The enthusiasm of Charlotte’s role-playing is shown in the way she reacts to her aunt’s death. Charlotte feels she has to grieve as Norry is also present. Norry is a gossip and to have it spread round Lismoyle that Charlotte did not mourn would have an effect on the public’s opinion of her, which, as it stands, is of someone, ‘eccentric, but so kind-hearted and so clear and agreeable’. It is quite obvious that Charlotte is role-playing as, ‘She plucked a large silk handkerchief from her pocket, and with some hideous preliminary heavings of her shoulders, burst into transports of noisy grief’. After her aunt’s death, at the lawn tennis party held by Lady Dysart, Charlotte describes the outcome of her aunt’s death as, ‘Things turned out very well after all. There had been one inconvenient legacy but the request was the kind that may be repudiated if desirable’. The real Charlotte is here portrayed. She is making it quite clear that she can get rid of Francie if necessary. The women who was so ‘upset’ at her aunt’s death as seen in the, ‘heavings of her shoulders’, could not even keep her aunt’s last dying wish. Charlotte has no sympathy for Francie and her situation which shows the true Charlotte and at this point I feel no pity for her.
Similarly, no pity is felt for her through her tone to her servant, Norry the Boat. It is highly intimidating as it is to all the native Irish, her social inferiors. When Norry tells Charlotte that her aunt is asking for Francie, Charlotte answers roughly, ‘She knows as well as I do that Miss Francie’s in Dublin’. It is furthermore quite observable that Charlotte’s aunt is scared of her, seen in Mrs Mullan’s instructions to Norry, ‘Don’t tell Charlotte’. Another Tally Ho servant whose fear of Charlotte is clear is Louisa, the Protestant orphan. Charlotte’s omnipotence in the Tally Ho residence is shown when Louisa is described as ‘shuffling out of the pantry with her chin buried in her chest and her rounded terrified eyes turned upwards to Miss Charlotte’s face’. How can we feel sorry for such a women who inflicts fear on her inferiors?
In contrast to her behaviour at the scene of her aunt’s death, the authors effectively use Charlotte’s love of cats to their advantage. In this scene, when Charlotte’s tom cat, Susan jumps onto her shoulder, the function of the cat is to remind the reader of a witch’s familiar. Other indications to support this image are the ominous house, the unstable weather conditions and the knowledge previously learnt about Charlotte.
Hilary Robinson comments on this scene, saying,
“The candle lit scene in the bedroom of the dying Mrs. Mullan is permeated by the special menace which Charlotte carries with her throughout; she makes an ugly and dangerous figure as she is described to us for the first time”.
Further deaths in which Charlotte implicated are those of Julia Duffy and Lucy Lambert. Both are caused by Charlotte’s malicious scheming and manipulation. Lucy Lambert’s death could have been prevented if Charlotte had assisted her. Lucy Lambert is supposed to be Charlotte Mullan’s best friend but Charlotte intimidates her as seen in the quotation, ‘Charlotte’s face flushed in the heat of an argument and Mrs Lambert felt secretly a little frightened’. We learn further that Charlotte, ‘spoke in a voice that was tremulous with fright and anger’. While talking to Lucy Lambert her diction portrays a glimpse of the real Charlotte, when she calls Lucy a, ‘despised creature’, and the authorial comment suggests that the authors have a hatred for this character. ‘The Real Charlotte had seldom been nearer the surface than at this moment and Mrs Lambert cowered before the manifestation’. When Lucy tries to dispute Charlotte’s claims regarding Roddy’s affair with Francie, Charlotte looks at her with an effort of bullying fury that was previously seething in her. When the bullying tactic does not work, Charlotte begins intimidating her, as she knows where she wants the conversation to go and uses each situation to her benefit. We become aware of this when she focuses on Lucy’s place as Roddy’s wife, ‘I tell you it’s a privilege as a wife, and your plain duty to see those letters’. Charlotte’s ability to turn the conversation to her advantage is shown when the authors write, ‘The force of her will had its effect’. This comment shows us Charlotte’s strong-mindedness and her ability to get what she wants. Some of the language used when looking for the letters all help to add to our recognition of her scheming ability, for example when we read that Charlotte speaks ‘imperiously’. Lucy Lambert is described as her ‘victim’ as Charlotte speaks, ‘in one fierce breath’; similarly we learn that her eyes, ‘ravened’. This metaphor is a very forceful one in symbolising Charlotte’s eagerness to read the letters. Somerville and Ross’s use of such a metaphor helps suggest their intense dislike of Charlotte.
