“What had been his love for his first wife but a poor, pitiful, smoldering spark, too dull to be extinguished, too feeble to burn? But this was love—thiS fever, this longing, this restless, uncertain, miserable hesitation; these cruel fears that his age was an insurmountable barrier to his happiness; this sick hatred of his white beard; this frenzied wish to be young again, with glistening raven hair, and a slim waist, such as he had twenty years before; these, wakeful nights and melancholy days, so gloriously brightened if he chanced to catch a glimpse of her sweet face behind the window curtains, as he drove past the surgeon’s house; all these signs gave token of the truth, and told only too plainly that, at the sober age of fifty-five, Sir Michael Audley had fallen ill of the terrible fever called love.
If he ever remembered these things, he dismissed the thought of them with a shudder. It pained him too much to “believe for a moment that any one so lovely and innocent could value herself against a splendid house or a good old title.” (Lady Audley’s Secret, Chapter 1)
The passage I chose to analyze for this blog post is from Lady Audley’s Secret. Early into chapter one, the narrator describes Sir Michael Audley’s first marriage, and his desire to have a young and beautiful wife at the age of fifty-five. The passage vividly describes Michael Audley’s former marriage as “mediocre” by saying “the spark was too dull to be extinguished and too feeble to burn”. Furthermore, it even goes on to say that he might have been secretly relieved by the demise of his wife and sheds a light on Michael Audley’s desires and how his actions have contributed to the things that happen in the novel.
As we know Michael is hopelessly obsessed with Lucy Graham and is blind to her atrocious doings which are happening right under his nose. He is almost a puppet to Lucy’s plans and hunger to have a life of high social status and riches. The way the passage describes Lucy Graham early on in the novel is quite in convention with the gothic genre as Lucy Graham’s features are excessively highlighted and sexualized while it appears she has underlying motivations and also portraying the characteristic of femme fatale. Michael is in denial by the very fact that Lucy’s intentions for marrying him was only for his social status and wealth. Consequently, ending up portraying Michael Audley as a symbol of innocence and naivety and is quite ironic that this is exactly how Lucy Graham was described in the beginning of the novel.
I agree with your interpretation of Sir Michael’s relationship with Lady Audley. He is blinded to the atrocities she commits because of her beauty. I believe this is because he doesn’t view her as a person, he loves the idea of her in his head but not who she actually is. He does not want anything to shatter this image he has of her, and that is why he is so reluctant to listen to Robert.
I agree with this interpretation, and I agree with the comment above about loving the idea of Lucy in his head. I agree that he is blind to the truth, or maybe he chooses to ignore it because he is so infatuated with her, and has fallen for this young woman after his, as you said, mediocre previous marriage. Because her appearance is so sexualized in its description, the reader can tell right away how much beauty she has and how it affects the other characters.