apart."
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:56–1:12
❝ Monólogo · 6 frases Rick's plan
He shifts from pleading to promising, turning a tiny flat into a shared future.
16s - 1:16–1:55
The Breakup at Beech's House
40s
Roderick Asks Stella to Leave, explained
What happens
Roderick visits Stella and tells her she must never go back to Windward. He has thought it through and wants them to leave together for a small flat in London. Stella refuses: she believes her mother's ghost is waiting for her there. She asks Roderick to take her, and when he refuses, the argument turns bitter. She tells him she hates him and will never forget her mother.
What's really going on
Roderick thinks he is rescuing Stella, but he has misread what she wants. His plan — London, a small flat, tearing down Windward — is generous and completely beside the point, because Stella is not afraid of the house; she is drawn to it. Her line, "You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart," makes the house and her mother the same thing. Roderick answers with the language of health and sense, calling her beliefs "horrible, unhealthy stuff" and telling her to "turn your back on the past and run." She refuses, and the love scene turns into an ending: she says she hates him, and vows he will never make her forget her mother. The visit makes him a rival to a ghost — a contest he cannot win.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you.”
- Roderick's answer to whether he would mind leaving: not at all, because his plan is to go with her.
- “You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart.”
- Stella makes her mother and the house inseparable: to destroy Windward would be to destroy her.
- “Turn your back on the past and run, run hard.”
- Roderick's advice, delivered as a command: stop looking backward and run toward a new life.
- “But Stella, you're talking of a dream and a memory.”
- His attempt to shrink her devotion to something unreal, which is exactly what she will not accept.
Theme
- Death & grief — Stella cannot give up her dead mother, and the ghost gives her a reason to refuse a new life.
- Heartbreak — Roderick offers a shared future and is answered with hatred; the romance ends in the same conversation.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel2/5
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart.”
Por qué es buena
Turning a house into her own body makes an abstract argument suddenly physical.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
Selling the old house would be tearing us apart.
“Turn your back on the past and run, run hard.”
Por qué es buena
Two commands and a repeated run make it sound like both an order and a plea.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
Turn your back on that mistake and run.
“But Stella, you're talking of a dream and a memory.”
Por qué es buena
A gentle, cruel deflation that calls the thing she lives by a phantom.
Registro
Neutral
Úsala tú
You're talking of a dream and a memory, not a plan.
Monólogo
Un personaje sostiene la escena: practícalo entero❝ Rick's plan
I've thought this thing out, and you must go away from here. - Go away? - Yes, forever. You wouldn't care? Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you. It won't be luxury, just the smallest London flat, but it'll be ours. And no unseen, uninvited guests.
He shifts from pleading to promising, turning a tiny flat into a shared future.
Siguiente · 18mind at restLa escena: They Plan a Séance for StellaIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- A refused plea can turn affection into blame.
- Rick's promise of a tiny flat is really a promise of safety.
- Stella measures love by a mother, not a man.
- The quarrel ends on a line no apology can undo.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy has Roderick come to see Stella?
He wants her to leave Windward forever and to start a new life with him in London. He has decided the house is dangerous and thinks the plan will rescue her from it.
Why does Stella refuse to leave?
She believes her mother's ghost is waiting for her at Windward. Rather than fear the house, she feels called back to it, so Roderick's plan reads to her as a betrayal.
Why does Stella say she hates Roderick?
Because he promises she will never go back to Windward. To her, that means being cut off from her mother, so she turns on the person trying to take that away.
What happens to their relationship in this scene?
It ends. Roderick offers a shared future and Stella answers with hatred and a vow never to forget her mother, leaving him as a rival to a ghost.
Who is Mary Meredith?
She is Stella's dead mother, and the ghost at Windward. Stella calls out to her by name at the start and insists she is waiting for her.