Lady Audley’s Secret · Chapter
The Bearer of the Tidings explained
Robert Audley struggles with his sense of honor toward Alicia while increasingly thinking of Clara Talboys.
What happens
Robert Audley struggles with his sense of honor toward Alicia while increasingly thinking of Clara Talboys. Lady Audley, in a state of high anxiety, locks herself in her rooms, contemplates poison, and later takes opium to sleep. She wakes from a nightmare and dresses elaborately before going downstairs. Sir Michael discusses Robert's changed behavior with Alicia, influenced by Lady Audley's insinuations of Robert's insanity. Lady Audley and Alicia walk in the quadrangle, where Lady Audley anxiously awaits the arrival of news.
Themes in this chapter
Madness and Insanity
Lady Audley insinuates Robert's insanity to Sir Michael, and Robert's own obsessive thoughts and mood changes are discussed as potential signs of madness.
Secrecy and Deception
Lady Audley hides her true state of mind, locks herself away, and manipulates perceptions of Robert's sanity to protect her own secrets.
Love and Marriage
Robert's internal conflict between his sense of duty to Alicia and his growing feelings for Clara Talboys highlights the tension between honor and genuine affection.
Characters to notice
- Robert Audley
Struggles with his sense of duty toward Alicia while his thoughts increasingly turn to Clara Talboys; he is described as moody and changed since George's disappearance.
- Lady Audley
Locks herself in her rooms, contemplates poison, takes opium, and later dresses elaborately; she is in a state of extreme anxiety and restlessness, awaiting news.
- Sir Michael Audley
Discusses Robert's changed behavior with Alicia, troubled by Lady Audley's claims of Robert's insanity; he falls asleep in his library.
- Alicia Audley
Listlessly reads a novel, expecting a visitor; she walks with Lady Audley and dismisses the idea of Robert's madness.
Key passages
“If the poor little girl loves me, and if she thinks that I love her, and has been led to think so by any word or act of mine, I’m in duty bound to let her think so to the end of time, and to fulfill any tacit promise which I may have unconsciously made.”
Robert feels obligated to maintain Alicia's belief that he loves her, even if he does not, because he may have unintentionally encouraged her.
Robert's sense of honor conflicts with his true feelings.
“She had taken a few drops out of the opium bottle in a glass of water before lying down.”
Lady Audley consumed a small amount of opium mixed with water to help her sleep.
Opium was a common but dangerous sedative in the Victorian era.
“She dressed herself in her most gorgeous silk, a voluminous robe of silvery, shimmering blue, that made her look as if she had been arrayed in moonbeams.”
Lady Audley put on a striking blue silk dress that gave her an ethereal, radiant appearance.
Her careful dressing reflects her use of beauty as a defensive weapon.