# Mrs. Crayton — Charlotte Temple character guide

> Mrs. Crayton in Charlotte Temple by Susanna Haswell Rowson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Crayton, the fortunate Mrs. Crayton, the unfeeling Mrs. Crayton

**First appearance:** 0022-volume-ii-xx-virtue-when-most-amiable

## Snapshot

Once Mademoiselle La Rue, now a colonel's wife, she trades seduction for respectability and hardens her heart against the girl she ruined.

## Who they are

Having schemed her way from French teacher to Colonel Crayton's bride, Mrs. Crayton enjoys wealth and position while her husband's affection blinds him to her temper and artifice. She embodies the novel's warning that vice can prosper—at least for a season—and her refusal to shelter Charlotte is the cruelty that sets the heroine adrift. Her presence sharpens the contrast between polished reputation and genuine virtue that runs through the whole book.

## In the story

### [A Wedding](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xvii-a-wedding)

Colonel Crayton announces his marriage to La Rue, believing her to be a worthy woman, and warns others not to speak ill of her.

### [XXVIII: A Trifling Retrospect](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxviii-a-trifling-retrospect)

The unfeeling Mrs. Crayton is shown leading a life of pleasure and dissipation, with a favorite named Corydon, and mocking Charlotte's situation.

### [XXX: “Friendship a Name”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxx-friendship-a-name)

Charlotte addresses her letter to Mrs. Crayton, hoping for relief and shelter.

### [Subject Continued](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxi-subject-continued)

Mrs. Crayton refuses to acknowledge Charlotte, dismisses her as a beggar, and orders her removed from the house despite her pleas.

### [Reasons Why and Wherefore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxii-reasons-why-and-wherefore)

Refuses to acknowledge Charlotte out of fear that her past complicity in the elopement will be revealed to Colonel Crayton, exposing her own hypocrisy and vice.

### [XXXIII: Which People Void of Feeling Need Not Read](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxiii-which-people-void-of-feeling-need-not-read)

Mentioned as the one who turned Charlotte away, contributing to her suffering.

### [Retribution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxiv-retribution)

Referenced as the one who refused to take Charlotte in when she was wet and cold in the streets.

### [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxv-conclusion)

Appears as a destitute and repentant figure, confessing her role in Charlotte's downfall before dying in an hospital.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/crayton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters