Category: 2023 Blog Post

“She is altogether a different being to the wretched, helpless creature who dropped her mask for a moment, and looked at me with her own pitiful face, in the little room at Mount Stanning, four hours ago. What has happened to cause the change?” Volume 1, Chapter 19

This passage reveals Robert’s thoughts on Lady Audley’s change in demeanor. While she was usually composed and elegant, she was now disheveled. She is always trying to keep up an act while in the presence of others, and this may be one of the few times we see her being herself. This connects to the idea that women at this time were expected to only act a certain way, or they would be deemed hysterical or mad. Lady Audley desperately tries to be perceived in a certain way because if she was not, she could lose everything. This is partly because if she is perceived as a perfect, upstanding lady in society, no one would suspect her of committing evil acts. However, she would have to behave this way whether she was a murderer or not. Robert does not realize that women have to put up a show in the first place, making her “dropping her mask” (Braddon, Chapter 19) not as significant as he might think. These lines show Robert’s inability to realize that Lady Audley was not much different from other women at the time, she simply had more going on behind the scenes. Taking a closer look at the language in this passage, we can see Robert’s bias towards women. Language like “wretched,” (Braddon, Chapter 19) “creature,” (Braddon, Chapter 19) and “pitiful face,” (Braddon, Chapter 19) shows that he is only looking on the surface. He is not investigating her actions, he is criticizing her appearance. When investigating George’s initial disappearance, Robert reflects on his possible motivations for leaving, giving him leads. However, he doesn’t do that for Lady Audley, even though it may have given him a better chance of finding his friend.

“He slowly emptied it of its contents, taking out each article separately, and laying it carefully upon a chair by his side. He handled the things with a respectful tenderness, as if he had been lifting the dead body of his lost friend. One by one he laid the neatly folded mourning garments on the chair. He found old meerschaum pipes, and soiled, crumpled gloves that had once been fresh from the Parisian maker; old play-bills, whose biggest letters spelled the names of actors who were dead and gone; old perfume-bottles, fragrant with essences, whose fashion had passed away; neat little parcels of letters, each carefully labeled with the name of the writer; fragments of old newspapers; and a little heap of shabby, dilapidated books, each of which tumbled into as many pieces as a pack of cards in Robert’s incautious hand. But among all the mass of worthless litter, each scrap of which had once had its separate purpose, Robert Audley looked in vain for that which he sought—the packet of letters written to the missing man by his dead wife Helen Talboys. He had heard George allude more than once to the existence of these letters” (Braddon Ch. 19).  

The first thing that stood out to me in this passage was the overwhelming presence of death in such a short period of time. It caught my attention because death was used to refer to something that was not dead or dying. Variants of death are used throughout the entire passage: dead, death, passed away, dead and gone. When death was not directly being used to as a description, old was. Everything was either old or dead. There were old newspapers and meerschaum pipes, shabby, dilapidated books, and crumpled gloves. Braddon describes Robert’s action as though he was “lifting the body of his dead friend.” This feels very intentional to me. I can think of a lot of different ways to describe someone handling an object with care that do not involve death. But Braddon is certainly trying to create a deathly mood and she does not do it discreetly. This description is of the trunk that Robert has acquired from George Tabloys. I believe that by putting such an emphasis on the presence of death in the trunk, Braddon is reaffirming the fact that George is dead. No one has confirmed that he is dead, but this passage gives me the feeling that he is.  

The one contrast I found was in the description of the crumpled gloves. She noted that they “had once been fresh from the Parisian maker.” Fresh just felt out of place to me in this passage. I know that she says that they used to be fresh, but fresh was the one word that didn’t sound old and run down. I can’t help but wonder if this is intentional and if it is, what purpose it serves. 

