John Fowles (1926-2005) has successfully attempted a Victorian novel in the second half of the twentieth century. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) portrays the Victorian hypocrisy and double standards in the light of Charles Smithson’s attempts at self-knowledge and evolution through Darwin’s theory of evolution. But the enigmatic Sarah Woodruff, the woman of the title, seems to have attained selfhood before him although she has been portrayed in a negative light . The present critical study of the novel takes into account its milieu and its multiple endings while trying to examine and analyze the text for the benefit of students in our universities. Shakti Batra has been Vice-Principal, Dyal Singh College (University of Delhi). He has also taught at the Kabul University and The International University of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek as well as students from the Tibetan Public Service Commission, Dharamsala, and Kiyushu University, Japan.

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