The French Lieutenant’s Woman Quizzes

1 What commentary on society is Fowles making by including the backstory of Millie, one of Mrs. Poulteney's servants?

The vast majority of people at the time lived in abject poverty, and this misery is the dark underside of the luxurious life that upperclass people like Charles and Ernestina lead.

Heteronormative prudery is so strong in Victorian society that the lesbian Millie is shunned for sleeping in Sarah's bed.

Most servants hate their masters and mistresses, because they know how hypocritical and shallow the upper classes are.

Social mobility is possible in Victorian society: Millie has the prospect of a bright future in the middle class if she works hard enough.
2 What is Sam Farrow's main ambition in life?

He would like to be the first butler of Winsyatt when Charles inherits the estate.

To become a haberdasher and open a clothes-store of his own, because he has a deep interest in fashion.

He is an impulsive Don Juan character whose only ambition is to seduce local girls and make enough money to buy alcohol.

To become a race-horse jockey, because he has a passion for horses.
3 What is a central difference between Ernestina and Sarah?

Ernestina is outspoken and bold where Sarah is soft-spoken and unopinionated.

Ernestina's love for Charles is based on his intellect, where Sarah loves him for his social standing.

Where Sarah is proud of her superior intellect, Ernestina mostly prides herself on her appearance.

Sarah is more of a modern woman than Ernestina, who represents a type of girl very common in her era.
4 What does the narrator mean when he calls Charles a "born amateur"?

No matter how hard Charles tries, he cannot find a field he is passionate about, so he ends up studying everything.

Charles has little interest in intellectual pursuits for the sake of knowledge, and he collects fossils merely because he is bored.

He has no talent for science, but insists on doing it anyway because he thinks he's very good at it.

Charles is a dabbler, someone who enjoys doing things to a relatively high level but not too seriously or professionally, and without any training.
5 Why is Charles effectively 'disinherited' in Chapter 26?

Uncle Robert does not think Charles would be able to manage the property, and he has left the house to another young relative better-suited to the task.

Uncle Robert never actually intended to bequeath the estate to Charles, this is just the first time he has made this clear.

Uncle Robert is marrying again, and he wants to leave the estate to any new heirs that he fathers.

Uncle Robert disapproves of Charles' engagement to lower-class Ernestina, and can't bear the thought of her being the mistress of the house.
6 Why does Mrs. Poulteney dismiss Sarah from her service?

She was told that Sarah was seen disobeying her orders by walking near the Undercliff.

Sarah's one-year contract was finished, and Mrs. Poulteney felt she no longer needed a companion to read to her.

Mrs. Poulteney learned about Sarah's potentially scandalous meetings with Charles and wanted to avoid bringing the scandal into her household.

Mrs. Poulteney is exasperated by Sarah's increasing melancholia, which stops her from doing her job.
7 Which of the following best describes Sarah's feelings for Charles in the first half of the novel?

She is sexually attracted to him, and avoids him lest she should be tempted to seduce him.

Her feelings mostly consist of disdain - she is a modern woman, and she knows he is very much a product of his era.

Her feelings are ambiguous, and consist of conflicting urges to seek him out and push him away.

She is intellectually fascinated by him, and wants to engage with him as intellectual equals.
8 Why did Mrs. Poulteney take Sarah on as a companion?

Because Sarah is a distant relative, and Mrs. Poulteney believes that family should stick together.

Because Mrs. Poulteney desperately needed someone to fill the position, and no one else applied.

Because she wants to improve her reputation and her chance of going to heaven by doing charitable acts.

Because Sarah came highly recommended by Mrs. Poulteney's best friend.
9 What does Dr. Grogan think is the best course of action for Charles to take regarding Sarah in Chapter 27?

He wants Charles to leave Lyme Regis for a while, and allow Dr. Grogan to take Sarah to an asylum.

Dr. Grogan wants Charles to go meet Sarah and persuade her to leave Lyme Regis forever, and find work as a governess elsewhere.

He encourages Charles to follow his heart and break off his engagement with Ernestina, so that he can be with Sarah.

Dr. Grogan thinks that Charles and he should do nothing - Sarah is none of their business anymore.
10 Where do Charles and Sarah Woodruff first meet?

On the beach, while they are both looking for fossils.

At a party at Mrs. Poulteney's house.

Near Ware Commons, when Charles stops to drink milk at The Dairy.

On the Cobb, while Charles is walking with Ernestina.
11 Which of the following lists contains images or adjectives that are all used to describe Sarah Woodruff at some point in the novel?

Haughty, stubborn, as mysterious as exotic countries

Tender, sincere, believable, as delicate as a leaf

Grateful, as beautiful as a sunrise, helpless, humble

A dark figure, tomboyish, mysterious, like a dangerous sea, irresistible
12 Which list of characters is ordered correctly according to their social class (lowest to highest)?

Millie, Mary, Mrs. Poulteney, Ernestina, Charles

Millie, Sam, Aunt Tranter, Uncle Robert, Ernestina

Mary, Millie, Dr. Grogan, Sarah, Mrs. Poulteney, Charles

Sam, Mary, Aunt Tranter, Mrs. Poulteney, Charles, Ernestina
13 Before she even meets the French lieutenant, why does Sarah feel she can't get married?

Sarah must work to support her aging father, and she doesn't have time to take on the extra responsibility of a marriage and children.

Sarah is hopelessly in love with a man who will not have her, so she vows not to marry anyone.

She has a low social and economic status, but a good education; she scorns the men of the class she was born into, but cannot marry into the upper classes.

As a modern woman, Sarah has no interest in the institution of marriage, and prefers to live independently as a governess.
14 What do the case studies that Dr. Grogan gives Charles to read in Chapters 27-28 suggest about women?

Women will have sex in order to be loved, while men have sex to satisfy natural desires or to increase their social standing.

Women are not to be trusted, because they are naturally more mendacious than men.

The plight of the woman is that she cannot enter the workforce, and when confined to the home sphere she becomes restless and dangerous.

Although men think of woman as frail, they are actually able to inflict great pain on themselves to get what they want.
15 In Chapter 35, Fowles likens sex to apples in order to compare the sexual conventions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What conclusion does he draw from this comparison?

Victorian sexuality consisted of a denial of sex - which Fowles likens to physical hunger. The result was that Victorians were more obsessed by sex than modern people are, because we have easy access to the "apples" in the orchard around us and can eat our fill of them so that we are never hungry.

Both eras are largely disinterested in sex. In the nineteenth century, sex was not at all mysterious due to increased sexual and scientific education, and so people were not 'hungry' for sex (or 'apples') like they had been in previous centuries. In the twentieth century, increased promiscuity has made everyone sick of sex (or 'apples').

Sex in the Victorian era was primarily a necessity, like eating fruit and vegetables is necessary to one's health. People only had sex then because it was their duty to procreate. Nowadays we have sex for pleasure, which is like eating fruit because it is sweet, not because it is healthy to do so.

Sex has always been viewed as healthy for the soul, just as apples are seen as healthy for the body.
16 Who is the "great novelist" who "towers over" the Victorian England which Fowles is writing about?

Thomas Hardy

John Fowles himself

Jane Austen

Charles Dickens
17 How does Sarah appear to be feeling when we see her for the first time in Exeter, in Chapter 36?

Thrilled to be able to walk through the city without being recognized as the "French Lieutenant's Woman."

Ambivalent about her new surroundings, and desperately missing Charles.

Downcast, as she realizes that her life is unlikely to go anywhere as long as she is stuck in the seedy underbelly of a big city.

Enjoying herself, and pleased to be able to furnish her new room with her own purchases.
18 Why is Charles hesitant to accept the offer of a business partnership that Ernestina's father makes him?

He has no interest in commerce, and thinks that it would take too much of his time away from his real passion: paleontology.

He is aristocratic, and according to societal convention it would be beneath him to become involved in commerce.

Charles doesn't believe that business is a worthwhile pursuit for someone of his intellectual capabilities.

He is unsure whether he intends to marry Ernestina, and going into business with her father would trap him into a marriage.
19 Why is Charles a "victim of evolution"?

The middle classes are much more savvy and ambitious than the aristocratic and purposeless Charles, and they will eventually overtake him as he fails to adapt to the changing social environment.

Charles is a victim of evolution because he doesn't really understand the concepts that he claims to believe in, since he is only an amateur scientist.

Instead of being attracted to his upper-class fiancée, Charles is drawn to lower-class Sarah, who hurts his good name and his status.

His interest in paleontology alienates him from his peers and from his father-in-law, who doesn't believe in evolution.
20 What is the main difference between Sam Farrow (Charles' manservant) and Sam Weller (a servant in a Dickens novel), as described in Chapter 7?

Sam Farrow belongs to the middle class, while Sam Weller is firmly lower-class.

Sam Weller is contemptuous of his master, while Sam Farrow is devoted to his employer.

Sam Weller is happy enough with his position of servitude, while Sam Farrow resents being ordered around by his master Charles.

Sam Farrow is treated much better by the sympathetic Charles than Sam Weller is by his cruel master.
21 What is the lower-class view of premarital sex, as outlined in Chapter 35?

There is little difference between how the lower classes and the upper classes view sex: premarital sex is unacceptable in all social classes.

It is very much the normal thing to do, and many marriages happen once the woman is already pregnant.

They are scandalized by the idea of premarital sex, and those who engage in it become social pariahs like Sarah Woodruff.

Christianity prevents the highly religious lower classes from having any premarital sex.
22 What aspect of London appeals most to Charles, as suggested in Chapter 38?

London is such a large city that it is possible to be anonymous there, and possibly to have sexual encounters with no consequences.

Charles enjoys being around people of his own social class again, instead of mingling with the middle classes in Lyme Regis.

Charles was bored in Lyme Regis, and London offers endless cultural and social entertainment in clubs and theaters.

London is where Charles lives, and he feels a deep sense of comfort in the place, a sense of being at home born from familiarity.
23 When Charles gets drunk at his gentlemen's club, what does he decide will fix "all his troubles" (238)?

Visiting Sarah in Exeter.

Having sex.

Breaking off his engagement with Ernestina.

Sobering up.
24 Why does Charles' encounter with the prostitute in London end with him vomiting on the bed?

He has drunk too much alcohol, and is pushed over the edge when he learns that the prostitute's name is Sarah.

He is appalled by how dirty the house is, and the squalor in which the lower classes live.

He has had too much to drink, and the food the prostitute gives him to eat unsettles his stomach to the point of vomiting.

He is morally appalled by what he is doing - learning that the prostitute has a daughter is the final straw.
25 Charles receives two letters the morning after his near-miss with Sarah the prostitute - whom are they from, and what do they say?

One letter is a plea from Ernestina for Charles to return to Lyme; the other is a plea from Sarah to come visit her in Exeter as soon as he can, because she is in trouble again.

One is from Dr. Grogan with news of Sarah's departure from Lyme; the other is a love letter from Ernestina.

One is from Mr. Freeman, asking Charles to come discuss financial matters with him; the other is from Uncle Robert, asking his nephew to visit.

One is from Dr. Grogan, encouraging him to come clean with Ernestina; the other is from Sarah and contains her new address.

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