FOWELS- THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN

SUMMARY:
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THE CONDITION OF WOMEN

Although the main plot and writing style of this novel seem very much like those
of a Victorian novel, this story could never have been produced in the nineteenth
century. Above all, its treatment of sexuality is uniquely modern, even if the
sexuality it portrays is accurate to the Victorian era. Victorian women were coerced
into limiting expressions of sexuality in part through the specter of becoming a
fallen woman. A fallen woman is one who has lost her virginity before marriage,
become a prostitute, or otherwise sexually compromised herself. Fallen women
were usually ostracized by society and often were unable to find a husband or have
a proper family in a time when these were supposed to be women’s sole markers of
success.
SARAH WOODRUFF: Sarah upends the idea that estrangement is necessarily a
punishment for fallen women and a deterrent to other women who might stray
from norms. By inviting the label of “fallen woman”—and relishing the ostracism
that results—Sarah uses a clichéd archetype to subvert society’s power over her
sexuality. . While exposing the trope as a fabricated story might seem to expose it
as weak, Fowles instead shows how much real-life power a cultural narrative such
as this one can have. Even as Sarah explodes the implications of the fallen woman
trope, she’s still trapped within the confines of its narrative, as it shapes her life and
her actions in every possible way.
Near the end of the book, Fowles calls Sarah a “New Woman,” which was a term
the Victorians used to denote a more independent and progressive type of woman,
who often transgressed sexual norms in the name of social change. In this
transgression of sexual norms, New Women and fallen women were not so
different. By calling her a New Woman, however, Fowles begins to shift Sarah
into a narrative of purposeful rebellion and out of the narrative of the woman who
has fallen by fate or moral laxity. He also implicitly politicizes Sarah’s actions,
implying that she’s part of a broader social movement away from the Victorian
repression of women and their sexuality. Overall, then, Fowles is arguing not only
for gender equality and sexual freedom, but also to change the modern view of the
Victorians’ relationship to sex. By showing his characters engaging in sexual
activities that fall outside of the modern conception of Victorian life, Fowles
makes the Victorians seem more real and more fallible. Humanity, he argues,
always has the same desires and the same weaknesses, and it’s only the way of
discussing and representing them that changes.

Fowles meant for The French Lieutenant’s Woman to be a feminist novel, and his
critique of female oppression and his re-imagination of a simplistic Victorian trope
are feminist in nature. However, many critics take issue with some aspects of
Fowles’s treatment of gender. For example, some feminists criticize the fact that all
of the significant relationships that Fowles depicts exist between men and women
or men and men (female relationships, Fowles seems to imply, are not important).
Ernestina Freeman- the traditional 19 century woman, an upper
th

class member. She is mostly inside the house- in a closed space, and
she depends on men: Charles and her father. Her clothes are also
entrapping, whereas fainting is predictable, and not surprising. She
chooses duty.

Even prior to her relationship with Charles, she was already seen as a
bad woman, she had already fallen from her pedestal. There is an
outer reflection of the things that changed inside as well (her clothes
changed). These 2 characters are set in contradiction with each other.
The first glimpse we get of Sarah is a gender-neutral one, and we see
her staring into the sea. Seeing has the meaning of understanding
(far-seeing- seeing and understanding society. We are told that she
sees far away- she understands a lot of things, she is very intelligent.
She also understands human nature), Soon after we are told that
Ernestina is “short-sighted”. Sarah Also called an enigma, a sfinx.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR:

the author gives you this impression that he has taken a step back
from writing, and that the characters do their own thing, but that is
obviously not the case- the illusion of freedom. Fanfic (imagining a
particular fate for a character)- the word fanfic was actually used.
The unreliable narrator. Who is the main character in the novel? The
title says that it’s about Sarah. CHARLES is THE PROTAGONIST.
(Trust me, I did by bachelors on Fowles.)Why? Charles is the only
 character that changes. The title is a lie that the author tells us, but
also a lie that Sarah creates. She is the one that spreads the gossip
about herself, because if she is rejected by society, she receives more
freedom, She will be unbound from the norms that people impose. She
is also an implied writer within the text- she writes her own story, her
own identity- after her encounter with Charles, she also changes her
name. Charles, on the other hand, is an implied reader on the text- he
is trying to make sense of it all- of Sarah, but in the end, she remains
an enigma.

IRONY:

The central irony that is present in this tremendous novel is

related to freedom and who possesses it and who does not. As
the novel progresses, Charles, who apparently seems to have
everything in society a man could wish for, comes to realise how
actually he is very constrained and trapped by society and its
restraints. Ironically, Sarah, the figure who is shunned by society
and seems to lack freedom, becomes a symbol of the complete
and total freedom that he craves and desires to have himself.

POWER & AUTHORITY

The upper class wields a significant amount of power, which limited

individual freedom, utilized to maintain social order. The
consequences of disobedience can be very harsh. The struggle
between social expectation and individual desire.
Sarah- Where Victorian society emphasizes social
conformity, Sarah refused said norms. She is exposed and objectified
after her disobedience; she becomes a man’s object (“The French
Lieutenant’s Woman”). Men hold the power to persecute and
stigmatize whomever they want.
Charles- the love interest, caught in a sort of love triangle. Sarah
represents freedom, wishing to be free, to live life as you want, and
Ernestina represents conformity and entrapment. Sarah refused the
proposition of marriage, even though that would save her from the
harsh eyes of society. She didn’t try to redeem herself, because the
already knew the truth of the matter and her own value.
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