The repeated use of grey on page 216 suggests a faded, weathered, oldness to Lady Audley’s surroundings. One may expect Lady Audley to seem out of place in this situation as throughout the book, she is described as young, pretty, and bright, as well as being said “always to be light-hearted, happy, and contented under any circumstances” (Braddon 11). Her main characteristics throughout the novel appear unfit for the somber scene in which Richard finds her, yet her face “had worn an anxious earnestness which made it only more beautiful” (Braddon 216). Lady Audley possesses an ability to constantly adapt to seem picturesque and perfectly suited for any occasion. I believe she has honed this ability in order to cover up her heinous deeds with a mask of beauty that has allowed her to hide in plain sight. She is described as “a model for a mediæval saint” in a “grey old cathedral, unchanged by Reformation” (Braddon 216). Her hair is a “haze” of “gold” (Braddon 216). She wears a “soft” gown “falling…to her feet” and her waist is “clasped” by “a narrow circlet” (Braddon 216.) All these details serve to make her seem delicate, holy, demure, and angelic. The softness of her appearance is a marked contrast to the brutality of what Robert believes she has done. 

Later, on page 216, Lady Audley’s mask of deceit that she has been honing for months finally slips. Upon seeing Richard, her face “faded from its delicate brightness, and looked scared and wan in the lamplight” (Braddon 216). I think that these lines reveal how much power and security Lady Audley has lost. Since Lord Audley is ill and Robert suspects her of having to do with George’s death, the walls are closing in on her. I believe she is starting to feel afraid. 

“The merry party was so much absorbed in its own merriment as to be deaf to all commonplace summonses from the outer world; and it was only when Robert, advancing further into the cavernous little shop, made so bold as to open the half-glass door which separated him from the merry-makers, that he succeeded in obtaining their attention” – (Braddon, Ch 19). 

 

When reading this passage, the sarcastic nature and the redundancy of the word “merry” stood out the most to me. Merry suggests a happy situation and these people in particular were noted to be merry a total of three times, though this merriment seems to be perceived as a negative attribute rather than a positive state of being. This passage is also in response to Robert greeting a group of people in the shop, and much to his dismay, the party ignoring him entirely. The passage itself is relatively straightforward to understand, yet it reveals something notably deeper. This passage in and of itself is a binary. We have the juxtaposition of merry people gathered together, versus a very isolated, and what appears to be uncomfortable Robert. The repetition of the word, “merry” and “merriment” is then used to solidify this binary, as a tool to emphasize Robert’s frustration, almost as if he is becoming increasingly more frustrated with his fellow characters with each time the word is used. This section further reveals a potential insight into who the narrator of our novel is. The narrator’s voice, in the increasing frustration of the word “merry”, becomes reflective of Robert’s feelings, therefore alluding to Robert and our narrator having the same mind, opinions, and maybe even personage. In its relevance and relation to the novel as a whole, this passage is reflective of Robert as a character, and his continual failings when delving into investigative matters of his fellow characters. 

” ‘with that she walked off as graceful as you please.’ Who was it that walked off? and what was the story which the locksmith was telling when I interrupted him at that sentence? Oh, George Talboys, George Talboys, am I ever to come any nearer to the secret of your fate? Am I coming nearer to it now, slowly but surely? Is the radius to grow narrower day by day, until it draws a dark circle round the home of those I love?” (Braddon 153)

It is no secret Lady Audley is hiding something. Since her entrance at the beginning of the novel, it has been pretty clear, that she is not who she says she is. Robert Audley is the only one close to her who has begun to doubt her. When Mr. Audley says, “Who was it that walks off” he is clearly indicating that he knows she is not who she says she is.  However, Mr. Audley’s detective abilities do not go much further than that. No matter how suspicious the circumstances are, he can not get any definite proof of Lady Audley as both Georges’s ex-wife and the woman who killed him. Mr. Audley suspects foul play almost immediately after George’s disappearance but he can not seem to get very far in the investigation. He is dealing with an immense amount of grief. Grief is a hard enough emotion for anyone to deal with, but then add the element of foul play being involved, and having to find out who did it will inevitably take a toll on a person mentally. Mr. Audley is described as a very calm and collected person periodically, who does not show much emotion outwardly. His emotions show up in much more subtle ways. In this case, his most prominent emotion is grief. This shows up in his utter desperation to find George. He hyper-fixates on finding out who did it and nothing else for months. He is fueled by grief and the yearning for revenge, however, the grief is also preventing him from thinking logically. Most people who were given much less evidence would immediately know that the Locksmith was lying. Emotions often cloud our vision to the obvious. Mr. Audley’s grief is both what is keeping him going in the investigation, as well as what is holding him back.

