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Letters 11–20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lady Susan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender, Power, and Manipulation
Public Appearance vs. Private Reality
Love and Transaction
Summary
Analysis
Letter XXI. Frederica writes to Reginald, apologizing for the liberty she’s taking in doing so. She’s upset about her engagement to Sir James, and she’s forbidden to speak to Catherine or Charles about it. Writing to Reginald is probably no better, since she’s taking advantage of a slight loophole, but she’s desperate: she can’t stand Sir James, and wants Reginald to convince Lady Susan to break off the engagement and send Sir James away. Only he might be able to make this happen. She promises that she’s not fickle; she always disliked Sir James, and she’d rather “work for [her] bread” than marry him. She’s aware that the letter will upset Lady Susan, but that’s a risk she’s willing to take.
Frederica is disobeying Lady Susan by confessing her unhappiness—but Lady Susan never forbade her from telling Reginald about this, which Frederica admits is a loophole. The fact that she conveys this information in a letter is another loophole, because in person, Frederica would find it difficult to communicate the same information. Frederica’s willingness to use this loophole, even knowing that it would upset Lady Susan, proves how desperate she really is, since she of all people knows what Lady Susan is capable of. Her claim that she would rather “work for [her] bread” than marry Sir James seems fanciful—Frederica has never worked a day in her life—but it’s possible that she believes she’s telling the truth. She also seems to think that Lady Susan truly values Reginald, since she tells him that he alone can convince Lady Susan to call her plan off. Either Frederica sees something in their relationship that Catherine hasn’t noticed—genuine affection, maybe—or Frederica still doesn’t understand how little her mother cares about other people. Of course, it’s also possible that Frederica thinks Lady Susan will back down if Reginald asks, solely to stay on Reginald’s good side; maybe Frederica, like Catherine, believes that her mother will eventually marry Reginald. Another possibility is that Frederica may be craftier than she appears—even if she doesn’t think Reginald is the only one who could help her, her desperate plea would appeal to his vanity and spur him to help.
Themes
Letter XXII. Lady Susan writes to Alicia, knowing that she’ll sympathize with her annoyance. Sir James had the nerve to arrive at Churchill out of the blue, and to invite himself to stay. Lady Susan had no choice but to convince Catherine that Frederica and Sir James were happily engaged, and to threaten Frederica into silence. Lately, she’s been more determined than ever to push this marriage through, since Frederica is falling deeper in love with Reginald, and Lady Susan thinks that someday, he could return her feelings. Lately, he’s been speaking positively about Frederica, though he was also jealous of Sir James’s attentions to Lady Susan. Lady Susan managed to convince him that Sir James was a good match, and Charles and Catherine can’t think otherwise either, since Frederica is forbidden from speaking to them.
This passage confirms that Sir James’s arrival was not part of Lady Susan’s plan. It remains unclear whether Lady Susan was ever planning to tell Catherine and Charles about her daughter’s engagement—it’s possible she was going to wait until after the wedding, when no one would be able to interfere. Once again, her frustration about Reginald and Frederica is confusing. Earlier, Lady Susan was upset that Frederica had a crush on Reginald, even though a marriage to Reginald would be just as financially beneficial as a marriage to Sir James. At the time, it seemed that Lady Susan wanted to prevent a relationship between Frederica and Reginald in order to control them both more effectively. Now, it seems that Lady Susan may just be jealous; the reason she’s upset isn’t that Frederica loves Reginald, but that Reginald might someday love Frederica. It’s possible that Lady Susan does truly care about Reginald, as Frederica seemed to suggest in her letter to him. This might explain why her observational skills are faltering: she believes she convinced Reginald that Sir James was a good match for Frederica, but Catherine implied earlier that Reginald didn’t seem to think so.
Themes
Lady Susan believed everything was going to plan, but this morning, Reginald arrived at Lady Susan’s dressing-room to tell her that she should allow Frederica to break her engagement. When prompted, he admitted that Frederica told him about her distress—eventually, he revealed that he received a letter from her, and that he talked with her about that letter. Lady Susan is certain that Frederica must have confessed her love for Reginald, based on how he’s speaking of her, and she’s disgusted by his ability to be charmed by a crush that he didn’t mean to cause.
