The French Lieutenant's Woman: Some Tips for Successful Summer Reading

Dear Grade 10 Students,

This summer, one of the texts you will be reading in preparation for grade 11 English is The French
Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles. This book is an exciting, yet challenging, read.
We are asking you to read the entire novel once on your own this summer, so that you get a good
sense of the characters and plot. We will review the novel together in the fall, by considering blocks
of chapters at a time.

Before you begin to read the novel, take the time now to read the following documents, included in
this package:
- Student-to-Student Advice About Reading the Book in the Summer;
- About the Author John Fowles;
- Amazon.ca Customers Review The French Lieutenant's Woman;
- Important Ideas in The French Lieutenant's Woman;
- The French Lieutenant's Woman: A Summary.

As you read the novel this summer, please do the following:
- look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary and make a note of their definitions in the margins;
- write a 2-3 sentence summary of each chapter (either in the white space at the start of each
chapter or on a separate piece of paper).

We hope you enjoy reading this book and we look forward to discussing it in detail with you in class in
September. If you would prefer to listen to this novel in audio-book format, you may purchase
the audio-book at audible.com.

Have a great summer!
Your Grade 11 English Teachers






The French Lieutenant's Woman: Some Student-to-Student Advice
About Reading the Book in the Summer
(from the Grade 11 English Class of 2010-2011)

"Read the book during the summer. This is a warning. Seriously. You will cry if you do not read it during
the summer. Do not skim it. You will regret not reading it! You take six other courses in grade 11;
you will NOT have time to read it once school starts. You will not WANT to read it when school starts.
Required reading means READ IT. You will be sad and flustered and, trust me, you WILL cry if you do
not read this book in the summer.

"Read the book in the summer. SERIOUSLY. You will not be going over every page in class and you will
not have time to read the whole thing once school starts.

"Read the book over the summer. This is very, very important, so that you know what your teacher is
talking about in September and you know what you are writing about when you go to write the essay.

"Pay close attention while you are reading this book in the summer. Don't just read for pleasure.

"Use colourful sticky notes to mark important passages or chapters.

"Make good quality annotations while you are reading it's more about quality than quantity; don't just
annotate for the sake of annotating.

"DON'T PROCRASTNATE! Take some time to read this book every day in the summer it will make your
life a lot easier.

"Do not try to take a short-cut and watch the movie instead of reading the book. The movie is totally
different and will confuse you if you haven't read the book first.



About the Author John Fowles




John Fowles was born on March 31, 1926 in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, England. As a young man, he
studied French and philosophy at Oxford, and travelled to France and Greece. Fowles became a
teacher and a writer. His books include The Collector, The Magus and The French Lieutenant's
Woman. Fowles moved to the southern coast of England to the small harbor town of Lyme Regis in
1968; this town is the setting for The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Further information about John Fowles is available at fowlesbooks.com.





Amazon.ca Customers Review The French Lieutenant's Woman

A true masterpiece, May 14 2004 - By Matthew Krichman
In the first hundred pages of this book I had already begun to realize that this was one of the best books I
have ever read. That feeling never let up; indeed, it grew even stronger as I approached the end, when I began to
feel a frantic eagerness to discover what would become of these characters that I had grown to care so much for.
Sarah Woodruff (aka the French Lieutenant's Woman) is one of my favorite characters in literature. She is
a complex, nuanced character, intriguingly covered by a delicate veil of mystery throughout the first half of the
book. Her pain, her selfless sacrifice, and her courage are deeply and powerfully drawn. She is a true example of
a woman ahead of her time, a woman who challenges the norms of her society by simply ignoring them. Her
confidence and her quiet scorn for the Puritanism of the times in which she lives raise her to a level above the so-
called moral leaders who condemn her. In a strange way, she is a true hero.
This book, written in the late 1960s but set one hundred years earlier, is a beautiful example of period
literature. Fowles, through his remarkably genuine narrative voice, recreates the world of Victorian England in such
a way that if it weren't for the occasional references to modern life you might think the book was a century older
than it is. It is filled with all the pomp and formality you would expect, but also with a wit, dry humor, and quiet
mocking of the period that lend it an added flavor.
But Fowles is not simply trying to create a period piece or social commentary. I believe that first and
foremost he was creating a love story. I would put Charles and Sarah in the same category with Romeo and Juliet
as far as love stories go. The relationship is developed slowly, so slow that it is exquisitely painful almost. And
though the time they spend together is brief, it is filled with an unmistakable air of eventual tragedy.
The only question left in my mind is whether to categorize this book as a classic of modern fiction or of 19th
century fiction. It could easily stand in either section of my bookshelf.

