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The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) is a story full of passion, intrigue, and one man's difficult choice between duty and love. The French Lieutenant's Woman was written in 1969 by the English novelist John Fowles (1926-2005). The novel is a Post-Modernist twist on the Victorian Novel and explores concepts such as freedom and love. It is full of reflections, contemplation, and existential questions.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenThe French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) is a story full of passion, intrigue, and one man's difficult choice between duty and love. The French Lieutenant's Woman was written in 1969 by the English novelist John Fowles (1926-2005). The novel is a Post-Modernist twist on the Victorian Novel and explores concepts such as freedom and love. It is full of reflections, contemplation, and existential questions.
The French Lieutenant's Woman was written by John Fowles (1926-2005). John Fowles is known for his post-modernist literature, which focused on contemporary movements such as 1960s experimental philosophy and anarchy.
Post-modernism was a literary movement that developed in the mid-20th century that focused on concepts such as relativism, skepticism, and a shift away from absolute truths.
Fowles lived in many places such as Oxford, London, and on a Greece island. Places where Fowles lived often made their way into his stories. When Fowles moved to a farm in Lyme Regis, he began to write The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), which is set partly in Lyme Regis.
Fig. 1 - John Fowles used his home in Lyme Regis as the setting for his novel.
When The French Lieutenant's Woman was published, Fowles was an established author with novels such as The Magus (1965) and The Collector (1963). Fowles died in 2005; he was a successful author, with many of his novels turned into major films.
The French Lieutenant's Woman opens with Charles, a wealthy man from London, walking with his socialite fiancée Ernestina in Lyme Regis's Lyme Bay Cobb in the year 1867. As they walk along the quay, they notice a darkly dressed figure sitting at the end. Her name is Sarah. She is a tragic figure with a ruined reputation and has gained nicknames such as "Tragedy" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman."
Her reputation was ruined after she engaged in an affair with a French sailor who was shipwrecked in England. The affair was scandalous and led to salacious rumors about the woman. The story goes as such: The French sailor came to live with an English family who Sarah tutored. The French sailor promises Sarah he will marry her, so they go to Weymouth together. In Weymouth, he seduces Sarah into engaging in pre-marital sex and then abruptly abandons her, thus ruining her reputation.
Fig. 2- Charles and Ernestina find "The French Lieutenant's Woman" sitting at the edge of the quay.
Now, Sarah sits at the edge of the quay, waiting for the French Lieutenant to return. The tragic Sarah now lives with Mrs. Poulteney as a companion and ward. The engaged couple meets Sarah but quickly forgets about her. That is until Charles, an aspiring paleontologist, is out one day looking for fossils on Ware Commons, where Sarah is sleeping. He wakes her and attempts to apologize, but she refuses his apologies. Later, when they see each other once more, Sarah requests to be left alone.
Later that day, Sarah is yelled at by Mrs. Poulteney for walking in such an area, and Sarah enters such deep despair she begins to contemplate her death. When Charles, Ernestina, and Ernestina's Aunt Tranter come to visit Mrs. Poulteney, they have a heated discussion about whether it is proper for Charles's servant Sam to have a romance with Aunt Tranter's maid Mary. Charles believes it is alright, but Ernestina is firmly against it. They fight but move on from the event rapidly. However, the event makes Charles question his engagement and if he truly wishes to live in society.
Charles, while working on his fossils, continuously runs into Sarah. He offers to find her a job which she refuses. Instead, she wishes for him to hear her story about the French lieutenant. At first, he believes it would be improper, but soon he changes her mind. After listening to her story, Charles begins to feel sexual desire toward Sarah, so he tells her to leave Lyme Regis. She does so as he pays for her travels.
Charles must leave Lyme Regis after he receives a telegram from his uncle. His uncle has decided to marry a younger woman. The problem is that if she has a child, the child will inherit the family estate, not Charles. This would mean Charles would be dependent on Ernestina's wealth. Ernestina is quite upset, and the couple returns to Lyme Regis.
The trouble does not end there. Soon after his return, Charles receives a letter from Sarah, who has disappeared. She is begging for another meeting with Charles, but instead, Charles arranges for Sarah to meet with Dr. Grogan, who can send Sarah to an asylum where she would be treated for melancholia. Later that evening, Charles feels uneasy and decides he won't go through with his plan. Instead, he sets off to find Sarah.
After searching for a while, Charles finds Sarah asleep inside a barn. Charles and Sarah then kiss, which causes Charles to react violently. He pushes her away and runs. Then he sees Sam and Mary, the two servants, and begs them not to say a word about the incident. Charles leaves Sarah with some money, and she promises to leave Lyme Regis in search of work.
Fig. 3 - Charles and Sarah finally kiss inside the barn.
