“I was not wicked when I was young,” she thought, as she stared gloomily at the fire, “I was only thoughtless. I never did any harm- at least, never willfully. Have I ever been really wicked, I wonder?” mused. “My worst wickedness have been the result of wild impulses, and not of deeply-laid plots. I am not like the women I have read of, who have lain night after night in the horrible dark and stillness, planning out treacherous deeds, and arranging every circumstance of an appointed crime. I wonder whether they suffered- those women- whether they ever suffered as-” (253)
This passage contains Lady Audley’s thoughts after Robert Audley has visited, and she has tried to convince Michael Audley that Robert is crazy. It gives the reader a chance to see what Lady Audley is thinking, and to question her sanity. The bursts of thought seem to be quick, as she switches from one to the other. The more Lady Audley emphasizes a thought, the more she would be able to remember her actions of the past which she does not want to do. The passage uses words such as not, only, and worst to convince Lady Audley that she is mentally stable and not as bad as she knows she is deep down. The word “willfully” is used, which emphasizes the fact that Lady Audley’s acts such as bigamy and attempted murder are not her conscious decisions. She uses the comparison between herself and the “women she has read of” however she has really been like those women in her past. The word wicked is italicized. To be wicked is to be morally wrong, which Lady Audley most definitely is. The entire passage is attempting to prove that she is not wicked, but in doing so is proving that she truly is. The language used is abrupt; the passage uses small words as she has so much going through her head. The stuttering at the end of the passage after the word “suffer” emphasizes the importance of how Lady Audley has suffered or has made others suffer, and how it has deeply affected her. The passage gives the reader an accurate depiction of Lady Audley as she deteriorates mentally.
there are some nice details in here (the bursts of thought, the small words). but the prose is pretty choppy, and lacking in transitions from sentence to sentence. a more overt point-of-view would help – for instance, be more emphatic about how the structure of LA’s interior monologue undercuts its content.