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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Key Examples in Lady Audley’s Secret
Volume 2, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Gunpowder and Bohea:
Lucy Audley’s power as the female head of a household is underlined with an allusion and some powerful scent imagery in this passage from Volume 2, Chapter 7:
Surely a pretty woman never looks prettier than when making tea [...] [it] imparts a magic harmony to her every movement, a witchery to her glance. The floating mists from the boiling liquid in which she infuses the soothing herbs; whose secrets are known to her alone, envelope her in a cloud of scented vapor, through which she seems a social fairy, weaving potent spells with Gunpowder and Bohea. At the tea-table she reigns omnipotent, unapproachable.
Related Themes:
Volume 2, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—What A Doctor Can Cure:
In this passage from Lady Audley's Secret, the author makes an allusion to William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, as Robert chastises Lucy for withholding information from him. Braddon makes this reference to draw a parallel between Lucy’s situation (as she tries to deny crimes she thinks she has committed) and a similar situation that Macbeth’s wife finds herself embroiled in. This moment underscores the novel’s central undercurrent of guilt, and its psychological consequences:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Do you remember what Macbeth tells his physician, my lady?" asked Robert, gravely. "Mr. Dawson may be very much more clever than the Scottish leech, but I doubt if even he can minister to the mind that is diseased [...] all the medicines your doctor can prescribe are only so much physic that might as well be thrown to the dogs."
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Original Sin:
In this passage, Robert Audley contemplates Lucy's actions after discovering certain facts, leading him to make an allusion to Eve's sins in the Garden of Eden. In this passage, he reflects on what he understands to be the potential for deceit that all women possess:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I do not say that Robert Audley was a coward, but I will admit that a shiver of horror, something akin to fear, chilled him to the heart as he remembered the horrible things that have been done by women since that day upon which Eve was created to be Adam's companion and help-meet in the garden of Eden.
Related Themes:
Volume 2, Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Bric-a-Brac:
Toward the end of the novel, Lady Audley is deeply uneasy amidst her many luxuries. This is because her enemies aren’t yet totally crushed. Her desire for revenge and loss of interest in the trappings of wealth is highlighted by her discomfort with her fancy possessions. These are briefly alluded to and then ironically dismissed as "bric-a-brac" in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+My lady shivered and looked round at the bright collection of bric-a-brac, as if the Sèvres and bronze, the buhl and ormolu, had been the moldering adornments of some ruined castle.
Related Themes:
