Lady Audley’s Secret

Lady Audley’s Secret

by

Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Lady Audley’s Secret makes teaching easy.

Sir Michael Audley Character Analysis

Sir Michael is the second husband of Lady Audley, the father of Alicia Audley, and the uncle of Robert Audley. At the beginning of the novel, he is an old, wealthy widower who falls in love with the poor governess Lucy Graham. He tells Lucy only to marry him if she returns his feelings and not to consider his wealth and status in comparison to her own. The two marry, and all their neighbors in Essex consider their union to be very romantic. Sir Michael himself is happy and protective of his young and beautiful new wife. For a while, he and Lady Audley appear to be living the ideal of a Victorian marriage. This ideal is revealed to be an illusion, however, as Robert begins to unravel Lady Audley’s secrets of bigamy and attempted murder. As Robert draws closer to discovering the truth, Lady Audley repeatedly uses Sir Michael’s love for her to keep Robert away from Audley Court, and, failing that, finally tries to convince Sir Michael that Robert is mad. Sir Michael listens to and sides with Lady Audley, showing how a woman can use her agency to influence men for her own self-interest. When Lady Audley finally confesses her crimes to Sir Michael, he is devastated and flees to continental Europe with his daughter in order to recover.

Sir Michael Audley Quotes in Lady Audley’s Secret

The Lady Audley’s Secret quotes below are all either spoken by Sir Michael Audley or refer to Sir Michael Audley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Power in Victorian England Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 1 Quotes

“You know that nobody asks you to marry Sir Michael unless you wish. Of course it would be a magnificent match; he has a splendid income, and is one of the most generous of men. Your position would be very high, and you would be enabled to do a great deal of good; but, as I said before, you must be entirely guided by your own feelings.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Dawson (speaker), Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys , Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 11 Quotes

“Mr. Audley may be as you say, merely eccentric; but he has talked to me this evening in a manner that has filled me with absolute terror, and I believe that he is going mad. I shall speak very seriously to Sir Michael this very night…I shall only put him on his guard, my dear Alicia.”

“But he’ll never believe you,” said Miss Audley, “He will laugh at such an idea.”

“No, Alicia; he will believe anything that I tell him.”

Related Characters: Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys (speaker), Alicia Audley (speaker), Robert Audley, Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“The place was indeed select. I had not been there a month before I discovered that even the prettiest girl might wait a long time for a rich husband. I wish to hurry over this part of my life: I dare say I was very despicable. You and your nephew, Sir Michael, have been rich all your lives, and can well afford to despise me; but I knew how far poverty can affect a life, and I looked forward with a sick terror to a life so affected.”

Related Characters: Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys (speaker), Robert Audley, Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 299
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 10 Quotes

I hope no one will take objection to my story because the end of it leaves the good people all happy and at peace. If my experience of life has not been very long, it has at least been manifold; and I can safely subscribe to that which a mighty king and a great philosopher declared, when he said that neither the experience of his youth nor of his age had ever shown him ‘righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.’

Related Characters: Robert Audley, George Talboys, Sir Michael Audley, Alicia Audley, Clara Talboys
Page Number: 380
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sir Michael Audley Quotes in Lady Audley’s Secret

The Lady Audley’s Secret quotes below are all either spoken by Sir Michael Audley or refer to Sir Michael Audley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Power in Victorian England Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 1 Quotes

“You know that nobody asks you to marry Sir Michael unless you wish. Of course it would be a magnificent match; he has a splendid income, and is one of the most generous of men. Your position would be very high, and you would be enabled to do a great deal of good; but, as I said before, you must be entirely guided by your own feelings.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Dawson (speaker), Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys , Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 11 Quotes

“Mr. Audley may be as you say, merely eccentric; but he has talked to me this evening in a manner that has filled me with absolute terror, and I believe that he is going mad. I shall speak very seriously to Sir Michael this very night…I shall only put him on his guard, my dear Alicia.”

“But he’ll never believe you,” said Miss Audley, “He will laugh at such an idea.”

“No, Alicia; he will believe anything that I tell him.”

Related Characters: Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys (speaker), Alicia Audley (speaker), Robert Audley, Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“The place was indeed select. I had not been there a month before I discovered that even the prettiest girl might wait a long time for a rich husband. I wish to hurry over this part of my life: I dare say I was very despicable. You and your nephew, Sir Michael, have been rich all your lives, and can well afford to despise me; but I knew how far poverty can affect a life, and I looked forward with a sick terror to a life so affected.”

Related Characters: Lady Audley / Lucy Graham / Helen Maldon Talboys (speaker), Robert Audley, Sir Michael Audley
Page Number: 299
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 10 Quotes

I hope no one will take objection to my story because the end of it leaves the good people all happy and at peace. If my experience of life has not been very long, it has at least been manifold; and I can safely subscribe to that which a mighty king and a great philosopher declared, when he said that neither the experience of his youth nor of his age had ever shown him ‘righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.’

Related Characters: Robert Audley, George Talboys, Sir Michael Audley, Alicia Audley, Clara Talboys
Page Number: 380
Explanation and Analysis: