The French Lieutenant’s Woman: Chapter 39 Summary & Analysis

Though Charles has learned much since he was at Cambridge, he still finds milk punch and champagne as good a solution to his problems as they were there. His club exists on the assumption that men want to be reminded of their student days. When he enters, Charles sees two men he was at Cambridge with; one the son of a bishop, the other a baronet. Sir Thomas Burgh imitates his ancestors’ pursuit of pleasure. He was the leader of a debauched group at Cambridge, and people have tried to kick him out of club. He’s never ashamed of his sins. He’s also very generous with his money and reminds everyone of their freer days.

Sir Tom asks what Charles is doing out of Ernestina’s prison, and Charles jokes that he’s on parole. Sir Tom says Nathaniel, the bishop’s son, is jealous of Charles, and Charles knows it’s because of Ernestina’s money. He usually would have moved on, but tonight he sits down with them. Sir Tom asks after Sir Robert and offers him some hounds descended from a mischievous dog he had at Cambridge. They spend two hours joking and drinking. While Sir Tom and Nathaniel pretend to be drunker than they are, Charles tries to seem sober when he’s actually very drunk. When they head out to take a drive, Charles feels embarrassed, sensing Mr. Freeman’s judgment.

Quite tipsy, Charles is helped into a cab with Sir Tom and Nathaniel. He sees them wink, but doesn’t ask why. He’s glad that nothing seems important, and he almost tells them about Sir Robert’s marriage, but he’s still a gentleman. He asks where they’re going, and Sir Tom says they’re going where lucky men go for a good time. Charles finally comes to understand that they’re going to a brothel. He says this is a good idea, but he thinks he should get out of the carriage. Suddenly he sees Sarah’s face, and he realizes that he needs to sleep with a woman. He looks at Sir Tom and Nathaniel and they all wink at each other.

The carriage heads for the part of Victorian London that everyone seems to forget existed. This area is filled with casinos, cafes, and brothels. They pass famous oyster and potato restaurants, as well as many prostitutes dressed in all sorts of costumes. Their customers, on the other hand, all look the same. Charles enjoys the scene, particularly because it seems so far removed from the Freemans.

Charles and his companions sit with a number of other men in the luscious salon in an alley near the Haymarket. At one end of the room is a stage decorated with nymphs and satyrs making love. A girl is serving champagne, and an older woman assesses the worth of her customers. The things that happen in this house are probably very similar to things that happened in ancient history and in the twentieth century. The narrator recently found a book detailing an eighteenth-century brothel.

The author of this old book writes of his characters entering a brothel. A number of beautiful women strip naked and climb onto a table. A man named Camillo is drawn by a woman’s genitals, which she artfully displays. The women place full glasses of wine on their pubic bones and the men drink them. They go through a number of tricks to raise the men’s lust, and Camillo is initiated into the group with a dirty ritual. He starts to feel disgusted with the women, but the other men insist that they continue. Finally the men want to be allowed to have sex with the women, but the women refuse to ever let that happen. Their refusal makes Camillo lustful again.

This is more or less what happens at the brothel where Charles is, but the girls do indeed have sex with their customers. Charles enjoys the show at first, but as the alcohol wears off, he begins to detect despair in the girls’ faces and to loathe the performance. However, he still feels aroused. He leaves the room, gets his things, and goes into the street. He takes a cab and heads for home. Nonetheless, he still feels like he has failed in some way. When he thinks of Ernestina, it’s as though he’s pulled back into prison. The streets are crowded, and Charles watches the prostitutes as the cab passes them. He feels the need for some release or punishment.

On a quieter street, the cab passes a girl who seems less bold than the other prostitutes. Something about her appearance makes Charles stare, and finally he knocks for the cab to stop. The prostitute appears at the door. Charles realizes that she doesn’t actually look like Sarah, but there’s something vaguely similar in her face. He instructs her to tell the driver where to go, and then she gets into the cab next to Charles.

They’re silent until the prostitute asks whether Charles wants her for the whole night, and he says he does. Later she remarks on the weather, and in response to his question, says she’s been working for almost two years. Charles begins to worry that she might have a disease. He feels foolish for picking up someone so common, but he wants this sort of danger. He asks if he should pay her now, and she says she charges a pound for a normal night. He gives it to her. She assures him that she doesn’t have any diseases.