The Cloven Foot · Chapter
XVI: Shall It Be “Yes” or “No”? explained
La Chicot contemplates a proposal from Joseph Lemuel, who offers her a life of luxury in Paris if she leaves her husband.
What happens
La Chicot contemplates a proposal from Joseph Lemuel, who offers her a life of luxury in Paris if she leaves her husband. She struggles with the decision, torn between her love for Jack Chicot and the allure of wealth and freedom. Despite her degradation, she ultimately rejects the offer, reaffirming her identity as an honest woman.
Themes in this chapter
Secrets and Deception
La Chicot's internal conflict involves self-deception about her drinking and her feelings for her husband, while she also contemplates deceiving Jack by leaving him for Lemuel.
Love and Marriage
The chapter explores the strained marriage between La Chicot and Jack, contrasting it with the transactional offer from Lemuel, and La Chicot's lingering love for her husband despite their estrangement.
Gender and Moral Agency
La Chicot grapples with her agency as a woman, weighing the societal expectations of an 'honest woman' against the temptation of financial independence and luxury offered by Lemuel.
Characters to notice
- La Chicot
La Chicot is the central figure, wrestling with the decision to accept Joseph Lemuel's offer of diamonds and a new life in Paris, while still clinging to her identity as an honest woman and her lingering love for her husband.
- Mr. Desrolles
Desrolles acts as a confidant, encouraging La Chicot to accept the diamonds and the proposal, highlighting the material benefits and the potential for social elevation.
- Joseph Lemuel
Joseph Lemuel is the wealthy suitor who presents La Chicot with a diamond necklace and a proposal to run away with him, offering a villa at Passy and financial security.
- Chicot
Jack Chicot, La Chicot's husband, is mentioned as neglectful and nearly estranged, with La Chicot suspecting he has another woman.
Key passages
“I shall send them back to him tomorrow. The diamonds are beautiful—and I am getting tired of my life here, and I know that Jack hates me—but that man is too horrible—and—I am an honest woman.”
La Chicot decides to return the diamonds, acknowledging her weariness with her current life and her husband's hatred, but ultimately rejecting Lemuel because she considers herself an honest woman.
This moment captures La Chicot's moral struggle and her final decision to uphold her integrity despite the allure of wealth.
“She flung herself on her knees beside the bed, in the attitude of prayer, but not to pray. She had lost the habit of prayer soon after she left her native province. She was sobbing passionately for the loss of her husband's love, with a dim consciousness that it was by her own degradation she had forfeited his regard.”
La Chicot kneels in a prayer-like posture but does not pray, instead weeping over the loss of her husband's love, realizing that her own degradation caused the rift.
This passage highlights La Chicot's emotional vulnerability and her awareness of her role in the deterioration of her marriage.