“She paused beneath its shadow, for the stranger was close upon her. She saw him: O God! she saw him, in that dim evening light. Her brain reeled, her heart stopped beating. She uttered no cry of surprise, no exclamation of terror, but staggered backward and clung for support to the ivied buttress of the archway. With her slender figure crouched into the angle formed by the buttress and the wall which it supported, she stood staring at the new-comer,” -Page 336
This seems to be the tipping point for Lady Audley. For the entire novel up to this point, she had kept her cool when it seemed like her secret was going to be revealed, but now, when she know the hour of her confession has come, she is overcome with shock. Until this point, she had showed little to no emotion when in dire situations, but now, she cannot even stay on her feet. It seems to me that this is the culmination of the entire novel’s worth of emotional suppression, the point at which she can no longer keep her feelings bottled up. This runs opposite to Lady Audley’s character from the rest of the novel. Before this point, she had been stoic when her secret was on the line, and had always found a way to talk herself out of trouble. However, when Robert Audley approaches her, she knows that he is going to confront her about her attempt to murder him, and thus breaks down. This shows that through all the atrocities that Lady Audley committed, she had not forethought. Never once had she thought that somebody would catch her for her crimes, least of all the very person whom she had tried to murder. Thus, Lady Audley’s character is completely reversed in this scene, as she goes from confident and emotionless, to weak and vulnerable, as she realizes that she will be caught and her guilt weighs upon her shoulders, so heavy that she is not even able to stand.
I think the author of this blog post brings up a couple of important points. They talk about Lady Audley’s role, repressing thoughts/feelings, and finally the overall idea of character change in writing, movies, etc. It is clear that Lady Audley is able to keep a proper and simple image of herself externally that truly conceals who she really is inside. People think it is possible to conceal secrets, thoughts and feelings forever, but eventually they are too powerful to keep inside and will come out in some way or another. Lady Audley reaches a breaking point, where she succumbs to the truth and cannot hold in her inner struggles any longer. There is a prevalent character shift in terms of emotions coming from Lady Audley through the book. From the beginning of the novel to the end, she her character transforms to the point where it seems like two different people. This also plays well with her multiple identities.
I agree with the author of this post that at this point in the novel Lady Audley truly loses control over her emotions and becomes the creature. This word from this passage that I associate with creature are “terror”, “crouched”, and “angle formed”. Which is interesting because Robert prior to this passage said Lady Audley “looked [like] a childish, helpless, babyfied little creature”. Which is not what type of creature that is being unleashed in this scene. This creature is associated with the ugliness of Lady Audley’s secret, her madness.
You bring up an interesting point with regard to Lady Audley’s strength being dictated by her emotional suppression, and this may even go so far as to relate to the novels comment on women. Throughout the first and early part of the second volumes, Lady Audley is of high social class, and is mostly portrayed as the one who asks questions or favors of people. A combination of both status and beauty allows her to dictate conversations, and when she is able to use her charm, she can successfully manipulate others.
This reminds me of a discussion we had earlier in the semester regarding this passage on pg 280. “Lady Audley tried to speak, but the words died away inarticulously upon her trembling lips. A choking sensation in her throat seemed to strangle those false and plausible words, her only armour against her enemies.” When Robert begins to lay out the evidence he has that implicates Lady Audley in the mystery, she can no longer rely on her beauty or manipulative speech. From then on she becomes progressively the one who is questioned rather than does the questioning. In the final chapters she simply stands idly waiting for characters to question her integrity further, her having lost all power.
Once she cracks under Roberts pressure, and can no longer emotionally suppress her guilt, her façade quickly disappears. What this may be saying about women is that their fortitude is betrayed by their emotion. This opinion is obviously a product of the time when women were experiencing more class mobility and this could have been seen as a threat to the traditionally male dominated upperclasses.