The French Lieutenant's Woman

Charles leaves the Freemans’ London house. He is still not sure why he tried too hard to convince Mr. Freeman that his prospects have greatly diminished. Evidently, part of him wishes that his marriage to Ernestina would be cancelled by someone other than himself. This would allow him to resolve his situation with Ernestina and turn to Sarah, whom he truly loves. As he walks, he passes Mr. Freeman’s business and feels nauseous at the idea of working there. Charles is convinced that he is a scholar and an intellectual, so the petty routine of day-to-day business horrifies him. He has come to view the working class like “happy parasites” (296) and cannot imagine being in such company. He believes life should be more than just a series of commercial transactions. Even though he is a reasonable man, he cannot abandon the idea that working a job is demeaning for a gentleman. Worrying about his future, he flags down a cab and asks to be taken to his gentlemen’s club.

At his club, Charles meets two of his college friends. They are also members of the club and they share Charles’s social class and status, to the point where they are almost stereotypes of young Victorian gentlemen. Charles drinks milk and champagne punch with his friends and, once he is drunk, he goes out with them in pursuit of a good time. They visit a brothel. Inside, a sex worker performs an exotic dance that closely mirrors a contemporary account from a book titled The History of the Human Heart, quoted by the narrator. The men are joined by the dancers, but Charles seems disgusted by his seedy surroundings. He leaves on his own, feeling “sexually irritated” (308). Outside, however, a woman reminds him of Sarah. He propositions her, even though he realizes that she doesn’t actually look like Sarah. She gives the cab driver instructions and sits beside Charles, who agrees to pay her for the whole night. She makes small talk and explains that she has been a sex worker for two years. The more she talks, the more foolish Charles feels. However, the danger associated with his action seems thrilling to him. He gives her £1 as she assures him that she is free from any disease.

The woman takes Charles back to her rooms, which are spotless. He is intrigued by her carefulness, particularly when she tries not to wake her sleeping daughter in a neighboring room. She tells him about the father of her child, who is serving as a soldier in India and has done “all one could decently expect” (314) for her. Charles begins to feel nauseous from the alcohol and his situation. He feels as though some mystery has been ruined though he still feels sexually aroused after they kiss. Charles does not follow through on his original intentions. He asks the woman for her name, and she tells him it is Sarah. This shocks Charles, and he vomits in Sarah’s bed.

Sam waits for Charles to wake. The other staff members note that Sam is in a pessimistic mood, but Sam refuses to divulge anything he knows. Charles wakes up the next day with a terrible hangover. He has a clear recollection of everything that happened the previous night, including the other Sarah cradling him after he was sick in her bed. She fetched a cab for him and sent him home. While she was away from the room, her daughter began to cry, and Charles comforted the baby with his expensive watch, dropping it among the sheets. Charles left five sovereigns for the woman. As his cab left her home, she chased after him to say thank you.

Despite his hangover, Charles begins to review his situation. He decides to dismiss his drunken exploits as a final farewell to life as a single man. Now, he can settle down and marry Ernestina. He can become an executive at her father’s company and, in the future, inherit the business for himself. He reads letters from Grogan and an unnamed person. Grogan’s letter says that Sarah has left Lyme Regis and provides Charles with the address of someone who can help if she follows him to London. The unsigned letter contains only an address. Charles throws it in the fire. Sam tells Charles that he will ask Mary to be his wife. He asks Charles for help in setting up his home, asking for a loan of £250 to set up a haberdashery. For the first time, Sam realizes that his own future is bound to recent events in Charles’s life. Since he has been disinherited, Charles may not be able to loan the money to Sam. He will be dependent on Ernestina’s dowry. As a result, Sam has a keen investment in Charles’s immediate future. He begins to worry that Charles is thinking of calling off his engagement. In recent times, he has been thinking of alternative, less legal means of receiving the needed money from Charles. That morning, he secretly read the unsigned letter. He now believes that his future depends on Charles marrying Ernestina, so the marriage “must go through” (333).

The unsigned letter was from Sarah, and the address was that of her hotel in Exeter. Charles understands that the implication is for him to join Sarah, but he is determined to ignore her. Instead, he will join Ernestina in Lyme Regis. He is now convinced that he should marry Ernestina and accept his change in fortune. As he is riding to Lyme Regis with Sam, the train makes a stop in Exeter. Charles knows that Sarah is also in the city, and he insists that they not delay their journey rather than stop for the night. As the carriage rolls on, Charles falls asleep.

Charles and Sam reach Lyme Regis in a carriage. Immediately, Charles goes to Ernestina, and they talk and exchange gifts. He gives her a brooch, and she gives him blue velvet pouch for his watch, which she embroidered for him. Charles tells Ernestina a highly sanitized version of what happened between himself and “that miserable female” (339), Sarah. The narrator takes a broad view of this possible future, outlining how the couples—Charles and Ernestina, Mary and Sam, as well as other characters—will go about their lives in this possible version of events. They may not be as happy as they could possibly be, but they are also not terribly sad. In one example, when Mrs. Poulteney dies, she is refused entry into heaven and is cast down into hell.

The narrator confesses that the ending given in the previous chapters did not actually happen. The plot returns to the train station in Exeter, the moment when Charles decides to continue to Lyme Regis rather than stop in the city for a night. In this version, Charles decides to stay a night in Exeter. Sam prepares Charles’s rooms in the Ship Inn and then spies on Charles, who claims to be going to the local cathedral. He follows Charles to the Endicott’s Family Hotel.

Though he knew Sarah was in the city, Charles convinced himself that he was going to see her so as to properly end their relationship. He goes to the address in the unsigned letter and finds Sarah in her hotel room, nursing an injured foot. They make small talk. Charles is suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that he has not come to say goodbye. He knows that he felt an “intolerable thirst” (349) to see Sarah again. The couple embraces, releasing their pent up passion. Charles picks up Sarah and carries her into the bedroom. The narrator notes that despite the overwhelming intensity of their passionate encounter, in reality it takes “precisely ninety seconds” (353).

Charles and Sarah lay together in bed. Charles is shocked by his actions; he does not understand how a gentleman like himself could give in to overriding passions. He idealizes Sarah and insists that she is perfect while she claims that she is not worthy of his love. She cannot marry him. The possibility that they might have married and the knowledge that he loves her are satisfying enough, she claims. Charles asks for several days to think about what to do next. As he dresses, he notices “a red stain” (357) on his shirt and realizes that Sarah was a virgin. Charles now knows that Sarah story about the French Lieutenant dishonoring her was a lie. Rather than seeing Sarah as an innocent, perfect being, he now sees her as a lying temptress. He cannot understand her motivations, and Sarah admits that she can’t either. She loves Charles but repeats her belief that they cannot be married. Sarah addresses Charles formally as Mr. Smithson and asks him to leave. This change in tone hurts Charles, who struggles to accept Sarah’s explanation. He finally leaves.

Charles hurries out of the hotel into the rain. In his confusion, he wanders into the “morally dark quarter of Exeter” (360) and enters a church. The church is closing but Charles is given permission to stay late to pray. Charles prays desperately for forgiveness from God. As he prays, he sees Sarah’s face on the statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. Charles, like many Victorians, struggles with his agnosticism, but he weeps uncontrollably. He recovers himself enough to debate his next course of action. He does not know whether he can be with Ernestina or Sarah. He suddenly understands the constraints of his society, and he feels unburdened by his burgeoning understanding of a new and different world. Armed with this new understanding, he drops to his knees and prays again.