58 pages • 1 hour read
Henry WoodEast Lynne
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1861A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 20-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary: “Going From Home”
Years pass. Isabel and Archibald now have three young children: Isabel Lucy, William, and Archibald. Isabel continues to suffer from ill health, and her doctor recommends that she spend some time at the seashore in France. Isabel is saddened when Cornelia persuades her and Archibald to leave the children in England (Isabel initially wanted to take her children with her). Isabel asks Joyce to promise to take care of them no matter what.
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary: “Francis Levinson”
Isabel and Archibald travel to France. After getting her safely settled, Archibald leaves and Isabel quickly becomes lonely. Almost immediately, she runs into Francis Levinson. Francis has been traveling abroad because he is running low on money, and it is no longer certain whether he will receive the inheritance he hopes for. Francis and Isabel begin spending a lot of time together, and she quickly becomes stronger and more energetic. When Archibald comes back to visit, he is very happy that his wife seems to be recovering. He also has friendly interactions with Francis and offers to help Francis solve some of his financial problems. Although Isabel asks to go home, Archibald encourages her to stay longer.
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary: “Quitting the Danger”
More time passes, and Isabel becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her growing feelings for Francis. One day, Francis admits that he is still in love with her. Isabel reacts with outrage, telling Francis that he is behaving inappropriately. She also writes to her husband, demanding that he come and take her home immediately. When Archibald arrives, he is very confused, and Isabel almost tells him about the tension between her and Francis but hesitates. Isabel is relieved and happy to return to England with her husband, believing that she is leaving temptation behind.
Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary: “The Fractured Ankle”
Back in England, Archibald follows up on his promise to try to help Francis; this ends up requiring that Francis return to England, and Archibald arranges for him to stay at East Lynne. Isabel becomes upset, wondering, “[H]ow could she accomplish her task of forgetting this man, if he was thus to be thrown into her home” (275). Just before Francis arrives, Joyce falls and breaks her ankle. She is confined to her room for weeks (and therefore won’t see Francis during his visit).
Part 2, Chapter 24 Summary: “Mrs. Hare’s Dream”
Mrs. Hare has a dream in which the true murderer of Hallijohn comes to West Lynne; she shares this dream with Barbara. Barbara talks about this dream with Archibald. Later, Barbara runs into Tom Hebert, who is being visited by his friend Captain Thorn (whom Barbara was suspicious of when he previously came to West Lynne years earlier). Barbara wonders if her mother’s dream could be an accurate prediction, and Archibald promises to help her learn more about Captain Thorn.
Part 2, Chapter 25 Summary: “Captain Thorn in Trouble”
Eager to prove that Captain Thorn is the true murderer, Barbara begins meeting often with Archibald, and Isabel (who knows nothing about their project of proving Richard’s innocence) becomes increasingly jealous. Francis can tell that Isabel is suspicious and often goads her by commenting on the closeness between Barbara and Archibald.
One day, Captain Thorn comes to ask legal advice from Archibald, and the latter takes the opportunity to ask more questions about Thorn’s history. Thorn admits that he was involved in a scandal near West Lynne about 10 years earlier but denies knowing anything about Afy: He says that he was having a secret relationship with a married woman. Archibald can’t tell if Thorn is lying.
Part 2, Chapter 26 Summary: “The Secret Scrap of Paper”
Francis stays at East Lynne much longer than expected; he isn’t trying to resolve his financial and legal problems because he wants the excuse to linger. The relationship between Isabel and Cornelia becomes more tense, and Isabel is increasingly unhappy. Meanwhile, Barbara gets word that Richard is going to be coming back to West Lynne and is hopeful that he can confirm whether Captain Thorn is the man who was involved in the murder; she rushes to share this information with Archibald.
Part 2, Chapter 27 Summary: “Richard Hare at Mr. Dill’s Window”
Richard and Barbara meet secretly near the Hare house, and she tells him about the plan for him to confirm Thorn’s identity. The next night, Richard comes to Archibald’s office; Archibald has also summoned Captain Thorn. Richard hides and observes Captain Thorn but afterward confirms that Thorn was not the man who was involved with Afy. Richard and Archibald go to see Barbara, who is very disappointed that her brother must remain a fugitive. Francis and Isabel are passing nearby as Archibald comforts Barbara in the moonlit garden, and Francis points them out, encouraging Isabel to believe that her husband is secretly meeting with another woman. Francis then cajoles Isabel that, if her husband is not faithful to her, she has no reason to be faithful to him.
Part 2, Chapter 28 Summary: “Never to Be Redeemed”
Richard leaves his sister, but a short time later, he returns to the Hare household, where Barbara is now alone (Archibald has gone back to East Lynne). Richard reports that he has seen “Thorn” (the man who was present on the night of Hallijohn’s murder). Richard and Barbara catch up to Archibald and tell him what Richard has seen. Archibald is confused about the identity of the man whom Richard knows as Thorn. He suggests that Richard stay in the neighborhood for a few days to see if he encounters the man again, and everyone parts ways.
