In this passage at the beginning of the novel, the author employs personification and foreshadowing as she describes the warren-like interior of the house Audley Court:
A noble place; inside as well as out, a noble place—a house in which you incontinently lost yourself if ever you were so rash as to attempt to penetrate its mysteries alone; a house in which no one room had any sympathy with another, every chamber running off at a tangent into an inner chamber [...]
Audley Court is an enormous and imposing English country house. This mansion, in its ability to confuse and bewilder visitors, almost seems to have human characteristics. Because of all its “mysteries,” it seems as though it deliberately seeks to mislead people who don't know it well. Even the rooms seems to disagree with one another: they have “no sympathy” between them and break off abruptly.
By attributing human-like intentions to the house, the author creates an eerie atmosphere where its rooms and corridors seem alive and unwelcoming. This liveliness ascribed to the mansion not only enhances the reader’s sense of anticipation, but also mirrors the deceptions that are being conducted by the people who inhabit the house. The house’s charming appearances are deceptive, just as Lucy's own beauty is.
Describing rooms that lack "sympathy" with one another also infers discord and emotional detachment in the house's structure. Audley Court's aura of disengagement and its enigmatic character foreshadow the Lady of Audley Court’s own convoluted story. This early introduction to the mansion's peculiar architecture points to many aspects of the drama to come.
As the narrator reflects on the role of beauty in Lucy’s life, they delve into the profound implications of its influence on her moral compass. In order to do this, they engage personification and use a metaphor presenting her as an enslaved person:
Did she trace every sin of her life back to its true source? and did she discover that poisoned fountain in her own exaggerated estimate of the value of a pretty face? [...] the master-passions of her life had become her rulers, and the three demons of Vanity, Selfishness, and Ambition had joined hands and said 'This woman is our slave; let us see what she will become under our guidance'.
The metaphor of Lucy's beauty as a "poisoned fountain" points the reader to the double-edged nature of her attractiveness. A fountain is typically a source of coolness and nourishment, one that often symbolizes cleanliness and life. However, the descriptor "poisoned" as Braddon uses it here implies that Lucy's beauty is a toxic resource to draw upon. This metaphor insinuates that Lucy's fixation on her beauty is actually the root cause of her ethical problems.
As if this weren’t enough of a condemnation, the author then employs personification to animate the abstract qualities of “Vanity, Selfishness, and Ambition.” The narrator treats these aspects of the personality as if they had agency of their own, leading Lucy down a dark path. In turn, the novel reinforces the idea that beauty’s failings govern Lucy’s actions. This personification illustrates how beauty can corrupt a person. Lucy has been led so astray by "Vanity, Selfishness, and Ambition" that the narrator is almost in disbelief that Lucy herself doesn’t see the link between her vice and her physical appearance.
