In Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon uses allusion and various comparisons to describe Lady Audley and her actions. In particular, during Chapter 12 of Volume II, the author draws a comparison that is used to describe Lady Audley and her actions. Of these correlations, I will choose to focus on how Lady Audley was assigned characteristics similar to that of a siren. The purpose of this blog post is to elaborate on the observations we noticed in class by introducing new and old evidence that would allow us to develop more concepts on why she is compared to a siren.
From what I could observe, the first direct comparison between Lady Audley and a siren occurs on page 280. In this example, Lady Audley “tried to speak… a choking sensation in her throat seemed to strangle those false and plausible words [which was] her only armor against her enemies”(280). Alongside this, her deceiving actions are compared to a “syren’s art”(280). In this part of the novel, Lady Audley’s psyche has been worn away by the inquisition of Robert Audley and her defenses are down. With the idea that one of her strongest weapons against her enemies has been disarmed, she can be considered “vulnerable.” If a mythological siren were to lose their voice, it would mean that it would not be able to lure sailors to their death. This idea of Lady Audley is unable to deceive others to manipulate them means that she has almost been disarmed. Now you may be wondering, “Inverter of Truth, why would you say she has been *almost* disarmed?” Well readers, a siren could not only lure sailors with their voice, but with their appearance as well. On page 366, when Lady Audley is looking at herself in a cheval-glass, she “contemplated the reflection of her beauty [and thought to herself] whatever they did to her, they must leave her with her beauty [because] they were powerless to rob her of that”(366). Lady Audley’s alluring appearance combined with her unstable personality means that Braddon has created a dangerous character. But, like many great characters, she has a functional “Achilles heel.” Without being able to deceive others with her wit and beauty, she becomes powerless. In order to render her without power, the characters of the novel place her in a mad house far away from the people that she has influenced in the past. In this asylum, the power of her slippery tongue is gone, as the doctors know their patients. However, even then, Robert and Michael Audley truly cannot remove her beauty, as evidenced by a French Doctor referring to Lady Audley as a “beautiful devil” (383). Through the author creating the siren archetype for Lady Audley, she makes her into an even more deadly character. With this idea, her weapons (her appearance and her voice) become even more deadly, while her weaknesses also become more apparent.
In chapter 32 there is another comparison between Lady Audley and a mermaid. In this scene she must pay off Luke’s debt in order to secure that Robert will not find out about her secret. During their interaction, and much like the mythical mermaid, Lady Audley is able to use the power of her beauty as a form of control awing “[Luke] into silence by the unearthly glitter of her beauty.” She is able to use her power to control him. However, it was noted that when she did this that “there was another flame in her eyes- a greenish light, such as might flash from the changing-hued orbs of an angry mermaid.” Which furthers supports us of how deadly her character is.