Charlotte Temple · Chapter
XXVIII: A Trifling Retrospect explained
The author addresses the reader directly, defending the moral purpose of the tale against a hypothetical young critic who finds the story tedious.
What happens
The author addresses the reader directly, defending the moral purpose of the tale against a hypothetical young critic who finds the story tedious. The author contrasts Charlotte's tragic fate with La Rue's (now Mrs. Crayton) worldly success, arguing that La Rue's prosperity is temporary and that her eventual fall will be bitter, while Charlotte's suffering leads to purification and eternal reward. The chapter then follows Mrs. Crayton's life of dissipation and her affair with a young ensign named Corydon, highlighting her indifference to Charlotte's plight.
Themes in this chapter
Seduction and Betrayal
The chapter contrasts Charlotte's betrayal and fall with La Rue's successful manipulation, exploring how seduction and betrayal lead to different social outcomes.
Female Virtue and Fall
Charlotte is held up as a victim of excessive sensibility, while La Rue's lack of virtue is masked by art and hypocrisy, raising questions about societal judgment.
Class and Money
Mrs. Crayton's rise to wealth and status despite her immoral conduct critiques the role of fortune and class in determining social standing.
Characters to notice
- Charlotte Temple
Referenced as the hapless girl whose fate evokes sympathy and whose story serves as a moral warning.
- Mademoiselle La Rue
Now Mrs. Crayton, she is depicted as a successful but unfeeling woman who triumphs through art and hypocrisy, yet is destined for a bitter fall.
- Montraville
Mentioned as having married and enjoying the pleasures of the city, abandoning Charlotte.
- Mrs. Crayton
The unfeeling Mrs. Crayton is shown leading a life of pleasure and dissipation, with a favorite named Corydon, and mocking Charlotte's situation.
- Colonel Crayton
Described as a domestic man who, after ineffectual remonstrance, gives up trying to control his wife's behavior.
Key passages
“Does not La Rue triumph in her shame, and, by adding art to guilt, obtain the affection of a worthy man and rise to a station where she is beheld with respect, and cheerfully received into all companies.”
La Rue, through cunning and hypocrisy, achieves social respect and marries a good man despite her shameful past.
The author presents the reader's objection that vice can succeed, setting up the moral counterargument.
“Remember the endeavors of the wicked are often suffered to prosper, that in the end their fall may be attended with more bitterness of heart, while the cup of affliction is poured out for wise and salutary ends, and they who are compelled to drain it even to the bitter dregs, often find comfort at the bottom.”
Wicked people may succeed temporarily, but their eventual downfall is more painful, while the virtuous who suffer find eventual comfort and purification.
The author defends the moral of the story, asserting that suffering has a redemptive purpose.
“But fortune is blind, and so are those, too, frequently, who have the power of dispensing her favors: else why do we see fools and knaves at the very top of the wheel, while patient merit sinks to the extreme of the opposite abyss.”
Fortune and those in power are often blind, allowing undeserving people to rise while worthy ones sink.
The author reflects on the injustice of social advancement, using Mrs. Crayton's success as an example.