Quote: “ ‘but a feeling has come over me since my wife’s death, that I am like a man standing upon a long low shore, with hideous cliffs frowning down upon him from behind, and the rising tide crawling slowly but surely about his feet. It seems to grow nearer and nearer every day, that black, pitiless tide; not rushing upon me with a great noise and a mighty impetus, but crawling, creeping, stealing, gliding towards me, read to close in above my head when I am least prepared for the end.’ (Braddon 65).

This passage consists of George describing his current mental state to Robert. Before George’s disappearance, he almost predicted its coming. George, following his return from Australia to find Helen gone, returns to a place that is completely unfamiliar, despite being the exact same location. On his return from Australia, he felt complete, he felt like he truly accomplished something by becoming a wealthy man, but he did that just to find his life collapsed as he left, and I believe that broke George, because he learned that he cannot control everything in his life, which I believe leads into his thoughts of the tide slowly rising to kill him, and he cannot change that either. The language in this passage comes from a man that is sleepwalking his way into death, and that language defines the passage to me. Words such as “creeping” and “gliding” really demonstrate how his death is set in motion, and he cannot walk away, because he feels he has nothing to walk towards. He mentions his lack of love for poetry, but then follows that with his incredible comparison of his death coming to him in the form of a rising tide, sounding like a truly disturbed poet. In the novel, I believe this quote serves an interesting place, as it demonstrates that George almost knew his life was ending, he just did not know when that end would take place. It is interesting that he talked so openly about his life ending, and while doing so he put himself in the place where his life would end with the people who would take his life, and I believe that is an eerie coincidence. Additionally, I believe this passage truly shows the importance of loved ones in this novel, because Robert follows this quote by shoving it off for the cigars George has been smoking, but following George’s disappearance, Robert then realizes George’s importance in his own life, and that sets Robert down a path that changes his life and his personality, making him notice more important details in life, and notice people’s personality more rather than living life without a care. Beyond the foreshadowing of George’s death, and his manifestation of his own death, I believe this passage demonstrates how important a partner is in enabling someone to live a more fulfilled life and give them purpose in their life.

 

“We are apt to be angry with this cruel hardness in our life—this unflinching regularity in the smaller wheels and meaner mechanism of the human machine, which knows no stoppage or cessation, though the mainspring be for ever broken, and the hands pointing to purposeless figures upon a shattered dial” (Braddon 206). 

The first line serves as a tone setter for the rest of the paragraph, like the way a thesis might guide an argumentative essay; “we are apt to be angry with thus cruel hardness in our life.” Essentially, he, Robert Audley, is saying life can be hard, and for the rest of the paragraph he goes into detail about why it’s hard. He needs to express how grueling life can be so he relates it to a factory like setting, this can be seen when he uses words like wheels, mainspring, mechanism, human machine and shattered dial. Relating an industrial setting to life is a useful way of expressing the point of this paragraph, since factories are often associated with fatigue, underpaid workers, unsafe conditions and long hours, especially in the eighteenth century. Also, Braddon uses no full stops in this paragraph until the last sentence, only commas and dashes. This allows the reader to read it as if it is a poem, continuously. This choice of punctuation is especially well suited to this paragraph because it allows her in depth description to flow, she centers in on one point, which is to express how hard life can be, and by having no full stops it brings the paragraph into one cohesive point, which makes it easier for the reader to digest her thesis. This passage also gives us an insight into Robert’s psyche. Given that Robert has been on the search for an explanation for the disappearance of his friend for a long time, one can only imagine the weariness and anguish he must feel. In addition to this he has just met George’s father, who gave clear signs that he did not care much for George and that the part of him that does has written off his disappearance as a trick. Making George’s disappearance even more tragic and even tougher for Robert to handle. When factoring in these recent experiences George has endured, his pessimistic view on life makes sense. 