Charles decides to meet with Ernestina's father, Mr. Freeman, in London. Mr. Freeman wants Charles to enter the family business, which shocks Charles so much he goes to a club where he gets very drunk. He then goes to a brothel but soon leaves in a carriage. In the carriage, he stops a prostitute and takes her back to his room. She reminds him of Sarah, and when he learns that the prostitute's name is Sarah, he pukes.
The next morning, a hungover Charles receives a note. In the note is Sarah's new address in Exeter. Charles must make a decision. His train from London to Lyme Regis stops in Exeter. He could either continue to his boring future with Ernestina or stay in Exeter and find Sarah. The author presents us with an ending where Charles could make his way to Ernestina and marry her. The author tells us that this isn't what Charles chose but could have been an ending. Charles decides on Sarah over Ernestina and tells his servant Sam he is staying the night in Exeter. He finds Sarah, and the two engage in sexual intercourse.
When they finish, Charles notices blood and realizes Sarah was a virgin. The entire story about The French Lieutenant had been made up. Charles is angry and feels terrible guilt. Questions flood his mind about Sarah's motivations. Sarah then tells Charles she loves him but understands he'd never leave Ernestina for her. Charles departs in anger and finds himself in a church. He prays and reflects on an imagined life with Sarah. He decides to write her a love letter and tells Sam to deliver it.
However, Sam knows that if Charles chooses Sarah, Sam's prospects of marrying Mary are over, so he doesn't deliver the letter. Instead, he lies and tells Charles she decided not to respond. Charles knows what he has to do. He travels to Lyme Regis, where he tells Ernestina everything. Ernestina becomes furious like the tempest and threatens to tarnish his name.
Charles tries to find Sarah but learns she has left for London. Before heading to London, Charles signs a letter of guilt to Mr. Freeman. He no longer cares about his reputation. Charles desperately tries to find Sarah and finds himself traveling for two years in Europe, attempting to find happiness. He is far from happiness and only longs for Sarah. He decides he will sail to America and settles in New Orleans.
One day, a telegram from a lawyer arrives, stating he found Sarah. Charles immediately goes to the address provided, which is the nice home of the painter Rossetti. Sarah appears and tells Charles she is Rossetti's model and assistant. Charles wants Sarah to marry him, but she does not wish to give up her fulfilling single life. Charles cannot understand Sarah's calm demeanor until she introduces him to a small girl. The girl is Charles's daughter with Sarah. Charles is delighted, and he hugs Sarah. The two end up happy together.
Fig. 4 - In the first ending, Charles meets his daughter.
The story does not end there. The author presents a different ending to the reader. In it, the author is outside Rossetti's house fifteen minutes prior. The reader is brought to the point where Sarah and Charles are arguing. Charles accuses Sarah of lying to him and manipulating him. He leaves as she tries to hold him back. Charles leaves and decides he will live his life even if it feels empty and unfulfilling.
Many key characters in The French Lieutenant's Woman are important to remember and keep track of. Here is a list of all the characters you need to know!
Each character plays an important role in the novel. Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson are the protagonists of the story, with the novel primarily focusing on the thoughts of Charles. The novel is less about Sarah's tragic life circumstances, even those which she made up, and more about Charles's perspective on life and his evolution through the novel. Sarah acts as a catalyst for change for Charles, who realizes he has a choice of whether he wants to live a conventional life or not.
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a post-modernist novel which means it questions the idea of absolute truth and is skeptical of only one perspective on the direction and perception of life. The novel's most apparent post-modernist aspect is presenting two possible endings to the reader. In the first ending, Charles and Sarah end up happily together. In the second ending, Charles leaves Sarah and lives an empty life. The purpose of the three endings is to show that one can choose how they want their life to go.
The French Lieutenant's Woman's genre is a post-modernist twist on the Victorian Novel.
Victorian Novels (mid to late 19th century) were novels that were realistic in Nature, didactic, long, and contained a great deal of characters. The main themes explored were those related to morality, religion, and advancements in science.
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a Victorian Novel for its key features of realistic, contemporary settings and a focus on its characters' emotional and tumultuous minds. In addition, The French Lieutenant's Woman's discussions of contemporary issues such as industrialization, women's rights, and scientific advancements such as evolution make it characteristically a Victorian Novel.
Fig. 5 - The French Lieutenant's Woman is a Post-Modernist twist on the Victorian Novel.
However, Fowles does not follow all the traditions of a Victorian Novel. It is not densely populated with many characters but focuses on a purposeful amount that moves the plot along. It also presents the reader with two possible endings and contains modern philosophical questions such as existentialism.
The two main themes contained within The French Lieutenant's Woman are the power of freedom and love. Freedom, in the novel, is only applied on a large scale to a select few. Those of the lower classes, such as Sarah, Sam, and Mary, depend on their employers, who are members of the upper classes. Their freedom to freely love is also dependent on their employers.
