Charlotte Temple · Chapter
XXXIII: Which People Void of Feeling Need Not Read explained
Mrs.
What happens
Mrs. Beauchamp visits the dying Charlotte Temple, who is in a state of extreme poverty and illness. Charlotte, delirious at first, later regains clarity, repents her sins, and expresses concern for her infant. Mr. Temple arrives, and they share a heartbreaking reunion before Charlotte dies in her father's arms.
Themes in this chapter
Repentance and Forgiveness
Charlotte expresses unfeigned repentance for her disobedience and seeks divine mercy, while her father's arrival offers a poignant moment of forgiveness.
Parental Love and Grief
Mr. Temple's desperate search for his daughter and their emotional reunion highlight the depth of parental love and the agony of loss.
Consequences of Imprudence
Charlotte's deathbed scene underscores the fatal consequences of her earlier imprudent elopement and disobedience.
Characters to notice
- Charlotte Temple
Dying in poverty and illness, she experiences delirium, then repentance, and finally a peaceful death after reuniting with her father.
- Mrs. Beauchamp
Visits Charlotte, arranges for her comfort, and witnesses her final moments.
- Mr. Temple
Arrives in search of Charlotte, reunites with her, and holds her infant as she dies.
- Mrs. Crayton
Mentioned as the one who turned Charlotte away, contributing to her suffering.
- John
Honest John informs Mrs. Beauchamp of Charlotte's plight and is rewarded for his benevolence.
Key passages
“On a wretched bed, without hangings and but poorly supplied with covering, lay the emaciated figure of what still retained the semblance of a lovely woman, though sickness had so altered her features that Mrs. Beauchamp had not the least recollection of her person.”
Charlotte lies on a miserable, barely furnished bed, so thin and changed by illness that Mrs. Beauchamp does not recognize her.
Describes Charlotte's dire physical condition and poverty.
“I have an humble confidence in the mercy of Him who died to save the world, and trust that my sufferings in this state of mortality, joined to my unfeigned repentance, through His mercy, have blotted my offences from the sight of my offended Maker.”
Charlotte expresses faith that her suffering and sincere repentance have earned God's forgiveness.
Highlights the theme of repentance and divine mercy.
“Protect her, said she, and bless your dying— Unable to finish the sentence, she sunk back on her pillow: her countenance was serenely composed; she regarded her father as he pressed the infant to his breast, with a steadfast look; a sudden beam of joy passed across her languid features: she raised her eyes to heaven—and then closed them forever.”
Charlotte asks her father to protect her child, then dies peacefully with a look of joy.
Charlotte's final moments, entrusting her infant to her father.