I chose the passage “Dear me!” she said, “this is very strange. I did not think men were capable of these deep and lasting affections. I thought that one pretty face was as good as another pretty face to them; and that when number one with blue eyes and fair hair died, they had only to look out for number two, with dark eyes and black hair, by way of variety.” (Braddon, Chapt. 11)

This passage is a comment made by Lady Audley right after Robert talks about George’s disappearance and sadness over his late wife. This passage has a double meaning to it. On the surface it’s a longer comment about the apparent fickleness of men, but if you scratch below the surface it might be a commentary of society in general. Hear me out, this is the first indication that Lady Audley is not as virtuous as she says she is. This comment is later plastered over by the fellow dinner guests as Lady Audley being childish and immature. This lack of seriousness in reaction to her concerning statement is an obvious message by the author that even by women, women’s opinions were not respected or heard. If they had taken a more serious license to listen to her words, a more serious investigation could have happened earlier in the book. Since they didn’t listen, Lady Audley could do more devious acts in the future.

Grieving George Talboys

 

“And so,” he muttered to himself as he went back to his chambers, “‘with that she walked off as graceful as you please.’Who was it that walked off; and what was the story which the locksmith was telling when I interrupted him at that sentence? Oh, George Talboys, George Talboys, am I ever to come any nearer to the secret of your fate? Am I coming nearer to it now, slowly but surely? Is the radius to grow narrower day by day until it draws a dark circle around the home of those I love? How is it all to end?”

 

In this part of the novel we find Robert Audley still searching for his friend George Tallboys who went missing a couple of chapters ago. After meeting Lady Audley in London, he goes back to his apartment and finds out that a locksmith (Mr. White) has been in his room. He then goes to see this locksmith to understand what happened, but the man tells him that there has been an error and he shouldn’t have been there. Mr. White then leaves the room and Robert starts asking himself some questions: when he entered the room the locksmith was telling a story and the only thing he heard was “and so, with that she walked off gracefully” so he immediately starts thinking about who that person could’ve been. There are some repetitions inside this passage: “with that she walked off” “who was it that walked off” this repetition helps the reader to realize how much Robert overthinks. He is fixated with the idea of finding out what happened to George and this is expressed by the repetition of the phrase “George Talboys, George Talboys”, also, the word “nearer” is used two times in this text: Robert asks George if he’s ever coming any close to the unraveling of the secret that concerns his disappearance, then asks him if he’s coming nearer to it now and if he’s understanding how to arrive to a sort of closure.

What I’m really trying to say here is that I think these lines are important to understand how strongly Robert feels about George and these few lines really emphasize how he truly wants to arrive to the end of this mystery by giving us an insight into his mind.

I chose a passage from the first chapter of the novel, a description of the house at Audley court. “the house faced the arch, and occupied three sides of a quadrangle. It was very old, and very irregular and rambling. The windows were uneven; some small, some large, some with heavy stone mullions and rich stained glass.” (Braddon 7).

This passage describes some of the exterior of the house. For the first few pages of the novel the author offers extensive details about Audley Court. Braddon uses a lot of contrasting imagery to describe the window situation at the house, which is what the passage begins to describe. This passage relates to the book as a whole in that it describes the most used setting throughout the entire novel. I think the disorderly, irregular looking house reflects the disorder of what’s going on in the novel and the drama between the characters. When she states “some small, some large, some with heavy stone mullions and rich stained glass”(Braddon 7), the author gives us insight into the characters. For example, Lucy Graham’s description could be equivalent to, in this instance, to the ones with “heavy stone mullions and rich stained glass”, as she is a powerful figure in the story.