Frederica’s letter must have greatly affected Reginald; he’s heard plenty of rumors about Lady Susan’s cruelty, some from his own family. Nothing has gotten through to him before now, which implies that he finds Frederica’s story credible. While Frederica confided in him via letter, they did have an in-person conversation, but only after Reginald read her words: the truth was therefore communicated in writing, since it might have been distorted in person. Readers have no way of knowing whether Frederica confessed her love for Reginald during this conversation, but it seems unlikely, given her meekness; in 18th-century Britain, it would have been improper for a woman to confess her feelings for a man without his encouragement
Themes
Literary Devices
Moreover, Lady Susan assumes that Reginald must not truly care about her, since he believed Frederica’s story even after Lady Susan turned him against her. He was upset when he left her, but Lady Susan believes that he’ll soon calm down—she’s the one who will remain furious. She vows to punish Frederica, who caused all this trouble.
Lady Susan’s belief in this unlikely confession, as well as her disgust at her daughter’s budding relationship, reflects her own view of love. She doesn’t think Reginald would help Frederica unless she was offering him love in return, and she doesn’t understand why Reginald would accept that love if he didn’t want something from Frederica and didn’t intentionally manipulate her. Lady Susan still believes that love means unconditional devotion; she’s now angry that Reginald ever doubted her, and believes she’ll remain angry at him indefinitely. This severe reaction may mean that she genuinely cares about him, but she likely also feels powerless: her control of Reginald was a way to control his family, and now she’s temporarily lost that ability.
Themes
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Letter XXIII. Catherine writes to her mother, giddy: she’s sorry she ever worried her, because Reginald plans to return home. He warned Catherine not to allow Frederica to marry Sir James because Frederica would be unhappy—she deserved better, and Reginald didn’t know what Lady Susan was thinking. Catherine, quite happy, then ran into an amused Lady Susan, who said she’d heard Reginald was leaving—she believed he’d soon change his mind. Catherine, however, doubts it: the two must have had a fight, and she was shocked by how calm Lady Susan appeared.
For the moment, it seems like Catherine has won, since Reginald’s relationship with Lady Susan is over. Notably, however, this breakup wasn’t the result of anything Catherine did—she was always powerless to help her brother, and this is presumably the first time they’ve openly discussed Lady Susan’s cruelty as a mother. In fact, it was Frederica’s admission of her own powerlessness that sent Reginald away, which may or may not have been a calculated move on Frederica’s part. It’s strange, therefore, that Reginald tasks Catherine with breaking off Frederica’s engagement: there’s nothing she can do about it, since she’s unable to singlehandedly send Sir James away, and the gullible Charles is unlikely to do it either. As a result, Catherine’s happiness seems premature, especially because Lady Susan is confident that she can change Reginald’s mind. Catherine should know better than to underestimate Lady Susan, but for the moment, she’s certain that the jig is up.
Themes
Letter XXIV. Catherine writes again to her mother, because everything she wrote just two hours ago longer applies: Reginald and Lady Susan have reconciled, and the only new development is that Sir James was asked to leave Churchill. Earlier that day, Catherine ran into a weeping Frederica, who blamed herself for Reginald’s decision to leave. Catherine comforted her, saying that she was glad Reginald was leaving, since Sir Reginald wanted to see him at home.
Sure enough, Lady Susan was able to change Reginald’s mind. It’s certainly significant that Sir James has left Churchill—this may have been a concession Lady Susan made in order to keep Reginald around. Meanwhile, Lady Susan’s in-person manipulation of Reginald is all the more impressive when juxtaposed with Catherine and Frederica’s stilted conversation. Even though Catherine and Frederica both dislike Lady Susan, Catherine still feels the need to fudge the truth about why she wants Reginald to go; it’s accurate enough that Sir Reginald wants to see his son, but Catherine and Sir Reginald are mostly concerned about getting Reginald away from Lady Susan’s bad influence. Frederica seems shockingly unaware that they were worried about this, since she’s so upset that Reginald is leaving—she’s probably under the impression that she’s breaking up the family.
Themes
Frederica went on to confess that she was forbidden to speak to Charles and Catherine about her engagement, so she wrote to Reginald. She at first thought that she wouldn’t have the courage to give it to him—she passed him in the hallway and had to avoid eye contact as she gave him the letter. Catherine tells her that she should’ve come to her and Charles, and that Lady Susan was wrong to forbid it.
Lady Susan can lie in person, but Catherine and Frederica still can’t tell each other the truth, which means that they can’t effectively work together to oust Lady Susan. This passage also confirms that Frederica would never have been able to tell Reginald the truth about her engagement in person; she could barely do so in writing, and she had to force herself to give him the letter. Meanwhile, Catherine, like Lady Susan, acts as though she has more power than she really does; even if Frederica had come to her with the truth about Sir James, nothing would have changed. Catherine already suspected how unhappy Frederica was and never did anything about it.
Themes
At that moment, Reginald emerged from Lady Susan’s dressing room, only to reveal that he wasn’t going to leave after all. He misunderstood the situation; Frederica and Lady Susan aren’t close, so she wasn’t aware of how unhappy Frederica was. He was wrong to meddle, and Frederica was wrong to write to him. He then sent Catherine in to speak with Lady Susan—and Catherine, resigned and actually curious, agreed.
Lady Susan once again proves that she’s an expert at manipulating Reginald in person. He believed Frederica’s story on paper, but it wasn’t strong enough to stand up to Lady Susan’s lies when the two were face to face. This is lucky for Lady Susan, because her chosen lie is a weak one: if even Reginald noticed that Frederica didn’t like Sir James, her own mother couldn’t have been blindsided. Still, he not only believes Lady Susan’s lie but also believes that he was wrong to help Frederica. Lady Susan changed his mind and flipped the situation around, so Reginald and Frederica appear to be the ones at fault—as an added bonus, this makes Frederica seem untrustworthy and therefore crushes Reginald’s budding feelings for her. It makes sense that Catherine is resigned, and that she agrees to speak to Lady Susan: she can’t compete with her any longer. It also makes sense that Lady Susan would ask to see her: her manipulation probably won’t work on Catherine, but clearly, she’s either willing to give it a shot or just excited to gloat.
Themes
Lady Susan told Catherine that she’d been upset Reginald might leave Churchill on her account and cause the others distress. She had realized that Sir James was a bad match for Frederica, primarily because Frederica was so set against it, proving that she wasn’t totally stupid. Unfortunately, she was spoiled when her father was alive. Catherine countered, saying that she was only uneducated, but Lady Susan grew upset at the perceived criticism of her late husband and pretended to cry, to Catherine’s annoyance.
Lady Susan’s lies are almost comical: she wants nothing more than to cause the Vernon family distress, and she implies that if Frederica were stupider, she would have been a good match for Sir James. Readers don’t know whether or not Frederica’s father really did spoil her—Frederica’s lack of education was likely Lady Susan’s fault, but there’s no way to confirm this. Lady Susan is, however, clearly faking distress about her late husband, whom she never respected in his lifetime (though she did want to maintain his pride, which is why she blocked the sale of their estate).
Themes
Lady Susan then revealed that Frederica wrote to Reginald, something that Catherine believes was warranted, since Lady Susan forbade her daughter to confide in the Vernons. Lady Susan is offended by this insinuation—she only wished to spare the Vernons inconvenience, since they couldn’t have changed the situation. At the time, she believed that Frederica didn’t have a real reason for disliking Sir James.
Lady Susan is trying to make Frederica’s letter seem improper, which it technically is—Lady Susan did forbid her from sharing her feelings with the Vernons, and Frederica admits that the letter to Reginald was a loophole. Lady Susan is also right that the Vernons couldn’t have changed the situation; Catherine guessed the truth about Frederica and Sir James, but she likely didn’t even speak to Charles about it. It’s also technically true that Frederica never gave a reason for disliking Sir James—presumably, he’s stupid and ridiculous, but she doesn’t outright say so. Lady Susan’s lies are, therefore, mixed up with small amounts of truth; the truths don’t matter in the face of the larger lie, but they do demonstrate how difficult it is to combat Lady Susan’s manipulation. Even readers, who have access to her letters, can’t entirely separate truth from fiction.
