# XVI: Necessary Digression explained — Charlotte Temple

> Chapter companion for Charlotte Temple by Susanna Haswell Rowson.

## What happens

During the voyage to America, La Rue successfully ensnares Colonel Crayton, securing a promise of marriage, while Belcour grows disgusted with La Rue's artifice and becomes attracted to the gentle, unsuspecting Charlotte. The chapter reflects on how a woman who yields to illicit love loses all respect in the eyes of men, even those who seduced her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Seduction and Betrayal

Belcour's shift from La Rue to Charlotte reveals the predatory cycle of seduction, where a woman's fall invites further exploitation.

### Female Virtue and Fall

The narrator explicitly states that once a woman yields to illicit love, she loses all consequence and is despised even by her seducer, as seen in Belcour's contempt for La Rue.

### Class and Money

La Rue's calculated pursuit of Colonel Crayton's fortune and the promise of a settlement highlight the economic motivations behind romantic liaisons.

## Character check-ins

### Charlotte Temple

Suffers from fatigue and sickness during the voyage, confined to bed, but sustained by Montraville's attention and hope of hearing from her parents.

### Montraville

Shows kindness and attention to Charlotte during the voyage, though he does not intend to marry her.

### Mademoiselle La Rue

Designing and artful, she abandons Belcour and successfully manipulates Colonel Crayton into promising marriage, feigning remorse for her past.

### Belcour

Grows cloyed with La Rue and becomes attracted to Charlotte's simplicity, forming a dishonorable design to seduce her once Montraville leaves her.

### Colonel Crayton

A wealthy, unsuspecting officer with a partiality for French women; duped by La Rue's feigned distress, he gives her a written promise of marriage.

## Key lines

> when once a woman has forgot the respect due to herself by yielding to the solicitations of illicit love, she loses all her consequence, even in the eyes of the man whose art has betrayed them

A woman who gives in to seduction loses her standing and is looked down upon even by the man who tricked her.

_The narrator's moral commentary on the irreversible social damage of a woman's fall from virtue._

> The heedless Fair, who stoops to guilty joys, A man may pity—but he must despise.

A careless woman who indulges in forbidden pleasures may be pitied, but she will also be scorned.

_A couplet reinforcing the theme that illicit love invites contempt, not compassion._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xvi-necessary-digression
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/charlotte_temple_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters