French Lieutenant's Woman Symbolism

A novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman is written by John Fowles. It is based on the romantic and gothic novel – a literary genre originating in the 18th century. The reader has to pore over the book very carefully, due to the irony that is an integral part of Fowle 's perception. It is visible in the comments concerning the morals of people living in Victorian England. The main characters are constructed by their beliefs about themselves and about the other people. They are governed by the rules about the character of men and women existing during the Victorian Age and their reliance on each other. The woman from the title, for instance, is gloomy and mysterious like in the typical Victorian romantic novel. She was a villainess, but sometimes a heroine, a woman like that was a symbol of forbidden. When Charles Smithson meets Sarah Woodruff for the first time, he finds her attractive, because of her strangeness. The story is similar to other romantic novels in which man falls in love with a woman that is strange, and even evil. Another type of a romantic story is the Charles ' relationship with Ernestina Freeman, that was the basis of Victorian novels. In this story, the relationship that is developing around young people would not dominate over the forces, for example, the dark lady, that would not allow Charles and Ernestina to be together. The author uses the comedy of manners that is combined with the drama, and stylistic conventions, that makes this novel a masterful