Lady Audley's Secret Flashcards
some key themes of Lady Audley’s secret
Gedner truth/ deception class gothic Patriachal values insanity
What can be considered to be one of Lady Audley’s most important actions
her self production
What does Richard Nemesvari say about Sensation Novels
they “tended to present sexual irregualrites as motivating the crimes which drove its plots”
Give an example of how characters are associated with a quality that is in opposition to their gender
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In what ways in Lady Audley the embodiment of the Victorian feminine ideal
She is light, fair, with masses of golden curls and wide blue eyes, cheerful in everything she does, charitable, loving, and childish.
She is the darling not only of her noble husband but of the whole county besides, charming everyone she meets.
not only physically attractive but attractive in ideals
eatures also allude to the pre-Raphaelite paintings of strong, seductive women whose golden tresses are long and flowing.
How is lady audley not an embodiment of he Victorian feminine ideal
she is a bigamist, an arsonist, and a would-be murderer. She is willing to abandon her child and change her identity to better her own circumstances, and prepared to do anything to keep the life she has schemed so hard to claim
What Victorian archtypye is Lady Audley an example of
the angel in the house
the stereotype it enshrined was so powerful that in 1931 Virginia Woolf advised every female writer to kill the angel in the house
What did the heroines of sensation novels often do
challenged the domestic middle class ideal of a passionate, devout, submissive daughter/wife
What does Lady Audley’s bigamy suggest
That she pursues her sexual desires beyond the law
What does the quote ‘ who would have thought that a dragoon would drink sixpenny ale, smoke birds-eye tobacco and let his wife wear a shabby bonnet”
Helen Maddons/Lucy Graham/L Audely has always been honest and open about her social climbing aspirations
says this to her first husband
What feature appears to be a challenge to the patriachal laws of the mid 19th C
Braddon’s use of a female protagonist not only as the focus of her novel but also as a powerful femme fatal figure
What happens to Lady Audley at the end of the novel
Lucy is addmited to a mental asyum in Belgium and confeses that she killed George by pushing him down a well
What did John Sutherland say of the novel
that it was the most sensationally successful of all the sensation novels
Why is there some debate about the sanity of Lady Audley
some critics such as Elaine Showater see madness as the only plausable explanation behind her outlandish actions
others views her deception as an inherently feminist action in which a woman takes control of the destiny of her own life
What are the implications of the resemblance between Phoebe and L Audley
their identical nature banishes the idea of physical distinction between the upper and lower classes and therefore of any inherent superiority of the former
