In Lady Audley's Secret, Braddon portrays the character of Lady Audley as a very complex character. She is shown to be intelligent and manipulative when she supposedly kills her husband George while also manipulating her new one, Michael, for his wealth. However, despite such cruelty, she is also depicted as a vulnerable character who is constantly afraid of being discovered for her misdeeds born of necessity. These two aspects of Lucy Audley add to her intricate personality. Her sensitivity does not redeem her from her sins but creates sympathy in the eyes of the reader and allows her to become a more sympathetic female role. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Lucy Audley did many horrible things within the novel. From the beginning, we begin to understand that she is not truly in love with Michael when we see her response to the proposal. She says, “I love you! For there are women a hundred times superior to me in beauty and goodness who could love you tenderly; but you ask too much of me. You ask too much of me!" (Braddon 15). She clearly shows little love for Michael and thinks that he wants something that she does not want to provide. She only agrees to marriage when Michael presents himself in terms of a "deal", which is exactly what it means for Lucy. “No more dependency, no more toil, no more humiliation” (Braddon 16). She knows that marrying Michael will relieve her of the hardships of poverty and she will be free from the “addiction” and other difficulties she had not caring about money is her motivations. Lucy's lack of wealth seems to be the only likable quality in this scene. “I never saw anything but poverty. My father was a gentleman; intelligent, accomplished, generous, handsome – but poor... Poverty, poverty, trials, vexations, humiliations, deprivations! You, who are among those for whom life is so peaceful and easy, can never imagine what people like us endure.. . I cannot be blind to the advantages of such an alliance” (Braddon 15). Lucy talks about her difficulty living in poverty and that it is difficult for her to refuse the offer, despite not loving him, due to the obvious benefits of obtaining such wealth from him. She even claims before that there were women “superior” to her, which comments on her state of poverty. She feels almost unworthy of these riches and the position that Michael wants to give her and it is clear that she feels almost pushed into this situation by her need for money and Michael's unshared love. This shows that his intentions were not evil when he accepted his proposal, but were dictated by desperation due to poverty. However, years later, she appears to manipulate Michael even further by using his unwavering affection and devotion to her advantage. When Robert Audley announces that he will stay at Audley Court, Lucy convinces him to leave early by convincing Michael. 'It is not that Mr. Audley is a very pleasant young man, and a very honorable young man; but you know, Sir Michael, I am quite a young aunt to such a nephew… Poor is Alicia, she is quite jealous of any attention Mr. Audley pays me” (Braddon 114). She insinuates that Robert is attracted to her and is paying more attention to her than Alicia, which causes Michael to become defensive and ask him to leave. When he returns later and begins accusing Lucy, she returns to Michael and convinces him that Robert is crazy. “A little crazy... But madness is sometimes hereditary... Generally people tend to keep these things secret. There may have been some madness in your sister-in-law's family” (Braddon 243-244). Michael believes everything she tells him and Lucy commentseven that "I can put black in front of him, and if I say it's white, he'll believe me" (Braddon 240). Lucy knows how easy it is to convince Michael when it comes to herself because of how blinded he is by love. She constantly uses this to her advantage, without remorse, and pushes Robert away via Michael whenever he is about to discover his secrets. Despite this callous influence of Lady Audley, these too are done out of necessity. Robert Audley constantly threatens Lucy that she will be exposed. Lucy is under a lot of pressure when Robert is trying to get the truth out of her and his suspicions make Lady Audley nervous. When discussing the "circumstantial evidence" with Lucy at the end of chapter 15, Lucy becomes distraught. He exclaims, “How can you ask such horrible things of a poor little woman?”, and then, shortly after, “Lady Audley had fainted” (Braddon 107). She faints after hearing his suspicions about her and this makes it clear that she is very anxious with Robert pushing her. “Will he stop now that he's come this far? Will he stop for fear of me?... Is there anything that will stop him except death?" (Braddon 253). Lady Audley knows that Robert is overzealous in his investigation of George's disappearance and will stop at nothing to find out the truth. This is why she does everything to persuade Michael because it is the only way to keep him away from her with her constant torment and threats to find out his secret she hates her so much, which shows that Robert is showing very negative feelings towards her. Not only does Robert treat her so harshly, but even Phoebe, his handmaiden, has to marry him but doesn't want to and Lucy tries to bribe him into agreeing . The situation is reversed when he finds out that Luke knows his secret, Luke says: “Fifty pounds is not a lot to start a public company, my lady” (Braddon 98). Lady Audley, who is later revealed to be the truth about George's death, and instead of being like Robert and reporting her, decides to take money from her. «But it is not suitable for your current business. He is almost never sober after dark, and when he is drunk he becomes almost wild and seems not to know what he is doing” (Braddon 258). Luke is constantly drunk and is a terrible businessman in constant threat of losing his inn. Lady Audley must give him money so he can keep his business afloat, otherwise she will reveal his secret. This constant mistreatment from Luke makes Lucy a more sympathetic character because it gives her this feeling of helplessness that the audience can't help but feel sympathy towards. Yet this mistreatment also leads her to commit even more terrible acts. Reacting to Luke's requests for more money, Lucy says, "It would have been a good thing for me if that precious creature, your husband, had been burned in his bed before this evening" (Braddon 259). He later burns down his inn, leaving Luke mortally wounded. Her decision to kill Luke is drastic and is made with little grief following his death. He also decides to set fire to the inn to get rid of Robert. “She stopped and looked at the number on the door... Then a horrible expression came over her face and she turned the key in the lock; he turned it twice, locking the door with a double key” (Braddon 275). He sees Robert's room and decides to lock him in before setting fire to the inn. It tries to kill two birds with one stone and it does so without a shadow of a doubt. After seeing the burning inn in the distance, she is not surprised. The next day, she has a feeling of anxiety, but it's only because she wants to know if Robert is really dead. After finding out he isn't, she is shocked. His only feelings are one of surprise, but there is no guilt in his actions, which highlights the,, 2012.