Fowles' most artful, enigmatic tale, Aug 18 2003 - By Peggy Vincent
The French Lieutenant's Woman is a Victorian-style novel that deals with 20th Century issues. Charles
Smithson falls in love with the mysterious Sarah Woodruff, a woman who has been cast aside by the French
lieutenant of the book's title. The book shifts in time between past and present, between politics and social issues
of today and the Victorian era, as it deals with love, lust, broken promises, and redemption. Lovely, lyrical, and
there's a twist to the surprise ending.
The Victorian Era in Retrospect, April 30 2001 - By Christopher Dudley
Though the story in this novel takes place in the Victorian era of England in 1869, it was written a century
later, allowing the author and the reader to view the entire time period in retrospect, and make several
observations on the age as it pertains to the story he tells. That story involves a young gentleman, Charles,
engaged to a suitable young lady, Ernestina, the daughter of a successful tradesman. Charles becomes intrigued



by the local outcast Sarah, also known (most euphemistically) as "The French Lieutenant's Woman," and they
share an attraction that defies his social station and, as a societal outcast, her lack of one.
Throughout the novel, Fowles inserts information about the era, and highlights in particular the hypocrisy of
sexual attitudes and roles. Charles and Sarah find themselves victims of these restrictions, and as such their
romance is doomed from the start. Charles convinces himself that he has a truly selfless motive in attempting to
help Sarah, whom he sees as a victim, and ends up weaving a web of deceit to himself and others as he fails to
see himself falling in love with her. As the novel progresses, one can read in the comments about Victorian
standards, commentary about our own modern age. By holding this bygone age up to our own, Fowles shows us
how far we've come, and how little we've left behind.
To enhance the immersive storytelling, the prose is written in a style reminiscent of the Victorian authors
themselves. In fact, in one section where Fowles points out such contradictions as the fact that in this age when
lust was a forbidden topic, one in every sixty houses in London was a brothel, the paragraph might easily be read
as "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." But even in this emulation, he uses more modern literary
methods, such as giving a false ending more than a hundred pages before the real end, and inserting himself as a
character in the story. These feats are done with expertise and flair, and though they are jarring at first, it quickly
becomes apparent that even the tricks are part of the story.
Held up against the story of the upper-class Charles is the subplot of Sam, his manservant. Sam also has
his own romance with Mary, a maid in Ernestina's aunt's household. The societal standards for Charles and for
Sam are compared and contrasted throughout the book, creating an intriguing duality of storytelling, which leaves
the upper-class Victorians looking somewhat the worse for comparison.
If you don't mind a novel that's hard to put down, and very tempting to re-read as soon as you've finished, I
strongly recommend The French Lieutenant's Woman.

My every five years novel., April 19 2000 By A Customer
I first read this wonderful book in the late 60's, shortly after it published. As a high school student, I was
simply blown away by the story, the virtuosity of the endings, by its ambiguity, but most of all by the richness of its
language.
The scene when Charles and Sarah confront each other in the shed in the Undercliff has more tension and
suspense than a thousand horror movies, because it was so real.
In the intervening 30 years, I've re-read this novel every five years or so. Like other great works, each re-
reading brings something new (because continue to change).. in this great book, Fowles and connected.
hope when I'm ninety, I can sit down and read it again (and find something fresh and new).



Important Ideas
in The French Lieutenant's Woman


TIME and PROGRESS
Although the novel The French Lieutenant's Woman was published in 1969, it is set in 1869 100
years earlier. Throughout the novel, the author questions the idea of progress. The story is set in the
Victorian age, named for Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This time period is often associated with
industrialization, urbanization, the rise of evolutionary science (Darwinism), sexual repression and
Puritan ideals.

FREEDOM
Many characters in FLW are struggling to achieve their own individual freedom. These characters
reflect existentialism, a philosophical movement of the early-mid twentieth century that emphasized
individual freedom and an individual's responsibility to create her own authentic experience. As you
read the novel, think about who is struggling to be free? from whom or from what? why?

BREAKING AWAY FROM TRADITION
Many elements of FLW seem to break away from the traditional novel: the narrator interrupts the
story, the narrator talks directly to the reader about how he is telling the story, the narrator makes
reference to the 20
th
century in a novel that is set in the 19
th
century, and he offers one "false ending
and two options for the final ending of the story. In these ways and more, FLW is a postmodern
novel. Postmodernism was the dominant cultural movement of the mid-late 20th century. This
movement resisted and questioned traditional assumptions about culture, identity, history, language
and literary forms.

