Lefferts is considered the utmost authority on “form” in New York society. He’s a fashionable, good-looking young man who likes to think that he sets an example for other young men to follow. However, his insistence on members of society following certain rules of fashion and public behavior is largely an act that he uses to cover up the frequent affairs he conducts outside his marriage. In this way, Lefferts represents the worst hypocrisy of New York society.
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Lawrence Lefferts Character Timeline in The Age of Innocence
The timeline below shows where the character Lawrence Lefferts appears in The Age of Innocence. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Next to Archer, Lawrence Lefferts exclaims. Lefferts is an expert on “form,” partly through having studied it carefully, but also...
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Chapter 2
...in Archer’s box are talking about Ellen Olenska, who left her brute of a husband. Lefferts confirms that he was an awful womanizer and spent freely, but she ran off with...
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Chapter 6
...his marriage will become as unfeeling and hypocritical as those he sees around him. Lawrence Lefferts, for example, has frequent affairs while his wife remains ignorant and even blushes when someone...
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Chapter 7
Mr. van der Luyden asks whether the situation is really Lawrence Lefferts’s fault, and Archer says he’s sure it is, because Lefferts has been having an affair...
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Chapter 8
Archer watches Lawrence Lefferts and his wife meeting Ellen Olenska, along with other couples who had refused to meet...
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Chapter 10
...a high-class prostitute, Miss Fanny Ring, being seen in Beaufort’s carriage. Archer can imagine Lawrence Lefferts exclaiming over society’s ruin.
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Chapter 19
...Beaufort looking at the women while sitting next to his wife, as well as Lawrence Lefferts seeming to represent the god of “form.” Archer wonders what Lefferts will find lacking, and...
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Chapter 21
...group behind her, but none of them can make athletic pursuits look so easy. Lawrence Lefferts remarks on her beauty, but Beaufort says this is the only kind of target she’ll...
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Chapter 23
...trip seem plausible. The ease with which he lied made him feel guiltily like Lawrence Lefferts.
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Chapter 26
...him. Archer insists that Mr. Jackson is making an improper insinuation, but Mr. Jackson says Lefferts is really the one doing it. Archer retorts that Ellen snubbed Lefferts for flirting with...
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Chapter 28
Archer runs into Lawrence Lefferts at the telegraph office. He just heard about Mrs. Mingott’s stroke and followed Archer to...
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Chapter 31
Lawrence Lefferts and another man come down the road, but Archer stops worrying about Ellen being seen...
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Chapter 33
The gentlemen in the library talk about the Beauforts. Lawrence Lefferts gives a scathing speech about a man’s duty and the sacredness of the home. He...
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...van der Luydens take her into their carriage. As he returns to the house, Lawrence Lefferts asks him to tell people that he’s dining with him at the club the next...
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Chapter 34
...what’s left of the world that shaped him as a young man. He remembers Lawrence Lefferts suggesting that one day their children would marry Beaufort’s bastards. Dallas is marrying one of...
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