Themes
Lady Susan also claims that Frederica asking Reginald for help hurt her specifically—Catherine thinks this is a weak argument, since whether or not Frederica loves Reginald, her hatred of Sir James was the motivation. Ignoring this, Lady Susan explains that she and Reginald have patched things up: they’re both passionate people, and he thought that Lady Susan was more at fault than she was.
Lady Susan seems to imply that she was jealous of Frederica’s crush on Reginald, which Catherine thinks is nonsense. However, it’s worth questioning why Lady Susan would admit this to Catherine, since it certainly makes her look vulnerable. After all, Lady Susan is likely jealous of Frederica for this reason. It’s possible, however, that she still won’t admit this to herself, since she wants to seem independent; after all, she’s said nothing to Alicia about marrying Reginald so far.
Themes
Once Lady Susan realized that some of the blame was hers, she sought Reginald out again to reconcile. She then said she’d ask Sir James to leave Churchill. Catherine left the room, disgusted by Lady Susan’s lies, and even by her ability to casually dismiss Sir James, who loves her. Catherine now knows that Reginald will never love Frederica: he may have a better opinion of her, but he’ll marry Lady Susan soon. No one can prevent it.
Lady Susan, ironically, pretends that she and Reginald both accepted equal blame for the situation. Her transactional view of love would never allow something like this to happen without a reason; Lady Susan doesn’t give anything up for the people she claims to love. Even her dismissal of Sir James seems strategic—clearly, she’s up to something. Catherine can sense this too; for once, she doesn’t question whether or not Lady Susan is telling the truth, though she still repeats Lady Susan’s lies to her mother. She also accepts that Frederica’s genuine love can’t compete with Lady Susan’s transactional love. This means that Catherine’s own plan has failed—Frederica will not be the means of breaking up Reginald and Lady Susan.
Themes
Letter XXV. Lady Susan writes to Alicia, “triumphant.” She can’t believe that Reginald was actually going to leave her; she’d needed to stop him, since he’s a wild card and might slander her to others. He came to see her eagerly, surprised to be asked; she observed that he seemed both to want her to change his mind, and afraid that she really would. She told him she would leave instead, since she was only causing distress, and that way the family could stay together—no one cared where she went, anyway, but everyone cared about Reginald. Observing Reginald, Lady Susan saw the way his feelings visibly changed, his vanity soothed. She’s glad that some people are so easily manipulated, though she’s grateful that she can’t be.
Once again, Lady Susan demonstrates that she cares about her reputation in society, even though her behavior is outrageous, and everyone has heard the rumors about her. This makes less and less sense as the novella goes on. For instance, Lady Susan’s strategy for manipulating Reginald was to prove the rumors wrong, which she couldn’t have done if Reginald didn’t initially believe them. Even though Lady Susan refuses to act as a proper lady, she still wants to seem like one—it’s a strange paradox, and it implies that even Lady Susan isn’t immune to society’s expectations. Interestingly, this passage also demonstrates that Reginald might not totally disbelieve those rumors. Lady Susan observes that he wanted to be convinced of her innocence: Reginald must know the truth on some level, but he’s choosing to ignore it. His moral character is clearly lacking; his love for Lady Susan blinds him to the unhappiness of others. Interestingly, Lady Susan’s lie to Reginald—that she doesn’t want to break up his family—mirrors Frederica’s letter. Both women appeal to Reginald’s vanity, and Frederica even implied to Catherine that she didn’t want to cause a rift in the Vernon household. The difference is that Frederica is likely genuine, while Lady Susan is using genuine love as a mask for transactional love. But if Lady Susan does care about Reginald, this passage reveals why: the fact that he’s so easily manipulated makes Lady Susan look better.
Themes
Reginald is now more submissive than ever, but Lady Susan can’t forgive him; she wonders whether she should punish him by leaving, or by marrying him and “teasing him for-ever.” However, there’s a lot on her plate right now: she needs to punish Frederica for the letter, Reginald for believing it, and Catherine for her triumph at Sir James’s departure. Lady Susan plans to visit London soon to conclude Frederica’s engagement to Sir James; it’s urgent now, since her daughter’s love for Reginald has become “romantic nonsense.” However, renewing the engagement will be tricky—she surrendered Sir James to remain on good terms with Reginald, so she’ll need to rely on his devotion to her once she goes against his wishes. Hopefully, Alicia can secure Lady Susan some lodgings near the Johnsons’.