(We will discuss all of these important ideas in more detail in class in the fall. )



The French Lieutenant's Woman: A Summary
The first chapter describes Lyme Regis and its Cobb, a harbor quay on which three characters are
standing: Charles Smithson, Ernestina Freeman, and Sarah Woodruff. The describing narrator has a
distinctive voice, all-knowing yet intimate, with a wide-ranging vocabulary and evidently vast
knowledge of political and geographical history. In one sentence the narrator sounds like a Victorian,
as he remarks that the male character recently "had severely reduced his dundrearies, which the
arbiters of the best English male fashion had declared a shade vulgar--that is, risible to the foreigner--
a year or two previously." In the next sentence he sounds modern, as he describes how "the colors of
the young lady's clothes would strike us today as distinctly strident." The narrator's double vision and
double voice make him as important as the characters in this novel.
Charles is a middle-aged bachelor and amateur paleontologist; Ernestina is his fiance, who has
brought him to spend a few days with her aunt. Out of a chivalric concern for Sarah, Charles advises
her to return from the end of the Cobb to a safer position, but she merely stares at him. As he reflects
on this curious meeting, the narrator begins to comment on Charles's outlook on life and on the
attitudes that were typical of the age in 1867, with occasional comparisons with 1967.
Ernestina is revealed to be a pretty but conventional young woman. Sarah is an outcast who is
reputed to be pining for the French lieutenant who has jilted her. Charles is earnest but intelligent
enough to be aware of Ernestina's limitations. When he is looking for fossils along the wooded
Undercliff, Charles discovers Sarah sleeping, and must apologize when she awakes and sees him
observing her. As he returns to Lyme, he inquires about her at a nearby farm, whose owner tells him
that the "French Loot'n'nt's Hoer" often walks that way. Sarah's employer, having separately become
aware of that fact, forbids her to walk there any more. Sarah spends that night contemplating suicide,
and Chapter 12 ends with two questions: "Who is Sarah? Out of what shadows does she come?"
Chapter 13 begins "I do not know," and the narrator proceeds to discuss the difficulty of writing a
story when characters behave independently rather than do his bidding. Charles, he complains, did
not return to Lyme as the narrator had intended but willfully went down to the Dairy to ask about
Sarah. But, the narrator concedes, times have changed, and the traditional novel is out of fashion,
according to some. Novels may seem more real if the characters do not behave like marionettes and
narrators do not behave like God. So the narrator, in effect, promises to give his characters the free
will that people would want a deity to grant them. Likewise, the narrator will candidly admit to the
artifice of the narration and will thereby treat his readers as intelligent, independent beings who
deserve more than the manipulative illusions of reality provided in a traditional novel. 1



Subsequent chapters contain representations of domestic life--a quiet evening with Charles and
Ernestina, a morning with Charles and his valet, a concert at the Assembly Rooms. During this last,
Charles reflects on where his life seems to be leading and on the fact that, as he puts it, he has
become "a little obsessed with Sarah.or at any rate with the enigma she presented." He returns to
the Undercliff, again finds Sarah there, and is shocked to be told by her that she is not pining for her
French lieutenant, that he is married. The next time Charles encounters her in the Undercliff she
offers Charles some fossils she has found and tells him that she thinks she may be going mad; she
asks him to meet her there once more, when she has more time, so that she can tell him the truth
about her situation and obtain his advice.
Charles decides to seek advice himself and visits Dr. Grogan, an elderly bachelor and an admirer of
Darwin, whose theories they discuss. When the conversation turns to Sarah, Grogan expresses the
belief that she wants to be a victim. Sarah seems to bear out his view when she explains to Charles
that she indeed became infatuated with the French lieutenant when he was recovering from an injury
in the house, where Sarah was governess, and that she followed him when he left to return to France.
She tells Charles that she quickly realized that he had regarded her only as an amusement, but that
she "gave" herself to him nonetheless, doubly dishonoring herself by choice as well as by
circumstances. She seems to be proud of her status as outcast, for it differentiates her from a society
she considers unjust. Charles accepts her story--even finds it fascinating.
When Charles returns to his room at the inn, he finds a telegram from his bachelor uncle Robert,
summoning him home to the family estate he is in line to inherit. To Charles's surprise, Robert has
decided to marry Bella Tomkins, a young widow, whose sons--if she has any--would displace Charles
as heir. On Charles's return to Lyme Regis, Ernestina mentions that Sarah was seen returning from
their last meeting in the Undercliff, where she had been forbidden to walk, and has been dismissed by
Mrs. Poulteney. At his hotel, Charles finds a message from Sarah, urging him to meet her one more
time. Charles has Dr. Grogan call off the search for Sarah, who, it was thought, might have killed
herself Grogan again warns Charles against Sarah, this time by offering him a document to read
about a case of bizarre behavior by a young woman in France who manages to get one of her father's
officers unjustly convicted of attempting to rape her. Charles decides to meet Sarah again, despite
the possibility that she may be deranged and trying to destroy him.
When he finds her, she confesses that she deliberately allowed herself to be seen and, hence,
dismissed. Charles is unable to resist kissing her but is bewildered. His feelings turn to dismay when
they are stumbled on by Sam and Mary, his valet and Ernestina's aunt's servant, who have come to
the Undercliff for their own privacy. Embarrassed, he swears them to secrecy. 2



