Legal Aspects of "The French Lieutenant's Woman"

580 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The law in the victorian era

The French Lieutenant's Woman is a novel which takes place in England in the Mid-Victorian period (1867). This story is about Charles Smithson, a discontented bachelor who had an affair with a prostitute named Sarah Woodruff (a lady's companion and former governess). As a result of his affair with Sarah, Charles breaks his engagement to Ernestina Freeman. After breaking his engagement he learns of the disappearance of Sarah and hires detectives to find her. Meanwhile Mr. Freeman, father of Ernestina threatens to file a suit against Charles for breech of promise of marriage. Charles receives a hand delivered letter requesting his presence at the chambers of The Inns of Court and failure to attend would acknowledge the client's (Mr. Freeman) right to proceed to court. Upon his arrival at chambers Charles is presented with a statement of guilt. The most humiliating experience Charles undergoes is having to sign the breach of promise papers which describe him as no longer having the right to be considered a gentleman.

The last statement of this document "My conduct throughout this matter has been dishonorable, and by it I have forever forfeited the right to be considered a gentleman" proved to be the most devastating to Charles as he felt he was marked and defiled for the rest of his life. He would not have the option to marry and would remain a bachelor. This was no doubt an act of revenge which would have significant repercussions for Charles and affect his overall quality of life.

Charles Smithson is an heir to a baronetcy (he is below a baron and above a knight and can be addressed as Sir) where as Mr. Freeman's fortune was made through commercial success and the establishment of a store in London's west end. Because th...

... middle of paper ...

...her of any future bride of his dishonesty.

In this novel John Fowles opens the door for us to see how the upper class society was unjustly using the law to seek vengeance against their opposition so that they themselves appeared to be the victims. They did this by combining the written laws with the unwritten religious laws by which they governed themselves. He also depicts how a person's anger and agitation of mind and feelings can destroy and demoralize an individual by ruining his reputation and his will to live. Most importantly the legal system is also at fault for this by allowing anger to play such an important role in justice.

The dialogue in this story seems to capture the tone of the Victorian period. The characters appear to reflect Victorian attitudes and behaviors. Throughout the novel reference is made to judgment, punishment and retribution.

Show More
Related

  • A Review of John Pagan’s "Anne Orthwood’s Bastard"

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    The layout of the book devotes each chapter to a key figure in Anne’s case. The story begins, fittingly, with Anne Orthwood, the young indentured servant, who had a brief affair with the young nephew of Colonel William Kendall who was of high social standing in the community. Pagan does a masterful job of describing the human aspect of the people surrounding each case. He ties the human element with the decisions made by the justices of the peace. These ties offer a clear understanding of the malleability of the laws and the legal modifications that were made by empowered justices. For example, indentured contracts became extremely pliable to local interests. Anne’s indenture was sold three times in two years, each was without her consent as would have been needed in England. The second sale of Anne’s indenture provoked the case of Waters v. Bishopp, in which Waters had discovered Anne’s pregnancy and sued Bishopp for breach of contract and selling a “faulty product”. The English followed the caveat emptor rule, in which a...

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

    3631 Words  | 8 Pages

    This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Samuel Butler's 'The Way Of All Flesh'

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Victorian Era, England is brought up in most context’s it is used to exemplify a calm and more refined way of life; however, one may overlook how the children of this era were treated and how social class systems affected them. Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh is a novel written to take a closer look at the life of children growing up in the unfair social hierarchy of Victorian Era England. Butler’s main characters are Theobald and Ernest, who grow up during the time period; Overton, who is Ernest’s godfather, is the narrator of the novel and provides insight into Theobald and Ernest as they mature through the novel. Theobald is the son of a wealthy, strict, and abusive father who treats him with no mercy, but leaves him with a rather significant inheritance from his Christian publishing company, at his death. Ernest is the son of Theobald, who beats him with a stern fits over even the pettiest things in

    Read More

  • Frankenstein, Community, and the Individual

    1689 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • The Gendered Struggle: Comparing and Contrasting between Masculine and Feminine Perceptions of Honor in Two Cultures

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ndicates a level of justification each felt in their actions. These actions, immortalized in two of the most widely read classics of all time, even today call into question the values each society held so dear, and led the modern reader to explore what honor and traditional gendered values mean both in these societies and our own.

