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Chapter 31
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Charlotte Temple, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Temptation and Vice
Regret, Guilt, and Shame
Deceit and Manipulation
Kindness, Compassion, and Forgiveness
Honor, Reputation, and Social Status
Wealth, Poverty, and Happiness
Summary
Analysis
Mrs. Crayton has always known that Charlotte is more virtuous and respectable than her. And yet, Mrs. Crayton found a way to rise above her station in life by marrying Mr. Crayton, and now she worries that admitting her past acquaintance with Charlotte would bring her own unsavory history to light, potentially prompting her husband to renounce her. But such cruelty usually has consequences, and all of Mrs. Crayton’s servants make a point of talking about how unkind she was to a poor, destitute woman.
Susanna Rowson makes it quite clear that Mrs. Crayton’s unkindness isn’t the sort of thing that goes unnoticed. Once she treats Charlotte so poorly, her servants start talking about her lack of empathy, making her look terrible and, in that way, slowly chipping away at the reputation she’s so eager to protect. Behaving unkindly, the author therefore suggests, only works against people.
Themes
Charlotte has now been with the servant and his family for three days. They live in poverty, but their home is still preferable to the frigid streets. Ever since giving birth, though, she has been speaking nonsense and experiencing extreme mental distress. The kind doctor attending to her visits Mrs. Beauchamp for an unrelated matter, and while he’s there he tells her about Charlotte, though not by name. Moved by what he says, Mrs. Beauchamp makes her way to the servant’s house to do what she can to help.
Themes
Literary Devices
