The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
This is a second note on the same work, posted on goodreads.
However, this refers to the adaptation of the novel for the BBC, with the fabulous John Hurt as narrator.
The plot is well known, there is even a film based on this work, with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in the title roles.
The movie went on to receive five major Academy Awards Nominations and win a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for best actress.
Charles Smithson appears to me as the central character, given that he is the one telling the story, involved with both Sarah and Ernestina, the latter being also called Tina.
We get the picture as painted by Charles and in the play version, John hurt is the one making explanations…
Not only that, the story teller stops the watch once in a while, to move back or to give an alternative development to the story.
The film- about it I can speak without a spoiler alert, can’t I?- even as a happy ending version, with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons floating happily on a lake, if my memory is correct.
Notwithstanding the fact that the narrative is very good and has been included among the best novels, I am not really thrilled.
The Magus, by the same talented John Fowles might have been more enjoyable for this reader than this account.
Charles Smithson is an interesting, complex, intriguing man, due to marry Ernestina and inherent both a title and a fortune from his uncle, who summons him at one point only to let him now there is going to be no fortune and no title.
When walking with his betrothed, Charles sees a woman that is too close to the sea and appears to be in some danger and anyway is visibly distressed.
She is The French Lieutenant’s Woman, that the uneducated and cruel locals call the French Lieutenant’s Whore.
This is a tale about the morals of that day, a conflict between the more sophisticated and the illiterate.
It is also about the rich and poor, the ones with a situation and the destitute, such as Sarah, the “woman” of the French man.
She can be considered as the heroine of the account and not Charles that I personally placed ahead in the hierarchy of the personages.
The world humiliates her, just because she fell in love with a foreigner, saved from a wreck and helped by the young girl to recover.
He looks like he took advantage of her innocence, promised to marry her, in a day and age when intimate relations were out of the question outside wedlock.
Indeed, there is talk that the only alternative left for Sarah is to really become a prostitute, which is what the locals call her, without any reason other than the standards of the time and place and a meanness of humans shown in such situations.
There is prejudice and pretended goodness, as is the case of the mistress that offers Sarah a job, only to throw her out later…
- And why?
- Just because she walks in the “wrong place” and she still shows signs of depression and longing
Charles tries to help, showing that he is better than the average, or just inclined towards taking risks, a twisted sense of adventure, attracted by the sensual young woman, tempted by the forbidden fruit- I am not sure.
Speculation can be in order if we consider that he is not determined to marry and he does not choose Sarah either- at least up to a stage.
In a complex, rewarding story, there are other themes that are discussed, such as Darwinism, with Charles as an adept.
His would be father-in-law is against the evolution theory and is outraged at the thought that man has evolved from...apes.
Very good play, if not really an absolute favorite
Comentarii
Trimiteți un comentariu