Back at East Lynne, Archibald wakes up in the middle of the night to find that Isabel is not in bed. He gets up to look for her, waking up Cornelia in the process. They go to question Joyce, who reports that Isabel came to see her a few hours earlier and made Joyce promise to look after the children. Joyce becomes convinced that Isabel has died by suicide and loudly laments that Cornelia is to blame for making Isabel unhappy. For the first time, Archibald begins to understand how unhappy his wife has been. A short time later, he finds a note in which Isabel explains that she has run away; as more and more servants wake up, gossip quickly spreads that Isabel has abandoned her husband and children and run away with Francis.
Part 2, Chapters 20-28 Analysis
Numerous plot details mitigate what Victorian readers would have seen as the moral gravity of Isabel’s adultery. When Isabel reencounters Francis, she is physically and emotionally vulnerable; she is alone, in a foreign place, experiencing ill health, and insecure about her marriage. The encounter is coincidental, establishing that Isabel in no way pursued a potential lover; moreover, she valiantly tries to resist her undeniable attraction. She makes every effort to get away from Francis and the temptation he exemplifies, with the narrator noting, “[S]he would have given half the years of her future life to separate herself at once and for ever from the man” (261). This context in the lead-up to Isabel’s eventual lapse positions her as an essentially good woman who makes one fatal mistake and also as someone who is deliberately manipulated and led astray.
While Isabel is repulsed by the attraction she feels toward Francis, that attraction is also clearly evident. The change in Isabel’s physical health symbolizes the rejuvenation and awakening of desire after she begins spending time with Francis. In a moment of dramatic irony, Archibald comments with pleasure, “I say a miracle must have been wrought, to bring back your bloom” (259). He is completely unaware that his wife is thriving because another man is wooing her and is merely pleased to see Isabel displaying better health. That Isabel did not similarly flourish in her marriage to Archibald tacitly points to the lack of sexual and romantic passion in their relationship (at least on Isabel’s side).
In a further instance of irony, Archibald’s ignorance leads him to contribute indirectly to the collapse of his marriage by inviting Francis into his home. Despite his intention of manipulating, lying to, and ultimately seducing Isabel, Francis is allowed to penetrate the domestic space that should be a sanctuary for Isabel but that has in practice been anything but. His arrival thus exposes the tensions that already exist within the Carlyle household, which he himself then plays on. Francis shows an astute understanding of psychology, skillfully exploiting Isabel’s jealousy to persuade her that she is justified in abandoning her husband. On the night that Isabel runs away with him, Francis convinces her that Barbara and Archibald are in love, exemplifying the theme of Jealousy Leading to Irrational Decisions. Since “a jealous woman is mad” (322), Isabel makes a reckless and regrettable choice under the influence of passionate but misguided anger.
The significance of this choice for Victorian readers can hardly be overestimated. When her absence is first discovered, Joyce thinks that Isabel has died by suicide, which symbolizes how socially self-destructive the act of eloping with another man was. With obvious evidence of Isabel’s adultery, Archibald would be entitled to pursue divorce and would retain complete control of their children. The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 made divorce significantly easier to obtain in Great Britain and contributed to widespread worry that the sanctity of marriage as a social and religious institution was being undermined. The traditional understanding (bolstered by Christian theology) was that marriage only ended with the death of a spouse. The exploration of adultery and bigamy in many sensation novels published after the new legislation took effect reflects an interest in marriage’s complexity once divorce left both parties able to remarry.
The social stigma associated with Isabel’s action is immediately evident when Archibald changes the name of their daughter and decrees that she will go by her middle name (Lucy). At this time, personality traits and even moral tendencies were often viewed as hereditable and particularly transmissible between mother and daughter. Even though Lucy is a young child when Isabel elopes, she immediately becomes suspect as potentially sexually “deviant” herself. The change of name serves as an attempt to eradicate Isabel’s connection and relation to her children—particularly her daughter.
Alongside Francis’s manipulative behavior, there is increasing evidence of his being involved in the murder. Joyce’s injury just before he arrives at East Lynne ensures she does not have close contact with Francis, whom she otherwise might identify as the man who once courted Afy. The red herring (a false or misleading clue) of Captain Thorn also causes distraction and confusion in the case until Richard finally confirms that he was not the man who was wooing Afy. While the characters become more confused than ever, enmeshed in False Perceptions of Innocence and Guilt, the novel gives readers enough information to piece together that Francis is not merely a rake bent on seducing Isabel but also a murderer. This context heightens suspense and makes it clear that only misery lies ahead for Isabel.