    Read More

  • Roger Chillingworth Analysis Essay

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the literary classic, The Scarlet Letter, readers follow the story of a Puritan New England colony and the characteristics of that time period. Readers begin to grasp concepts such as repentance and dealing with sin through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s indirect descriptions of these detailed and complex characters by their actions and reactions. The character Roger Chillingworth symbolizes sin itself and deals with internal conflict throughout the course of the story. The narrator describes Chillingworth in a critical attitude to reveal to the reader the significance of repentance and revenge by the use of many literary techniques such as

    Read More

  • Analysis of George Orwell’s Essay, A Hanging

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author’s purpose is to also allow the audience to understand the way the guards and superintendent felt towards the prisoners. We see this when the superintendent is upset because the execution is running late, and says, “For God’s sake hurry up, Francis.” And “The man ought to have been dead by this time.” This allows the reader to see the disrespect the authority has towards the prisoners.

    Read More

  • Scarlet Letter Essay

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, had trouble answering this age-old question: what’s in a name? Are we defined by our given names, our nicknames, or by our personalities and actions, especially the mistakes we make? Nathaniel Hawthorne explores this idea with the characters in his novel, The Scarlet Letter. In contrast to modern-day Boston, Hawthorne depicts a time period where there were no deadlier sins than the lust for revenge, corruptness(especially in high society), and the overwhelmingly evident act of adultery. Vengefulness is still prominent in today’s society, but there is next to no one who showcases such a need for revenge than Roger Chillingworth. A character that should be virtually sin-free, the sister of Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, represents corruptness in the form of witchcraft in this Puritan town. There may be no better representation of sin than Hester Prynne, who bears her sin publicly and constantly; Hester embodies sin, physically and mentally. Even from the beginning of the story, it was clear everyone would be affected by Hester’s unforgivable act, especially her betrayed husband; although, he hadn’t been entirely innocent either.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde Flippantly Disregards Moral Codes in The Importance of Being Earnest

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lady Bracknell, as a character, acts as a caricature of Victorian society and morality, and when her views aspects of gender relations and matrimonial relations receive inspection, her true significance appears. Wilde intends to evoke laughter through her extremely strict and antiquated morals, but at a deeper level, he seeks to attack any system of rigid morals that often plague societies.

    Read More

  • The Prisoner. A Fragment by Emily Bronte

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Christ, Carol T., Catherine Robson, Stephen Greenblatt, and M. H. Abrams. The Prisoner. A Fragment. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. E. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2006. 1315-316. Print.

    Read More

  • Public Humiliation

    2349 Words  | 5 Pages

    Taylor, Olivia Gatti. “Cultural Confession: Penance and Penitence in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and The Marble Faun.” Renascence. 58.2 (2005): 134-152. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Tell Tale Heart and A Confession Found In A Prison In The Time Of Charles II

    3329 Words  | 7 Pages

    In ‘A Confession found in a prison in the time of Charles II’ there is

    Read More

  • The Law in Kafka's Trial

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Law in Kafka's novel The Trial houses a fundamental but fleeting metaphysical metaphor. It is virtually unassailable, hidden, and always just beyond the grasp of human understanding. The Law seeks to impose an unknowable order and assimilate any individual notion of existence. It defines two distinct modes of existence through accusation: those who stand accused by the Law and those who are empowered by the Law to pass judgement upon those accused. From the very moment of his arrest, Joseph K. resists this legal hierarchy stating, "I don't know this Law ... it probably exists nowhere but in your head... it is only a trial if I recognize it as such" (6, 40). Freedom is at the center of this conflict. In attempting to rigidly define human existence, the Law compels humankind to be passive, to accept the incomprehensible legal machinery of the Court without question. "The only pointless thing is to try taking independent action" (175). There is a tacit assumption that freedom, whether one is accused or not, is provisional at best. Kafka uses the priest's allegory of the doorkeeper and the common man to powerfully illustrate this point. In many ways, the novel itself can be seen as an elaboration, commentary, or critique on the allegorical power of the Law.

    Read More

  • The Colonial Implications in Jane Eyre and Great Expectations

    3020 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Victorian novel has performed an important service in Eurocentric epistemologies and colonial ideologies in formulating the colonial discourse and establishing the alterity of `self' and the `Other'. Both Great Expectations and Jane Eyre, like most novels produced in the Victorian period, contain colonial subtexts and form a significant part of the cultural discourse of the empire. Moreover, both Jane Eyre and Great Expectations derive greatly from the imperial discourse in their stereotypical ways of representing the non- Western world.

    Read More

  • The Lottery Criticism

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literary elements are demonstrated throughout the story and further improve our understanding of the central idea. The setting is important to the central idea because it shows the reader the type of society being described in the story. The language is also important to the central idea because it contains metaphors which further prove that the people are afraid of going against tradition because they are scared of being the target of violence. The conflict contributes to the central idea as well, because there are many examples of the society going against character, Mrs. Hutchinson, for not respecting the traditions put in place. The central idea is important to our understanding of the story because it sums up the main objective and furthers our

    Read More

More about Legal Aspects of "The French Lieutenant's Woman"

Open Document