Which speaker succeeds in changing the bride’s outlook in “woo’d and married and a’”?

What is the narrators main conflict in this passage

London includes a quote about john thornton as he is observing hal attempt to motivate the exhausted dogs "it was idle, he knew, to get between a fool and his folly". if the word "idle" is defined as "of no real worth, importance, or significance", what does this statement mean with regard to hal? who is the fool? what is hal's folly? why would john thornton think it of no real worth or useless to intervene?

How does gregor sanaa’s identity change as the novella progresses?