Charlotte Temple · Chapter
Retribution explained
Montraville returns to New York and seeks news of Charlotte from Belcour, who is evasive.
What happens
Montraville returns to New York and seeks news of Charlotte from Belcour, who is evasive. He discovers that Charlotte has been abandoned, impoverished, and driven mad, and he arrives at her funeral just as she is being buried. He confronts Mr. Temple, who forgives him but leaves him to his guilt. Montraville then kills Belcour in a duel, falls ill with delirium, and is nursed back to health by his wife Julia, but remains haunted by melancholy for the rest of his life.
Themes in this chapter
Repentance and Forgiveness
Mr. Temple forgives Montraville at Charlotte's grave, while Montraville's lifelong melancholy suggests a path of repentance.
Consequences of Imprudence
Charlotte's elopement and abandonment lead to her death in poverty and madness, illustrating the dire outcomes of imprudent choices.
Seduction and Betrayal
Montraville's seduction and subsequent abandonment of Charlotte, compounded by Belcour's betrayal, drive the tragic conclusion.
Characters to notice
- Montraville
Returns to New York, seeks Charlotte, learns of her suffering, attends her funeral, kills Belcour in a duel, falls ill, and is left with lifelong melancholy.
- Belcour
Found immersed in dissipation; evasive about Charlotte's fate; killed by Montraville in a duel.
- Mr. Temple
Appears at Charlotte's grave as her grieving father; confronts Montraville but forgives him, leaving judgment to Heaven.
- Charlotte Temple
Buried in a pauper's grave; her tragic fate is revealed through the soldier's account and Montraville's grief.
- Julia Franklin
Mentioned as Montraville's wife who nurses him through his illness with tender assiduities.
- Mrs. Crayton
Referenced as the one who refused to take Charlotte in when she was wet and cold in the streets.
Key passages
“I can not believe it possible,” said Montraville, “that a mind once so pure as Charlotte Temple’s should so suddenly become the mansion of vice.”
Montraville expresses disbelief that Charlotte's once-pure mind could become a dwelling place for vice.
Montraville's lingering respect for Charlotte's original virtue.
“Hold—hold! one moment,” said he, “close not the grave of the injured Charlotte Temple, till I have taken vengeance on her murderer.”
Montraville cries out to stop the burial so he can avenge Charlotte's death.
Montraville's impulsive desire for revenge at the graveside.
“Alas!” said Mr. Temple, “if thou wert the seducer of my child, thy own reflections be thy punishment. I wrest not the power from the hand of Omnipotence.”
Mr. Temple tells Montraville that his own guilty conscience will be his punishment, and he will not usurp divine judgment.
Mr. Temple's Christian forgiveness and refusal to take vengeance.