Charlotte begins to take full physical control of the situation as she, ‘with a guttural sound of contempt forced Lucy’s hand down onto the photographs’. When Lucy becomes short of breath from the pressure, Charlotte’s first instinct is to help her ‘friend’ and she, ‘Sprang instinctively’. This image implies a caring aspect to her character, but she, ‘suddenly stopped’ and read two recent letters with, ‘astonishing speed’. This shows that Charlotte knows what she is doing and is actually going to let Lucy die. Charlotte’s actions when Roddy is approaching are ‘deft and swift’. She, ‘noiselessly put the letters on the shelf’, then, ‘slipped’ the keys into Lucy’s pocket and after she had covered her own tracks, she does what she should have done in the first place and ‘rings the bell violently’. The use of diction here from Somerville and Ross shows that Charlotte is a woman who is very clever and knows what she wants.
Charlotte Mullan and Roddy Lambert are very alike in their personalities, and both are closely involved in the fate of Julia. Her relationship with them is important in showing their manipulative and deceitful natures, and allows us to gain insight into Charlotte’s character, which in turn adds to my difficulty in feeling sympathy for such a woman. They both conspire to make Julia relinquish her ownership of Guthnamuckla, which they both desire for the status and business possibilities it offers. Their treatment of her allows us to view their personalities, which mostly, in Charlotte’s case, are often concealed from others, apart from her inferiors, and it eventually ends with Julia Duffy dying a miserable death. Charlotte calculatingly plots to have Julia out of Guthnamuckla, and her deceitfulness is demonstrated in her, ‘errand of mercy’. Charlotte is very manipulative in this situation, making Julia think she is genuine in her comments, ‘I declare that sometimes when I’m lying awake in my bed at nights, I have thought of you out here by yourself, without an earthly creature near you if you got sick and wondered at you’. At this point we become aware of Charlotte’s heartlessness. Her falseness is suggested by Somerville and Ross’s employment of military imagery as her visit is described as a ’battle’, as she, ‘varies her attack’, while talking with Julia Duffy. Therefore, we watch her ambitions of gaining the estate from Julia being fulfilled; we condemn Charlotte and Roddy for their mistreatment of her, while our sympathy is extended to Julia who appears to be helpless in their plans. The reader is given an indication of the true character of Charlotte as, ‘the real Charlotte’ is fairly quickly revealed. The involvement of Julia in Charlotte’s affairs makes a significant contribution to this revelation to the reader. Julia’s suffering progresses while Charlotte’s success increases. ‘She (Julia) had sunk while Charlotte had risen’. Therefore, we sympathise with Julia’s plight, and are antagonistic towards Charlotte. Our judgement of her is henceforth affected. The true nature of Charlotte’s cruelty is dramatically revealed by virtue of Julia’s conversation with Norry the Boat, again highlighting Julia’s importance in the novel. As a result of this conversation, Julia becomes aware of what Charlotte has been up to, as Julia describes her as a ‘Lying double faced schemer’. The reader is also told that she denied Francie her true right to Mrs Mullan’s inheritance; and that she is trying to provoke a marriage between Francie and Christopher Dysart. In Charlotte’s conversation with Roddy Lambert she says, ‘I think I’ve left a horn in her pillow when I told her Peter Joyce was bankrupt’. Charlotte has no sympathy for Julia Duffy, using her persuasiveness on Roddy Lambert in manipulating him into writing Julia a threatening letter, ‘Why don’t ye writ her for the money?’ said Charlotte, the spirit of her attorney grandfather gleaming in her eyes, ‘that’d frighten her’, ‘if it was me, I’d writ her now’, repeated Charlotte ‘vermously’. The use of this adjective by Somerville and Ross is highly effective in showing Charlotte’s evil qualities and at this point I feel no sympathy for her at all, my sympathy here obviously still lies with Julia.
