Laure is an actress Lydgate fell in love with while he lived in Paris. During a theatre performance she stabbed her husband (a fellow actor) to death onstage; there is confusion over whether it was intentional, though Lydgate maintains it was an accident. She flees to Avignon and Lydgate follows her there, only to have her to tell him that she stabbed her husband on purpose and that she doesn’t like husbands. This episode gives Lydgate a lifelong fear of women.
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Laure Character Timeline in Middlemarch
The timeline below shows where the character Laure appears in Middlemarch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Chapter 15
...he was in Paris he fell in love with a married actress from Provence named Laure. He loved to go watch her at the theatre. One night while Lydgate was watching...
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While Laure was in custody Lydgate had many conversations with her. When she was found innocent and...
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Book 2, Chapter 16
...sure he will never feel the same all-consuming love for her as he did for Laure.
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Book 6, Chapter 58
Lydgate thinks about Laure and wonders if Rosamond would ever kill him. He begins by saying to Rosamond that...
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