History Literature / TheFrenchLieutenantsWoman

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The sibling poets Christina and Dante Rossetti.

* FrenchJerk: Varguennes is a French lieutenant who had relations with Sarah after she has nursed him to health and then left her [[spoiler: according to all of Sarah's accounts]], exacerbated by the other characters' prejudices against France in general.

** [[spoiler: Subverted in the second ending. Sarah has given birth to a daughter but she and Charles don't get to live together as a family. He doesn't even know he has a child.]]

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Charles imagines Mrs. Poulteney winding up in hell.
* FrenchJerk: Varguennes, [[spoiler: in all of Sarah's accounts]], exacerbated by the other characters' prejudices against France in general.
* TheFundamentalist: Mrs. Poulteney.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Kindhearted Mrs Tranter, Sarah's former employer.

%% * {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Sarah, quite possibly]].

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Played straight in the first ending and averted in the second]].

* BettyAndVeronica: Tina (Betty) and Sarah (Veronica).

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Charles imagines Mrs. Poulteney winding up here.

* MaidenAunt: Mrs Tranter.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Charles' response when the prostitute tells him her name is Sarah.

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Sarah, quite possibly]].

* AllWomenArePrudes: Most of the characters, male and female, believe this to be the case, but the trope itself is Double Subverted in the case of Tina, who does occasionally entertain sexual thoughts, but immediately banishes them and feels guilty for her "impurity". Overall, the trope is explained by the choking sexual repression of the era.

* BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage: Charles, an aristocrat and an heir to his ucle's family estate, is engaged to Ernestina Freeman, a rich industrialist's daughter. Charles meets Sarah Woodruff to whom he grows increasingly attracted and later decides to break off his engagement with Tina. He has to speak with Tina's father first and he wants to drag Charles through dirt and disgrace him in the polite society, because he both broke Tina's heart and made her "a rejected fiancee", worsening her prospects of ever marrying well.

* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: Tina has a rather longish session by the mirror when she admires herself as one of the prettiest girls she knows. She gets a bit aroused and thinks about future sex with Charles, her fiancé. She also feels guilty and thinks that it's inappropriate because she's a Victorian girl.

* InSeriesNickname: Sarah has quite a few: Tragedy, the French Lieutenant's woman or the French Lieutenant's whore.

* WhamLine: After an early chapter ends by posing the question of who Sarah truly is: [[spoiler: "I do not know. This story I am telling is all imagination." The chapter that then follows is the author ruminating on how his characters seem to be taking on lives of their own, independent of his attempts to control the narrative.]]

A 1969 {{Postmodern}} novel by English author John Fowles. A pastiche of Victorian novels, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' sets up the familiar archetypes and dilemmas found in such books and set about quietly subverting them with a cavalcade of {{Lampshade Hanging}}s, {{Shout Out}}s and [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breakings]]. Writing itself is one of the major subjects of the book, and the seemingly omniscient narrator/author's struggle to accurately convey his story are as much a concern of the book as the tribulations of the characters.

Adapted as a 1981 film directed by Karel Reisz and starring Creator/MerylStreep and Creator/JeremyIrons.

A 1969 {{Postmodern}} novel by English author John Fowles, adapted into a film in 1981. A pastiche of Victorian novels, ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' sets up the familiar archetypes and dilemmas found in such books and set about quietly subverting them with a cavalcade of {{Lampshade Hanging}}s, {{Shout Out}}s and [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breakings]]. Writing itself is one of the major subjects of the book, and the seemingly omniscient narrator/author's struggle to accurately convey his story are as much a concern of the book as the tribulations of the characters.

* WoundedGazelleGambit

* AllWomenArePrudes: Most of the characters, male and female, believe this to be the case, but the trope itself is Deconstructed and explained by the choking sexual repression of the era.

* GoalOrientedEvolution: Charles thinks that evolution works this way; the narrator points out that he has misread Darwin.

* TheJeeves: Averted. Sam is of lower social standing and, although good-hearted, is not especially competent. [[spoiler: When push comes to shove, he is not very loyal, either]].

* PaintingTheFourthWall: The narrator repeatedly discusses the novel form and whether fictional characters can be said to have their own personality or will.

* MultipleEndings: A pair of mutually exclusive possible endings, as well as an earlier "ending" which is shown to be Charles imagining the future.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Within the novel, of Sarah. Charles sees her as a BrokenBird who is innocent of wrongdoing, Grogan suspects she may be manipulative and histrionic.

* TheScrappy: The author/narrator takes an active dislike of Mrs. Poulteney.

!!Tropes found in this novel/film include:

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Played straight in the first ending and brutally averted in the second]].

* PaintingTheFourthWall: The narrator repeatedly discusses the novel form and whether fictional characters can be said to have their own personality or will. YourMileageMayVary as to if this is ingenious or unbearably smug.