A. SETTING
The setting throughout the novel is predominantly Victorian. Most of the novel’s action takes place at Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. Lyme Regis was one of many small villages in southwest England scattered along the coast. It consisted largely of small houses surrounded by hills on one side and the sea on the other. The Cobb was built along the shore and it is a promenade where people could enjoy the sea air while taking a walk. A section of the hills, known as the Ware Commons, was a meeting ground for most young couples and where Charles and Sarah meet clandestinely. Lyme’s community was close-knit and provincial. Unlike the larger metropolitan areas such as London, here people upheld the prevailing social norms. Unconventional behavior is seen as an aberration and often times a sign of mental illness. The repressive norms and the people’s insensitive attitude towards Sarah succeed in driving her to Exeter.
In the nineteenth century, Exeter served the same purpose as London does today. Exeter was notorious for providing all sorts of wicked entertainment. Brothels, dance halls and gin palaces thrived there. It served as a haven for "shamed" girls and women, namely unmarried mothers and mistresses who were victims of sexual abuse or social rejects. Due to its scandalous reputation, many upstanding English kept their distance. Social norms were virtually non-existent. Because no one knows her or interferes with her, Sarah feels free, a pleasure that was denied to her while in Lyme. It is in Exeter that Charles and Sarah consummate their relationship, which is the turning point of the novel.
For a brief moment the action shifts to London where Charles signs his statement of guilt. It is also here that Charles and Sarah meet, after a two-year separation, at the Rossetti residence. The action tends to move back and forth between the Victorian and the modern age as Fowles tends to make intrusive comments about the past and the present. He has deliberately recreated a Victorian world so that he can criticize those aspects of the Victorian era that would seem alien to a modern reader. It is interesting to note the different social conditions prevalent in these places and their effects on individuals.
B.LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
Sarah Woodruff
The bearer of the book’s title ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman.’ She is also referred to as "Tragedy" or "The French Loot’n’nt’s Tenant’s Hore." She is the scarlet woman of Lyme, the outcast dismissed by society because of her affair with a French sailor. She is a figure of intrigue due to rumors that circulate around her, most of them false. She is the protagonist of the novel. Her character is that of a mysterious or evil woman commonly found in a Victorian novel.
Charles Smithson
Male protagonist of the novel. He is a wealthy Victorian gentlemen and heir to a title. He is interested in Darwin and paleontology and considers himself to be intellectually superior to other Victorian men, as he is one of the few who holds scientifically advanced ideas. He is engaged to Ernestina Freeman but is attracted to the mysterious Miss Woodruff. He is unhappy with the way his life is unfolding, yet he is extremely sensitive and intelligent. He is an insecure man constantly analyzing his life.
Ernestina Freeman
Charles’ fiancée. She is pretty, coy and intelligent, but at times she tends to reveal her youth and naivete. She likes to think of herself as a modern woman but her attitudes are similar to most of the young Victorian women who behaved in a proper manner. She is Aunt Tranter’s niece and is vacationing in Lyme when the story begins.
Aunt Tranter
Ernestina’s mother’s sister. She is a kind woman who is loved by her domestic staff because she treats people with respect. She offers to help Sarah when the rest of the town rejects her. Aunt Tranter is an honest woman and lacks hypocrisy of any sort.
Mrs. Poulteney
A cruel old woman, she takes great delight in harassing her domestic staff. Her temperament is exactly opposite to that of Mrs. Tranter’s. She believes herself to be an upholder of Christian virtues yet in reality, she is a hypocrite who reluctantly helps people only out of a show of charity. Sarah in employed by her in the position of a companion. She succeeds in making Sarah’s life miserable by constantly reminding her that she is an outcast.
Mrs. Fairley
Mrs. Poulteney’s housekeeper. She pretends to be virtuous but is a confirmed hypocrite like her employer. She acts as Mrs. Poulteney’s spy reporting Sarah’s movements back to her. She is jealous of Sarah and succeeds in getting Sarah dismissed from her job.
Dr. Grogan
An intelligent, friendly man who befriends Charles. The younger man finds him to be a sympathetic listener. Dr. Grogan empathizes with Sarah but finds her behavior too outrageous to be taken seriously. He is refreshingly unconventional in his views for a Victorian although he belongs more to an earlier age that was more liberal in many ways.