Lady Susan is debating how she should punish Reginald, but her intended “punishment” rings false; even if Reginald were trapped in a loveless marriage with Lady Susan, it’s unlikely that he would view it as punishment. Lady Susan would, after all, want to control his finances—and in order to do that, she’d at least need to keep him happy. This is, notably, the first time Lady Susan has ever mentioned a potential marriage to Reginald; previously, she denied that she wanted to marry him. It’s possible that she’s framing the marriage as a “punishment” now, but she really intended it all along. This framing allows her to seem in control, even though she really needs Reginald’s money. In fact, her plans seem increasingly impossible, suggesting that Lady Susan is losing control—which would explain her sudden urge to get married. Sir James is gone (Lady Susan confirms that it was a tactical surrender), and forcing a marriage between Sir James and Frederica would mean going against Reginald. Meanwhile, Frederica loves Reginald more than ever, which is dangerous, since Reginald obviously isn’t immune to flattery. In order to marry Reginald and punish Frederica at the same time, she needs to secretly force Frederica to marry Sir James against Frederica’s will, all while ensuring that her daughter won’t go to Reginald for help again. She can’t even stay with the Johnsons, since Mr. Johnson hates her. The scheme is therefore a secret operation, which certainly doesn’t imply that Lady Susan is all-powerful or even entirely in control.
Themes
Letter XXVI. Alicia responds to Lady Susan, saying that she should come to London but leave Frederica at Churchill. It would benefit Lady Susan more to marry Reginald than to stir the pot by forcing her daughter to marry Sir James. Frederica, after all, doesn’t represent the family well, but Lady Susan is meant to be out in society. Leaving Frederica would be punishment enough. Alicia does have another reason for encouraging the solo visit—Mr. Manwaring keeps coming to the Johnsons’, jealous about Reginald. Lady Susan needs to see him to calm him down, and to get him out of the way if she’s going to marry Reginald—and she has to do both of these things in person.
Alicia provides her friend with the perfect solution: if Lady Susan abandons Frederica, she can keep Reginald around without any risk. This, of course, also allows Lady Susan to pretend that she’s more in control of the situation than she actually is; it would be quite difficult to force a marriage between Frederica and Sir James at this point, now that everyone knows and is against it. Lady Susan can pretend she’s abandoning her daughter because she wants to be alone in society, but the reality is that Frederica has won this round—her appeal to Reginald worked, if not for the reasons she expected. Of course, Alicia is wrong that Frederica will be punished by remaining at Churchill—this is another victory for Frederica—but perhaps Lady Susan is desperate enough to forget about punishment. Besides, Lady Susan marrying Reginald would also punish Frederica, who loves him. But even Lady Susan’s solo visit to London proves she’s not in control: if she wants to marry Reginald, she needs to get rid of Mr. Manwaring. She can’t break things off by letter, since she’s an in-person manipulator; even Alicia seems to imply that Lady Susan can’t effectively lie in a letter. Lady Susan’s financial security therefore relies on her ability to manipulate both Reginald and Mr. Manwaring. Obviously, her situation is entirely dependent on the whims of men, even if she pretends that it’s not.
Themes
Luckily, Mr. Johnson will be in Bath recovering from a gout attack, so they can enjoy themselves. She would ask Lady Susan to stay at the Johnsons’, but Mr. Johnson pressured her into swearing Lady Susan would never be invited to their home—which Alicia, desperate for money, obviously had to agree to. However, Lady Susan can stay nearby and visit. Mr. Manwaring keeps going on about Mrs. Manwaring’s jealousy—she seems to be a stupid woman, both because she expected him to be faithful and because she married him at all, since she was rich and he was broke. Alicia and Mr. Johnson agree on almost nothing, except their dislike of Mrs. Manwaring.