Charlotte’s reactions to the deaths of Mrs Mullan, Julia Duffy and Lucy Lambert all portray her role-playing highly successfully. The instances of Charlotte’s hysterical behaviour at the scene of Lucy Lambert’s death underline its falseness: ‘She’s dead, she’s dead’. Her role-playing is also shown when her aunt died, as her crying began with some, ‘Preliminary heavings of her shoulders’, and also when Francie and Roddy were drowning, ‘Charlotte Mullan flung herself on her knees beside the bodies of her cousin and her friend, and utter yell after yell of hysterical lamentation’. This imagery shows Charlotte at her best in her role-playing ability to portray herself in the best light possible. Again at this point, it is hard to feel sympathy for such a character as at Lucy Lambert’s funeral, the repetition of the word, ‘hysterically’, underlines the falsity of her actions. It is Christopher who sees through her and makes us aware of this, as he hears her voice at the market soon after talking to Mary Norris, ‘when I come to Lismoyle it’s not to but rotten fish from a drunken fish-fag, that’ll be begging for crusts at my hall door tomorrow. If I hear another word out of your mouth I’ll give you and your fish to the police’, Christopher is aware that this should not have been the action taken by a women who was so, ‘hysterical’, about her friend’s death and whose, ‘eyes were still red and swollen from the violent crying at the funeral’, Christopher can hardly believe that this was the same being whom he had last seen on the sofa of Tally Ho, with the black gloves and the Sal volatile. This image shows Charlotte as a malicious, scheming woman for whom I find it quite difficult to feel any degree of sympathy.
Charlotte is also involved in the death of Francie by trying to bring Hawkins and Francie closer together. If Charlotte had not involved herself in Francie’s relationships then Francie would have stayed with Roddy and not even considered running away with Hawkins or being out on the horses with him.
The deaths of Charlotte’s aunt, Mrs Mullan, Julia Duffy, Lucy Lambert and Francie, all come with some kind of benefit for Charlotte. She inherits her aunt’s house and money, saying, ‘Things turned out very well after all’. The death of Julia Duffy also helps her as she rents Julia’s house, which helps her climb the social ladder. Her motive is made evident to us by Norry the Boat, when she tells Julia that, ‘I’ll tell you what she’s after it for, it’s to go live in, and let on she’s as grand as the other ladies in the country’. Lucy Lambert’s death is deliberate, as Charlotte does not assist her. When Roddy begins to sort out his wife’s belongings, the authors describe ‘her [Charlottes] voice treading eagerly upon the heels of his: ‘it is that you want me to help you with’. Charlotte sees this as an opportunity to enlarge her wardrobe with Lucy’s clothes. Charlotte’s revenge on Roddy is also seen as a success when Francie is killed.
Charlotte’s role-playing succeeds in fooling the high-ranking individuals of Lismoyle society, with Christopher as an exception. Charlotte’s father was employed by Sir Benjamin Dysart as landlord of sub-letted land which means that she already has a connection with the Dysarts. Charlotte uses this association to form a friendship, but the authorial comments are a constant reminder to the reader of Charlotte’s origins in the native Irish. This distinction between the two classes is made through the language used by the authors. The dialogue used is reproduced phonetically. The range of speaking voices used by Charlotte shows the diversity of society and the boundaries between classes.
Charlotte’s role-playing is shown at its best at Lady Dysart’s lawn tennis party where Charlotte begins by, ‘wearing her company smile’. It becomes quite obvious to us that she desperately wants to be associated with the Dysarts, as John Cronin states:
“We watch Charlotte as she laboriously claws her way up the social ladder by every means at her disposal”.
In order to do this, she suits every situation with a different face. At this party she speaks, ‘with marked politeness, as all trade of combat had left her manner, and the smile with which she greeted him, (Christopher) was, ‘sweet and capacious’. This is not the same Charlotte who is, for instance, shown to us by Somerville and Ross in the scene where Francie comes from Dublin to stay with her, as she speaks to the car driver, ‘Take your car out o’ that ye great oaf’, she vociferated, ‘Can’t ye make way for your betters?’, then in a complete change of voice, ‘Well, me dear Francie, you’re welcome, you’re welcome’. Here, we are allowed to see the way in which Charlotte is able to alter her public persona. From the authorial comment we learn that Charlotte ‘had many tones of voice according to the many facets of her character’. As well as having, ‘the Irish peasants women’s love for heavy clothing’, Charlotte is willing to go to all lengths to appear agreeable to the Dysarts, and she schemes maliciously to try to marry Francie to Christopher so that she can at least have a family member of hers related to them, so that some connection is visible to the public eye. As Charlotte has many faces and role-playing skills she has shown towards many different characters, Somerville and Ross’s omniscient narration presents clearly Charlotte’s true nature.
John Cronin comments on Charlotte’s reaction to Lady Dysart’s treatment of her at the party,
“While Charlotte is preening herself on the social status she believes she enjoys in Lady Dysart’s eyes, she is being exposed as a sexual failure, or rather, a sexual non-starter, a role she will fulfil again and again in the course of the action, particularly, in her encounters with Lambert”
Throughout the novel Charlotte’s masculinity is shown to us; this could be used to show her failure as a woman, just as Somerville and Ross show Charlotte’s failure to become associated with the upper class of the novel. At the tennis party Charlotte is associated with the men as she discusses manly topics, ‘Ho! Do I hear me old friend the major at politics? she says shaking hands effusively with three men while the women are beside the tennis court. Charlotte certainly seems to have more in common with men as we learn that she, ‘put up bookshelves in the bedroom’, and she also, ‘set forth her tool basket and some boards from a packing case to make good the breaches with her own hands doing it herself saved the necessary of taking the men from their work and once more it ensured its being properly done’. Charlotte regards the women of Lismoyle society as her intellectual inferiors as she has a great business sense. When Charlotte speaks to Christopher, she does so, ‘in her most temperate ladylike manner’, while Somerville and Ross describe her as having, ‘a humorous rough and readiness’, about her. Furthermore, she is also described as having a ‘gentlemanly drink’ with the men at Miss Bealts party.
As the novel progresses we become increasingly aware of the dislike Somerville and Ross have for their creation. Charlotte’s treatment of the native Irish in the novel, her social inferiors, is appalling and unforgivable. We learn that Charlotte, a business woman to the core, has numerous private sources of income, one of which is the rent her tenants pay her at Ferry Row.
This particular setting in the novel is based on a real life town in Co. Galway called Oughterard, where Martin Ross’s family had settled. Ferry Row is the essence of the poverty – incapacitated native Irish elements of a society presided over by their landowners of the richer and more affluent Protestants represented by the Dysarts in the novel. Charlotte is a money lender to these lower class inhabitants, who have a lower quality of life. We become aware of this through Somerville and Ross’s authorial comment which describes them as the ‘savage class’ of people in the Lismoyle community. This same animalistic adjective is used at regular intervals throughout the novel, to depict Charlotte as ‘savage’, thereby linking her inextricably with the native Irish through the use of animal imagery.
Somerville and Ross tell us Charlotte, ‘and her clients were equally equipped with the absolutely accurate business memory of the Irish peasant’. She is equated here with her clients as they share the same heritage and the authors put her firmly in that background. However, her express authority is palpable in her manner and the reaction among her inferiors stresses this fact. ‘When her servants saw her [Charlotte] that look they abandoned excuse or discussion; when the Lismoyle beggars saw it they checked the flow of benediction and fled’.
Charlotte’s intellectual behaviour is accentuated as she speaks with, ‘grim amusement,’ at how much some of the Ferry Row inhabitants owe her. She is obviously an astute money-lender with the aspect of finance focused in her mind and her treatment of the inhabitants of Ferry Row is summed up in the description of, ‘her business…consisting merely…of convincing her washerwomen of iniquity in a manner that brought every other washerwomen to her door, and made each offer thanks to her most favoured Saint that she was not employed by Miss Mullan’. The reason the authors feature this opinion in their omniscient narration is to put in perspective how her ‘inferiors’ view Charlotte; this is enlightening us to the fact she is not a very co-operative financial aid.