For example, Sam and Mary's relationship is scrutinized by Ernestina, who believes it improper. Had Sam and Mary been a part of the wealthier classes, they wouldn't have to worry about their love being under such critical attention in the same way.
However, on a smaller scale, Charles's freedom is not as wide as it seems. Charles, at first, believes he does not have the freedom to choose his life. He believes he must marry Ernestina and go into her father's business. However, when Charles is at the Exeter train station deciding between Sarah and Ernestina, he realizes his freedom to decide.
This freedom to decide is directly linked to the freedom to choose in love. Ernestina represents love based on societal duty, while Sarah represents love based on emotion and passion. For this reason, two outcomes are presented at the end of the novel. In one, Charles marries for true love, in the other, Charles rejects both and leads a lonely life.
The novel has many points of analysis. It is told from the first-person point of view, but it is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. This questions the idea of an absolute point of view and combines elements of the first-person and third-person omniscient points of view.
Another key literary element is Fowles's inclusion of imagery, especially imagery that draws comparisons between the Nature of man and The Natural world.
When describing Sarah upon meeting her, Charles likens Sarah as "totally like a wild animal, unable to look at him, trembling, dumb" (Chapter 16). In this line, Fowles uses imagery that compares Sarah to a startled wild animal not entirely trusting of what is before her.
Fowles also utilizes the literary technique of allusions in the novel. There are many allusions to Greek mythology, ancient sculptors like Pygmalion, and other texts like Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
An imagining, a kind of dimly glimpsed Laocoon embrace of naked limbs," (Chapter 5).
This line is taken from Chapter 5, in which Sarah imagines what it is like to be in a sexual embrace with Charles; she likens the depiction to that of the mythological Laocoon.
Laocoon comes from Ancient Greek and Roman mythology. The story goes that when Laocoon, a priest, asked the Trojans to set fire to the Trojan horse to protect the Greeks from trickery. Poseidon was angered and sent two sea serpents to strangle Laocoon and his two sons. Different versions of the story exist, but Laocoon suffers a painful death in all of them.
The suffocation of Laocoon in a tight embrace by the sea serpents is used as a comparison for what Sarah imagines a sexual embrace must be like.
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a key text in post-modernist literature. Here are some quotes from The French Lieutenant's Woman that will provide you with a better sense of the story and writing style.
He felt his heart beating as if he had run a mile. The tiger was in him, not in her. A moment passed and then he retraced his steps silently but quickly to the door. Yet it spoke," (Chapter 31).
This quote is an example of Fowles's use of imagery, particularly that of comparing man to nature. Here Charles is happening upon a sleeping Sarah. Seeing her causes his heart to race, and his desire to pounce upon her is likened to a tiger. However, with the stealth of a tiger, he backs away. However, in a moment of wild impulse, Charles speaks her name and refers to himself as an "it."
An easterly is the most disagreeable wind in Lyme Bay-- Lyme Bay being that largest bite from the underside of England's outstretched southwestern leg," (Chapter 1).
The first line of the novel is reminiscent of the Victorian Novel. The detailed, realistic description of The Natural setting of the story is a common way for Victorian Novels to begin, and Fowles uses that technique in his Post-Modernist novel. He uses words full of imagery and Victorian language, such as "most disagreeable" and "largest bite."
She was born in 1846. And she died on the day that Hitler invaded Poland," (Chapter 5).
This is an example of how Fowles infuses his novel with Post-modernist allusions. Here, the narrator is alluding to a future event playing with the timeline of the novel. In traditional Victorian Novels, future events could not have been incorporated into the text. However, Fowles wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman in 1969. Therefore, he can allude to future events, namely Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, which initiated World War II.
Charles, a wealthy man from London, struggles with his growing love for Sarah, a woman with a ruined reputation. This struggle forces Charles to make an important life decision.
The main characters in The French Lieutenant's Woman are Sarah Woodruff, Charles Smithson, and Ernestina Freeman.
The main themes in The French Lieutenant's Woman are freedom and love.
The French Lieutenant's Woman is about Charles, a wealthy Londoner, and Sarah, a woman with a ruined reputation, and their choices in the face of love.
The French Lieutenant's Woman was written by the English novelist John Fowles.
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SIGNUP SIGNUPFlashcards in The French Lieutenant's Woman15
Start learningWho wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman ?
John Fowles
John Fowles belonged to the ______ literary movement.
Post-modernist
What is Post-Modernism?
a literary movement that developed in the mid 20th century that focused on concepts such as relativism, skepticism, and a shift away from absolute truths
Where is The French Lieutenant's Woman mainly set?
Lyme Regis
Why is Sarah known as "Tragedy" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman"?
Sarah ruined her reputation by having an affair with a French soldier who abandoned her.
Who are Charles and Ernestina?
A wealthy and young engaged couple spending time in Lyme Regis.
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