Book - ending - spoilers
So i finished the book but I'm a bit confused about the whole Sarah deceiving Charles thing and why she wouldn't marry him, can anyone help me out?
shareHi,
I'm afraid I have only seen the movie and not read the book.
In the movie, Sarah tells Charles at their reunion that she had a madness of sorts when she first met him and when they consumated their relationship in the inn. She supposedly had a sexual affair with the French Lieutenant and yet it soon became clear to Charles that she was a virgin.
I think possibly she was a fantasist and what we may term today as a drama queen! We are never really given any true reason for her apparent telling of untruths other than what the doctor tells Charles in that she enjoys her misery and does not want to be saved from it.
She eventually makes her whereabouts known to Charles' solicitor in the hope he will come and find her which he does of course. She asks for his forgiveness and they both row off in a boat to presumably live happily ever after but we are never given any real explanation as to why she lied and why she did not wait for his return at the inn after he goes to break his engagement with Ernestina.
Sorry I can not be of more help.
Lo
There's 3 ways a man can wear his hair; front-parted, side-parted or departed
I think she (Sarah) just needs time. She doesn't want the relationship with Charles to be built in temporary sexual excitement -- surely a "madness of sorts".
What I find most powerful about this film -- and it is one I come back to reflecting on year after year after year -- is how Sarah is so conscious of the choices she is making. How in control she is. We see her the way she wants to be seen. And when she finally makes the choice for health at the end of the film, its a wonderful redemption.
I find a lot of similarites in her character to Sandy in Grease. They are both very in control of their lives and they seem to understand well in advance what personal growth and change will mean.
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Darling, nothing is final 'til you're dead, and even then, I'm sure God negotiates.
This sounds simple-minded, but was there a French Lieutenant at all, or was this some kind of gossip she started about herself. Was this all just a ruse to attract the Jeremy Irons character?
shareIt's never explained, as far as I recall. Probably some story that had a factual basis and got warped out of all proportion. Sarah just never invested any energy in disputing the twisted story. Sarah was "The French Lieutenant's Woman" way before the Irons character came around, so there was absolutely no ruse on Sarah's part.
shareYes there was a French Lieutenant, she explained the truth after they had sex.
She did go to Weymouth to meet Varguennes, but never talked to him again or had sex with him. She just left, having seen that he was with another woman.