Alicia clearly doesn’t care much about her friend; she accepted her husband’s bribe readily. She and Lady Susan are pretty similar—both are concerned with their own happiness, even though Alicia’s role in the novella has been to aid her friend. Even Lady Susan’s most genuine relationship isn’t genuine; the two women are both shallow and self-centered. Alicia doesn’t seem to understand genuine love either: Mrs. Manwaring clearly cares about her husband, despite all his faults. It’s now clear that Mr. Johnson cut ties with Mrs. Manwaring in part because she married a poor man. She must have done so out of love, which is something Alicia can only ridicule. Mr. Manwaring seems to be a lot like Lady Susan as well—he probably married Mrs. Manwaring for her money, which explains why he cheats on her now.
Themes
Letter XXVII. Catherine writes a letter to her mother, which Reginald will deliver—he’s going home, but it’s too late for that to mean anything. Lady Susan is off to London; at first, she was going to bring Frederica, but the Vernons objected. Catherine worried that she’d either be left alone or that she’d have to see Reginald, which would hurt her. At the Vernons’, she’ll be distracted and may get over the unique pain of him choosing her mother over her. Catherine wasn’t “cordial” in inviting Lady Susan back to Churchill, but she knows that wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to come. Reginald, meanwhile, won’t deny that he might visit London, and Catherine knows that if he does, he’ll marry Lady Susan.
Lady Susan wants to make her losses seem like victories; she was always planning to leave Frederica at Churchill, but she forces the Vernons to beg for it. Much like her earlier plan to send Frederica to boarding school, hoping to make a marriage to Sir James seem like Frederica’s idea, Lady Susan now wants to make Catherine feel dependent on her. Her power, as always, depends on others feeling powerless. If Catherine were thinking clearly, she’d realize that Lady Susan’s behavior doesn’t make any sense: Frederica is better off at the Vernons’, where she can’t see Reginald. Catherine should realize just from Lady Susan’s uncharacteristic restraint that she has ulterior motives, but she doesn’t. Instead, she continues to believe that Lady Susan is more powerful than she really is, even implying that she could reappear at Churchill at any moment. Although Reginald doesn’t say that he’ll see Lady Susan after he leaves Churchill, Catherine believes that Lady Susan is all-powerful and will lure him to London.
Themes
Letter XXVIII. Alicia writes to Lady Susan, upset: Mr. Johnson heard that Lady Susan would be in London and has now decided to have a gout attack to delay his trip to Bath. He can control them at will, and of course, he does so to torment Alicia. She’s glad that her letter had an impact on Lady Susan, and that her friend has secured Reginald. She doesn’t know when she can see Lady Susan—she has to nurse Mr. Johnson herself, which is a nasty trick on his part.
Once again, Alicia proves that she has no love for her husband. It’s possible, of course, that Mr. Johnson is faking this gout attack to keep Lady Susan away from his house—however, his motives for doing so might be nobler than Alicia gives him credit for. Rather than punishing Alicia, he might be looking out for her, since Lady Susan is a genuinely bad influence on everyone, even if Alicia seems to be equally cruel. If Alicia is nursing him, she can’t spend time with her friend. This letter also reveals that Lady Susan has taken some new step forward with Reginald (likely an engagement)—Alicia seems to think that she convinced Lady Susan to do it, but since Lady Susan never listened to her before, it’s likely that her advice was just a convenient excuse to enact a prior plan.
Themes
Letter XXIX. Lady Susan, writing to Alicia, is furious on her friend’s behalf. Alicia shouldn’t have married a man Mr. Johnson’s age: too old to manipulate, “too young to die.” In other news, Lady Susan saw Mr. Manwaring the other night, which confirmed how superior he is to Reginald. For a moment, Lady Susan wasn’t sure if she should marry Reginald at all; this wasn’t logical, but she still isn’t looking forward to the marriage, or to Reginald’s upcoming visit to London.
Lady Susan’s anger about Mr. Johnson, while comical, is also revelatory: she previously spoke at length about her freedom, but now she seems to think that if someone’s husband can be manipulated, it’s a good relationship. This, of course, seems like a justification for her engagement to Reginald (which she confirms here for the first time). But she also seems to be undermining this engagement at every turn, which implies that she’s unhappy she has to marry Reginald at all. Mr. Manwaring might genuinely be superior to him—from what Lady Susan has said before, he seems to be slavishly devoted at the very least—but it’s likelier that Lady Susan is just nervous about being legally dependent on anyone, especially a man with a mind of his own.