Sam Farrow
Charles Smithson’s valet. He is not content with his present status and wants to climb the social ladder. He is ambitious and is determined to secure his future with Mary even if he has to blackmail Charles.
Mr. Freeman
Ernestina’s father. He is a haberdasher who has succeeded in attaining a higher status in society. Although he comes from a lower class, he is able to have his daughter marry into nobility.
Lieutenant Varguennes
Sarah Woodruff’s alleged French lover. He was injured in a shipwreck when he first met Sarah and tried to flirt and seduce her. Later, Sarah found out that he was married.
John Fowles
The author of the novel. Fowles tends to intrude into the narrative to make his own critical comments about the characters as well as the relationship between art and life. He comes in the guise of a foppish theatrical director or as a bearded stranger.
Minor Characters
Mary
The maid in Aunt Tranter’s house. She is a free-spirited, down-to-earth soul. Sam Farrow, Charles’ man-servant falls in love with her and they marry.
Millie
The junior maid in Mrs. Poulteney’s house. Sarah empathizes with the poor girl and befriends her.
The Dairy man and his wife
Represent the people of Lyme with their rigid attitudes and insensitive treatment of Sarah.
Captain and Mrs. Talbot
Sarah had worked as a governess to their children when she met the injured Varguennes. Despite her involvement with him, the Talbots are kind hearted and supportive of Sarah.
Sir Robert
Charles’ uncle. Charles was supposed to inherit his title and property after his death but this prospect is drastically altered when Sir Robert marries Mrs. Tomkins, an attractive widow.
Proprietress
The owner of "The Family Endicott Hotel"
Montague
An old friend of Charles and his solicitor.
Sergeant Murphy and Mr. Aubrey
Acting as Mr. Freeman’s solicitors, they humiliate Charles and coerce him into signing the statement of guilt.
Gabriel and Christina Rossetti
They founded a school of art called the Pre-Raphaelite school which was quite radical in its heyday but became more mainstream by the time Sarah showed up there to stay with them.
C. CONFLICT
Protagonists
The novel has two protagonists, Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson. Both of them are character types commonly found in a nineteenth century romantic novel. These lovers are doomed from the beginning. Sarah is an outcast, rejected by Victorian society. Charles is an aristocratic Victorian gentleman already engaged to be married to someone else. Charles must challenge the conventions he lives by and eschew them. He does this through the help of Sarah who has already moved beyond society’s definition of who she is. By Victorian standards their union would have been seen as scandalous. Through their characters Fowles is attempting to understand how people’s lives were dictated by what the Victorian Age thought was true about the essential nature of men and women and how they relate to one another.
Antagonist
The novel’s antagonist is the Victorian society, which spurns women like Sarah who do not conform to normal gender roles. If not for society’s strict definitions of what women should be and how they should act, Sarah would not be an outcast.
Climax
Charles breaks his engagement with Ernestina when he realizes that he loves Sarah but when he goes to Exeter to meet her, he does not find her. Finally, in despair he leaves England to try and forget her. After two years of being separated, he learns of her whereabouts. During their separation both had undergone a change. Charles has shrugged off his conventional layers and Sarah is representative of a New Woman of the Age.
Outcome
They finally meet after a two-year separation period at the Rossettis. Sarah has changed drastically and Charles cannot adapt himself to this new version. To complicate matters further, Fowles gives two different endings to the novel. One follows the conventional rule of a happy ending, and the other attempts to be a more unconventional but realistic ending.
In the conventional ending, Charles meets his baby daughter and the couple reunite with their love is strengthened by all that they have gone through.
In the unconventional ending, Charles rejects Sarah and feels disgusted with himself for allowing himself to fall for a woman like her. He leaves without meeting his child. Though he is bitter and alienated, he does realize a strength within him that was dormant. Since deciding to break off his engagement and shrug off his age’s burdensome conventions to follow his heart, he can now take on the world by himself.
Unlike traditional gothic novels, Fowle’s objective is not to unite his protagonists, Sarah and Charles, but to show that every human being must face hurdles in life in order to be able to grow.
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