Now even more of two minds about his marriage, Charles decides to go to London to discuss his
altered financial prospects with Ernestina's father, a prosperous merchant there. Mr. Freeman is more
concerned for the happiness of his daughter, who evidently loves Charles dearly, so the engagement
stands; but Charles is increasingly uncomfortable with, even trapped by, his situation. He goes to his
club and drinks too much. He visits a brothel with two of his friends, but finds the entertainment
repellant, and leaves. He picks up a Cockney streetwalker and returns to her flat with her; when she
tells him her name is, coincidentally, Sarah, Charles becomes ill and, subsequently, returns to his
room. The next morning Charles receives a letter from Grogan, and a note from Sarah with the name
of a hotel in Exeter.
Because the train station nearest to Lyme Regis is in Exeter, Charles must pass through that town on
his way back from London. Having steamed open the note from Sarah, Sam is confident that they will
spend the night in Exeter, so that Charles can visit Sarah, but they proceed to Lyme, where Charles
and Ernestina are reunited. The narrator recounts that they go on to marry, have seven children, and
live well into the twentieth century. In the next chapter, the narrator explains that this traditional
ending is just one possibility, a hypothetical future for his characters. Charles recognized his freedom
of choice and "actually" did decide to put up at Exeter for the night, precisely as Sam had expected.
As the story resumes and continues to unfold, Charles visits Sarah at her hotel. He must see her in
her room because she has supposedly injured her ankle, though she has purchased the bandage
before the "accident" occurred. Charles is overcome by passion and takes her to bed, only to
discover that she is a virgin, despite what she had told him about the French lieutenant. She
confesses that she has deceived him, says that she cannot explain why and, furthermore, cannot
marry him. Stunned by the whole experience, Charles visits a nearby church and meditates on the
human condition. He decides that Sarah has been trying to "unblind" him with her stratagems, so that
he would recognize that he is free to choose. He writes a letter to Sarah, telling her how much she
means to him, and then returns to Lyme to call off his engagement.
Sam does not deliver the letter. Ernestina is distraught when Charles tells her that he is unworthy to
be her husband, more so when she realizes that the true reason is another woman. Sam correctly
surmises that his master's star will wane as the marriage is called off, so determined to protect his
prospect of marriage to Mary, he leaves his position as Charles's valet in hope that Ernestina's aunt
and her father will help him.
When Charles returns to Exeter, he finds Sarah gone to London, having left no forwarding address.
As he follows her, by train, a bearded figure sits opposite Charles and watches him as he dozes. 3



The character is the narrator himself, who professes not to know where Sarah is or what she wants;
indeed, he is wondering what exactly to do with Charles. He compares writing a novel to fixing a fight
in favor of one boxer or another; to seem less dishonest, he decides to show the "fight" as if "fixed"
both ways, with different "victors," or endings. Because the last ending will seem privileged by its final
position, he flips a coin to determine which ending to give first.
The narrative resumes the description of Charles's search for Sarah. He checks agencies for
governesses, patrols areas frequented by prostitutes, and advertises--all without success. He visits
the United States and advertises there. Two years after she disappeared, Charles gets a cable from
his solicitor saying that Sarah has been found. Charles hopes that Sarah has decided to answer the
ad, but the narrator explains that Mary has seen Sarah enter a house in Chelsea, and that it is Sam
who responded to the ad, now that he is a thriving employee of Mr. Freeman as well as a happy
father and husband, but still slightly guilt-ridden over his having intercepted the letter at Lyme.
When Charles arrives at Sarah's house, he finds her surprised to see him and not apologetic about
having left him in ignorance of her whereabouts. She gradually is revealed to be living in the house of
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and several other artists and models of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Charles is shocked, partly by the rather notoriously unconventional company she is keeping and
partly by her lack of repentance for having deceived him and left him in uncertainty. He accuses her
of implanting a dagger in his breast and then twisting it. She decides not to let Charles leave without
revealing that she has had a child by him, named Lalage. Chapter 60 ends with the three of them
evidently on the threshold of some kind of future together.
Chapter 61 begins with the bearded narrator in front of Sarah's house with a watch, which he sets
back fifteen minutes and drives off. The narrative resumes with the same piece of dialogue from
Chapter 60, about twisting the knife. In this version of the conversation, Charles sees that she cannot
marry without betraying herself, and that he cannot accept her on more independent terms. He leaves
without realizing that the child he notices on the way out is his. The narrator ends the novel by noting
that Charles has at least begun to have some faith in himself, despite his not feeling that he
understands Sarah, and that the reader should not imagine that the last ending is any less plausible
than the one before it.
Source: http://www.fowlesbooks.com/novelsof.htm


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