Themes
Lady Susan thinks she should delay the marriage until Mr. Manwaring leaves. If Sir Reginald was dead, she’d be certain she’s making the right call, but she doesn’t want to be dependent on the old man. Instead, she wants to convince Reginald to delay the engagement until he dies, and she’ll argue that the delay is proper because she’s recently widowed. Mr. Manwaring, for his part, is clueless about all of this
Lady Susan’s nervousness about Sir Reginald seems to be a kind of cover story. After all, Sir Reginald himself admitted that he couldn’t prevent Reginald from inheriting, and Lady Susan would be dependent on Reginald regardless. Still, if Lady Susan can delay the engagement, she can maintain some semblance of control. Of course, this control would just mean that she’s able to string along both Reginald and Mr. Manwaring at the same time. But for Lady Susan, this would be an assertion of independence—again implying that her independence is actually an illusion, since she’s dependent on men, regardless of her legal ties to them.
Themes
Letter XXX. Lady Susan writes to Reginald: she thinks that they should delay their meeting. She isn’t trying to be cruel or fickle; lately, she’s been thinking that they should be more delicate, since they’ve allowed their passion to move things forward too fast. After all, his family will disapprove of their marriage: Sir Reginald wants him to marry rich—which doesn’t make sense given the family’s wealth, but it’s still fair. Meanwhile, Lady Susan is recently widowed, and while she didn’t love her husband, a hasty remarriage would look bad.
Readers already know that everything Lady Susan writes in this letter is a lie: she has no real passion for Reginald, and she’s the one who decided to manipulate Reginald into a flirtation, then an engagement. The only reason she wants to slow things down now is (allegedly) because she wants Sir Reginald to die before she and Reginald marry. However, it’s significant that Lady Susan can’t quite stick to the plan here. She uses Sir Reginald’s disapproval of their relationship as an excuse for why she and Reginald shouldn’t marry yet, but she insults the De Courcys in the same breath, saying that their disapproval doesn’t make sense—they already have enough money, so they don’t need Reginald to marry rich. Meanwhile, by saying that a hasty remarriage would look bad, Lady Susan implies that she cares more about society’s opinion than about Reginald, which—while technically true—can’t endear Reginald to her. So far in the novella, readers have learned about Lady Susan’s character primarily through her letters to Alicia; she rarely needs to write letters full of lies. In fact, it seems like she isn’t very good at doing so. Clearly, she can’t manipulate quite as effectively from afar, which makes sense, because her letters tend to be where she tells the truth.
Themes
Their sudden marriage would especially upset Charles, whom Lady Susan admires, as well as De Courcys. She would be doubly miserable if she created a rift between Reginald and Sir Reginald. Only her love for Reginald could force Lady Susan to be this selfless; in a few months, Catherine will have calmed down enough to see that Lady Susan’s financial status isn’t everything. For now, Lady Susan will amuse herself by spending time with her friends, Mr. Manwaring and Mrs. Manwaring.
Lady Susan obviously doesn’t admire Charles, but it’s true that she cares about his opinion, since she currently depends on him financially and socially. Lady Susan may insult Charles in her letters to Alicia, but she does need to remain on his good side—which demonstrates, yet again, how dependent her position is. However, if she married Reginald, this would no longer be the case: Lady Susan would trade dependence on one man for dependence on another, something she doesn’t seem to realize. She instead uses her vulnerability as a tool, mentioning her poverty in this letter—because Lady Susan believes that she’s lying, it’s possible that she can’t understand how vulnerable she actually is or how truthful she’s really being. Once again, her lies aren’t effective here: if she was actually worried about causing a rift between Reginald and his family, she wouldn’t have mentioned their financial situation. Lady Susan also seems to be throwing caution to the wind by mentioning the Manwarings. This is a dangerous lie, since it could put Reginald on guard or cause him to be suspicious. Lady Susan’s manipulation isn’t working as effectively as it needs to be, since her lies are more transparent than ever.
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