Mary Holloran addresses Charlotte with a degree of comical amusement, ‘Your honour’. Such a ludicrous statement emphasises the deference, respect or more likely, the fear Charlotte inflicts on her inferiors. An amusing scene in the novel is when Charlotte indulges in her, ‘weekly haggle with the butcher’, when the authors simultaneously bring out Charlotte’s frugality and her view that every aspect of life is a potential battle to be won. She is said to have ‘fought a losing battle against fate all of her life’. There is also a sense of clear victory; in bettering the beggar on the street, the use of language again quite successfully highlights her disrespect and disregard for her inferiors. Charlotte’s hypocrisy is shown effectively here as this verbal encounter occurred on the same day as Lucy Lambert’s funeral where previously that day Charlotte had been acting, ‘hysterically’. Somerville and Ross give prominence to these specific incidents to reinforce her evil qualities and therefore to reinforce our hatred of her.
Charlotte may be, ‘well pleased’, after her confrontations but, in fact Somerville and Ross have provided us with an exposure of her real character. One aspect of Charlotte’s character is summarised when an authorial comment indicates that one of Charlotte’s ‘most genuine feelings was a detestation of Roman Catholics’. Charlotte’s mother was reported to have been,
‘A national school mistress and her grandmother a bare-footed country girl,’
And it is with reference to this that the authors incorporate politics into the novel, Charlotte is a protestant, as befits her desired role in Lismoyle society. Having examined the novel, I have realised that there are no middle class Catholics in the novel, which was written by the two cousins during, ‘the Indian summer of the Anglo- Irish Ascendancy’, in the years between 1887and 1888. The time period this was written would have contributed to the events that the two cousins included in their novel. The Land League, which was founded by Davitt in 1879, a few years before ‘The Real Charlotte’ was actually written, eventually aimed to replace the mainly protestant landlords as owners of farms and initiated the downfall of the Big House in Ireland. Estates such as Bruff would soon cease to wield any power and indeed this estate, also shows signs of imminent decay as the family are undergoing a process of self-destruction.
The Bruff estate is based on Ross, the Martin family home. Within the novel, the presence of Bruff dominates the countryside of Lismoyle, as most of the characters have dealings at some stage throughout. It is this that Charlotte wants to become more closely associated with to increase her social status, however, in spite of the exterior of carefree wealth which the inhabitants of Bruff convey, there are slight undertones of the decay of the Big House in the novel. Somerville and Ross were perfectly aware of this situation, as referred to in chapter 11 of ‘Irish memories’, when they write of a visit to an old kinswomen, describing her position as being isolated and forgotten by the world in her family’s ancestral home. They show this through the fact that the head of the house, Sir Benjamin, is confined to a wheelchair, and has lost command of his mental faculties, Lady Dysart, though meaning well, is also entirely oblivious of the way in which the estate should be run. Her ignorance of the Irish countryside is conveyed symbolically when she plants rows of chickweed in her garden, mistaking it for asters.
So far, we have become aware that Charlotte is a physically repulsive character. Every characteristic of Charlotte seems to be of an unattractive quality: her personality, her ugliness and her tone to her social inferiors. Perhaps it is as a result of this that she deserves our sympathy. Furthermore the reader cannot help but pity her because of her passion for the estate manager, Roddy Lambert. Charlotte’s pathetic depiction is so vivid that the reader is forced to overlook her repellent characteristics, and is moved to pity. This, however, is a controversial argument which invites a number of different opinions. Declan Kibberd disagrees with the above view, arguing that,
‘Charlotte is too malign for ongoing empathy’.
Charlotte’s affection towards Roddy is shown to us by the authors progressively, through the use of restrained hints. When dressing for Lady Dysart’s tennis party Charlotte chose a gown, ‘with more view to effect than was customary with her’. Later in the novel we realise that this endeavour was made because Charlotte knew that Roddy would be at the party. When Charlotte approaches Roddy later in the novel, she promptly changes her manner when speaking to him as we are shown that, ‘all trace of combat had left her manner, and the smile with which she greeted him was sweet and capacious’.
