Nineteenth-Century British Novel

Discussion & Debate Questions

Lady Audley’s Secret

• How does the treatment of insanity in LAS resemble / differ from that in Jane Eyre? How might you account for this difference? Take another look at Showalter, if you have time.

• A student of mine once asked whether the explanations for and attitudes toward male insanity were the same or different from attitudes toward female insanity. How might you use LAS to approach this question? What implications can you draw from this difference about gender in Braddon’s time?

• How does the treatment of governesses and women’s position in the home resemble / differ from that in Jane Eyre? What are the implications of this contrast (e.g., is Braddon attempting to provoke or mitigate social anxieties about the governess and about women’s sexuality)?

• On pages 70-71, Robert and George gaze at a painting of Lucy Audley. What does this moment suggest about Braddon’s view of the relationship between art and reality?

• We might say that Brontë’s novel was centrally concerned with an individual’s psychological make-up and the forces that shape her perceptions and responses. What do you think is the central goal of Braddon’s novel? What narrative devices does Braddon use to accomplish this goal?

Debate Questions:

Debate #1:

a. Lucy Audley’s abandonment of her former life, her mercenary marriage to Sir Michael, her slanderous accusations of madness against Robert Audley, and her refusal to leave Audley court are actions that can be forgiven as justifiable acts of self-preservation or self-defense.

b. Lucy Audley’s manipulative and deceitful acts evidence a diseased, malicious nature and cannot be forgiven or justified on any grounds. She ought to be apprehended and punished for her crimes.

Debate #2:

a. Braddon’s novel suggests that an individual’s goodness or evil is determined by the circumstances in which that individual finds him/herself.

b. Braddon’s novel suggests that an individual is born with an innate instinct toward goodness or evil.

Debate #3:

a. Robert Audley’s need to learn the truth of George’s fate and his relentless pursuit of Lucy Audley stem from a pure, unselfish desire to act according to the abstract ideals of truth and justice.

b. Robert Audley’s need to learn the truth of George’s fate and his relentless pursuit of Lucy Audley stem from selfish, personal desires such as nagging curiosity, a romantic interest in Clara Talboys, and the temptation of a good hunt.

Debate #4:

a. Braddon supports the idea that justice must be sought even if the pursuit of this abstract ideal robs individuals of their mercy and humanity.

b. Braddon laments the fact that the pursuit of an abstract ideal such as justice must rob individuals of their mercy and humanity.

Debate #5:

a. Robert Audley indulges in several meditations against “petticoat government” and the immense power that women have over men. The novel supports Robert’s view that women in nineteenth-century society wield a covert and potentially dangerous power over men.

b. Robert’s mysogyny is meant to be taken ironically. The lives of the women in the novel reveal women’s true powerlessness and victimization in the male-dominated world of the nineteenth century.

Debate #6:

a. Lady Audley’s madness is truly inherited, and she would not have been able to escape her fate no matter her situation.

b. Lucy Audley has been driven mad by external circumstances such as Robert Audley’s relentless persecution of her and the Marks’s blackmail.