Listen to the first few minutes of the NPR interview with Jeremy Irons. He comments on the 'film within a film' aspect of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" saying that the idea of actors falling in love with each other while playing a love story is very common because the lines between the story and reality are blurred. Do you think this sort of blurring of reality occurs in the Undercliff between Charles and Sarah? Is Charles able to sustain his obsession with Sarah after she flees from him because he willfully removes himself from society?
In her discussion of "Persuasion", Alice Furlaud claims that the savage social moments in Austen's work make up for the absence of discussion about the Napoleonic Wars. Did you notice any of these savage moments in"Persuasion"? Is Louisa's fall from the Cobb (and Captain Wentworth's favor) savage?
Later in the discussion, Furlaud likens Anne to a Victorian heroine because she is so meek. However, Anne and Frederick Wentworth have the happiest ending of all of Austen's couples. Is Anne's 'meekness' to blame for their happiness? Why are Wentworth and Anne so compatable, even after 8 years apart?