As the plot develops, we learn that Charlotte and Roddy were previously old friends. We observe Charlotte’s attitude toward Roddy and become increasingly certain that she loves him. She is described as looking at him with an appearance, ‘that softened the lines of her face in a surprising way’, and later we also see that when she smiled at him it was, ‘a smile that deepened the ugly lines about her mouth’. Charlotte’s affections are in no measure reciprocated by Roddy. To begin with, they make him feel in an awkward position, though he does learn to use this to his benefit during the course of the novel. When Charlotte offers Roddy money to assist him with his financial dilemma, instead of being grateful, he has mixed feelings of power, disgust and shame that he does not reciprocate her feelings. Roddy becomes aware that Charlotte loves him, and he uses this to his advantage so that he will not have to repay her, which only adds to the revulsion we feel for Roddy and slowly our sympathy begins to grow for Charlotte. ‘His handsome, dark eyes were bent upon her face with all the pathos he was master of and he was glad to feel tears rising in them’. This shows Roddy as a manipulative person. As the novel develops we become aware that both Roddy and Charlotte are alike in their ways as both are able to use a particular situation to their advantage. When Charlotte visits Lucy Lambert, she uses the fact that Lucy is Roddy’s wife to her advantage. Charlotte’s lack of awareness of Roddy’s actual intentions makes the reader pity her as Roddy is actually aware of the power he has over her. ‘…………Knowing very well that he was taking much the same simple and tempting method of getting rid of his obligation that he had once found so efficacious, and to a certain extent that he could still make a fool out of her.’. Another example of this is when, ‘Lambert stood quit still, staring at her, trying to believe that this was the Charlotte who had trembled when he kissed her, whose love for him made her his useful and faithful thrall’.
Throughout the novel, the reader is convinced of Charlotte’s devotion for Roddy and every indication from her only acts as a reminder of the way in which he is abusing their friendship to his benefit. Some may say that he and Charlotte deserve each other, due to their similar characteristics. Charlotte’s failure in realising the fact that Roddy is in love with Francie is quite unbelievable to us.
Charlotte displays an attitude of resentment towards Francie primarily due to her marriage to Roddy, but also due to that fact that she is prettier and younger. Having taken this into consideration, I feel anything but pity for her. Charlotte interferes with Francie’s love-life and in every situation possible uses it to her advantage. Charlotte at first does not particularly like Hawkins but later uses him to draw Francie away from Roddy. Her manipulation of Christopher to gain his sympathy towards Francie due to her background shows her role-playing skills and she also persuades Pamela to let Francie stay at Bruff while she is in Dublin; this shows she knows how to get what she wants. Having failed here in her plans due to Francie’s behaviour, she is enraged and she speaks in a voice, ‘with a manner from which the affability had fallen like a garment’. The constant reference to clothing describes how Charlotte’s moods change drastically in a given time. When she learns of Hawkin’s engagement, she becomes quite agreeable again. Due to this surprise, she reveals her plans to a shocked Francie, ‘Wait till you’re Lady Dysart of Bruff’. Christopher falls in love with Francie and to Charlotte’s delight begins to visit Tally Ho more and more frequently. Later, when Francie rejects him we are shown a different side of Charlotte; it is this that leads me to agree with Declan Kibert’s description of Charlotte as
‘A classic study of the banality of evil’.
