How we cite our quotes: Volume.Part.Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #10
There have been wicked women, before her time, Lizzie, who have used honest men who loved them as means of saving their characters. (3.1.7.29)
Oh, that Jane Catherick. So awful. We love this little blast from the past as Mrs. Clements recounts a conversation with her husband. Hearing her referred to as "Lizzie" adds a new dimension to her character.
Quote #11
Where in the history of the world, has a man of my order ever been found without a woman in the background, self-immolated on the altar of his life? But, I remember that I am writing in England; I remember that I was married in England—and I ask, if a woman's marriage obligations, in this country, provide for her private opinion of her husband's principles? (3.2.1.53)
Fosco of all people probably delivers the most damning indictment of marriage as a social institution in England. He bluntly (and with fabulous diction) recognizes the terrible position women have as wives, while bragging about how awesome he is and how he totally controls his wife. It's a passage that's pure Fosco: complicated, over-the-top, and (yup) kind of thoughtful.