The French Lieutenant's Woman: Analysis of Major Characters
"The French Lieutenant's Woman" is a novel set in 1867 that explores the complexities of love and societal expectations through its major characters. The protagonist, Charles Smithson, is a thirty-two-year-old amateur paleontologist who finds himself torn between his conventional life and his passionate love for the enigmatic Sarah Woodruff, known as the "French lieutenant's woman." Sarah, a social outcast, navigates her identity amidst rumors of her past, leaving readers to ponder whether she genuinely loves Charles or manipulates him for her own purposes.
Charles's fiancée, Ernestina Freeman, embodies the naïve and conventional expectations of her social class, contrasting sharply with Sarah's more mysterious and rebellious demeanor. Supporting characters such as Sam Farrow, Charles's ambitious valet, and Uncle Bob, Charles's wealthy but eccentric relative, further complicate the narrative with their own aspirations and influences on Charles's life. Dr. Grogan provides an alternative view on Sarah’s character, suggesting psychological depth that raises questions about victimhood versus manipulation. Lastly, Mrs. Poulteney’s hypocritical charity highlights societal moralities that critique the characters’ actions and motivations. The novel's multiple endings allow for varied interpretations of love, manipulation, and social conventions, offering a rich ground for analysis and discussion.
The French Lieutenant's Woman: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: John Fowles
First published: 1969
Genre: Novel
Locale: Lyme Regis, Dorset, England
Plot: Symbolic realism
Time: 1867–1869
Charles Smithson, the protagonist, thirty-two years old in 1867, an amateur paleontologist and a gentleman of leisure. He lives somewhat passively and complacently in the expectation of inheriting a Baronetcy from his uncle and marrying the daughter of a rich middle-class businessman. He unexpectedly falls in love with the mysterious Sarah and has an affair with her that jars him out of his conventionalized view of the world. He breaks off with Ernestina, who sues him for breach of promise and ruins his reputation, only to find that Sarah has disappeared by the time he returns to their meeting place. After searching fruitlessly for several years, he finds her, at which point the novel offers two different endings. In the first, she introduces him to the daughter conceived at the time of their one sexual encounter; the implication seems to be that they will have a future together. In the second, they part after a bitter argument that convinces Charles that he had been manipulated from the start and that she had never really loved him.
Sarah Woodruff, the mysterious and melancholy “French lieutenant's woman,” about twenty-five years old, who becomes Charles's obsession. Born into a farming family of modest means, she nevertheless had obtained a sufficient education to make her living as a governess but is now a social outcast because of the affair she is supposed to have had with a French officer. In fact, she did not have an affair and is still a virgin but allows the rumors about her to persist for reasons that are never fully made clear to the reader. The narrator's pretended inability to read her mind (he is “omniscient” with regard to all the other characters in the novel) makes it impossible for the reader to determine whether she was genuinely in love with Charles and forced apart from him by circumstances, or simply using him in some way. The novel's multiple endings support both hypotheses.
Ernestina Freeman, Charles's fiancée, who is about twenty-one years old in 1867. She is the pampered only child of a wealthy merchant, pretty and fashionable but also naïve and very conventional.
Sam Farrow, Charles's valet, a Cockney in his early twenties with aspirations above his social class. He eventually betrays Charles to Ernestina's wealthy father by disclosing Charles's liaison with Sarah, primarily to ensure his financial future and to be able to wed Mary, the maid of Ernestina's aunt, prospects jeopardized by Charles's erratic behavior and his uncle Bob's remarriage late in life. Sam is rewarded with a job at Mr. Freeman's department store and rises in the ranks to be in charge of window displays.
Uncle Bob, Charles's rich, titled, and eccentric relative, whose estate he expects to inherit. The inheritance is blocked unexpectedly when the sixty-seven-year-old uncle marries a middle-class woman young enough to have children, which will pass the line of inheritance to them and leaves Charles untitled and much less wealthy than anticipated.
Dr. Grogan, a bachelor in his sixties, a freethinking physician who is, like Charles, a reader of Charles Darwin and a follower of the new scientific advances of the latter half of the nineteenth century. He is the primary advocate within the novel of the view that Sarah may be psychologically unstable or even a manipulative schemer rather than a victimized innocent.
Mrs. Poulteney, a wealthy and elderly widow, a sanctimonious hypocrite known for her acts of charity but actually sadistic and intolerant. She takes Sarah in as a companion, ostensibly out of charitable motives but really with the selfish end of furthering her own chances to reach heaven with a good deed.