When Charlotte receives word of Roddy’s intentions to marry her more beautiful cousin, Francie, her reaction gains a certain degree of sympathy for her due to her affections for Roddy. As she looked in the mirror ‘her ugliness spoke to her of failure and guided her to revenge’. Charlotte regards Roddy as a partner, and believes he compliments and admires her business sense. Throughout the novel, Charlotte is presented as someone who loses total control when her passion is most aggravated. This is shown when Roddy is thought to be dead and when she fails in marrying Christopher to Francie. Furthermore, when she learns of Francie’s engagement to Roddy, it is the most repulsive of the three situations. Here Charlotte’s unpredictable behaviour leaves her a broken woman. This is the part in the novel where I feel most sorry for her; it is the point at which she realises how Roddy has used her, and is left in a vulnerable state. A contrasting argument has been suggested by John Cronin, he has stated about this scene that
‘Charlotte’s reaction to Roderick’s letter is so vicious and animalistic, and lacking in self control that the reader feels no sympathy for her’,
What is Charlotte to do in this situation? Charlotte’s revenge is ingeniously conceived, and perfectly executed. This revenge is a vivid example of how Charlotte uses her superior intellect to the full. Throughout the novel the authors portray Charlotte as being a physically strong woman, so to observe her weaknesses in the situation with Roddy Lambert does elicit a degree of sympathy for her. When Charlotte comes to grips with what has just happened, she realises that she has one very useful lever for revenge over Roddy- the money she lent him.
Charlotte shows considerable skill in finding out about the finances of the Dysart’s estate from the inhabitants of Ferry Row, without appearing inquisitive. When Charlotte uncovers the valuable information that Roddy has been stealing money from them, she proves herself to be a particularly good performer, treating Roddy as she did before. However, her unusual cheerfulness towards Francie shows that she is actually scheming towards her revenge.
In the scene where Francie and Roddy come to visit Charlotte at Guthlamuckla, her new home, she broaches the subject of the money that Roddy owes her, just to ensure that Roddy is still aware that he is in dept to her ‘the three hundred pounds’. Charlotte gets what she wants as Roddy falls recklessly into Charlotte’s trap by deciding once again, to falsify the accounts, to gain some of the money he owes Charlotte and paradoxically feels that he has fared well in the conversation. Charlotte then knows that she has enough information to successfully begin her revenge on Roddy, as she continues to push Francie and Hawkins together, by every means at her disposal. When they go to Bruff, Charlotte makes certain to attract to Christopher, so that Hawkins and Francie are left alone, and to inform Christopher that Roddy is falsifying the accounts to line his own pockets. She does this by means of a rehearsed display. This again enlightens us to the fact that Charlotte can think out her conversations in her head beforehand. The demolition of Roddy by Charlotte is described as being, ‘one of the most supreme gratifications of her life’, and she embraces it wholeheartedly. I agree with Hilary Robinson when she comments that,
‘the way in which Charlotte gets revenge by breaking Roddy professionally and privately, is an amazing study of the way in which evil is an integral part of ordinary life’.
The scene in which Roddy visits Charlotte at Guthlamuckla is presented by the authors with a certain degree of dramatic irony. At this point the fact that neither Charlotte or Roddy are aware that Francie is dead makes this scene all the more dramatic, as we later find out that Charlotte has an opportunity to marry Roddy, and nether are aware that Roddy has been pardoned by Christopher. In actual fact, Roddy has no reason to be at Guthlamuckla at all. Although Charlotte is certain in her ways about achieving revenge, when Roddy arrives at the farm, we realise that Charlotte still has a certain degree of feeling for him as ‘she unpinned her skirt and fastened up the end of a plait that had escaped from the massive coils at the back of her head’. These feelings, however, do not deter her from taking revenge. At the climax of the novel, Charlotte is finally unmasked as the person who caused Roddy’s downfall. Therefore the destruction of Charlotte’s façade at this point is extremely ironic. Hilary Robinson says of this, that,
‘There is no need for narrative comment, the sharp irony says it all, and lifts the novel above the pathos of Francie’s death’.
In view of all the events of the novel, pity is certainly not the first emotion that comes to mind when the character of Charlotte Mullan is presented to us. Yet Charlotte is, in my opinion, deserving of our pity. She did not ask to fall in love with Roddy, hence the pain and suffering which she endures on this account do remind us of her human qualities and we do feel sympathy towards her. Somerville and Ross remind us that faults in Charlotte’s character have come about through her repulsiveness and the fact that this is a constant reminder to her everyday life, with the failure of her as a women being shown in her masculine traits. Overall, although her deeds are despicable, I feel that there are aspects of the novel where Charlotte is indeed deserving of our pity.
