Charlotte Temple · Character

Mademoiselle La Rue

A French teacher at Charlotte's boarding school who trades her pupil's innocence for her own escape, smuggling love letters and arranging clandestine meetings.

supporting

Also known as La Rue, Mademoiselle

First appearance: I: A Boarding School

As a supporting figure in Charlotte Temple, Mademoiselle La Rue is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The accomplice who arranges a meeting between Charlotte and Montraville, facilitating the seduction.

In the storyCharlotte TempleOpen this moment free

La Rue presents herself as a refined governess, but her past and her appetites make her a dangerous guardian for impressionable girls. She encourages Charlotte's correspondence with Montraville less from kindness than from a desire to serve her own romantic schemes. Her influence in the novel's early chapters turns a girlish crush into a ruinous elopement, making her the quiet architect of Charlotte's fall.

See Mademoiselle La Rue in Charlotte Temple Book page

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Character Web

13 connections

A slice of how Mademoiselle La Rue sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Psychological
Other

Character groups

Main characters and antagonists
Supporting and minor characters
Protagonist

+8 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the dramatic climax because Montraville reaches an emotional and psychological peak of internal confli…

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Relationships

Charlotte Temple
psychological · negative
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger… How this plays out →
Belcour
psychological · negative
Montraville
psychological · negative
Charlotte Temple
psychological · negative
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger… How this plays out →
Charlotte Temple
psychological · negative
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger… How this plays out →
Montraville
psychological · negative

Charlotte Temple
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship.
Belcour
Co-conspirators in manipulation, with La Rue and Belcour working together to exploit Charlotte for their own gain.
Montraville
La Rue acts as an intermediary and enabler, helping Montraville access Charlotte while pursuing her own selfish interests.
Charlotte Temple
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship.
Charlotte Temple
La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship.
Montraville
La Rue acts as an intermediary and enabler, helping Montraville access Charlotte while pursuing her own selfish interests.

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

See Mademoiselle La Rue in I: A Boarding School

In the story

Mademoiselle La Rue appears across 15 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Charlotte Temple
The accomplice who arranges a meeting between Charlotte and Montraville, facilitating the seduction.
I: A Boarding School
A French teacher at the school who accepts a bribe to help Montraville arrange a meeting with Charlotte.
An Intriguing Teacher
The intriguing teacher who orchestrates the meeting with Montraville, using her charm and influence over Charlotte despite her own immoral history.
VII: Natural Sense of Propriety Inherent in the Female Bosom
La Rue manipulates Charlotte's guilt and curiosity, using feigned tears and emotional appeals to overcome Charlotte's scruples and arrange a clandestine correspondence with Montraville.
IX: We Know Not What a Day May Bring Forth
Accompanies Charlotte to the meeting and is entertained by Belcour, complicit in the deception.
X: When We Have Excited Curiosity, It Is but an Act of Good Nature to Gratify It
Provides information about Charlotte's likely dowry and Mr. Temple's probable disapproval.
XI: Conflict of Love and Duty
Encourages Charlotte to elope, dismissing her moral qualms and offering herself as an example.
XII: “How Thou Art Fall’n!”
Acts as a tempter, using rhetoric to undermine Charlotte's resolve and ensure the elopement proceeds, while secretly preparing to leave herself.
XIII: Cruel Disappointment
Also missing; implicated as the instigator of Charlotte's elopement.
XV: Embarkation
Assists Montraville in supporting Charlotte during the ride to Portsmouth.
XVI: Necessary Digression
Designing and artful, she abandons Belcour and successfully manipulates Colonel Crayton into promising marriage, feigning remorse for her past.
A Wedding
La Rue is set to marry Colonel Crayton, having deceived him about her past, and she looks down on Charlotte despite being more culpable.
Another's Woe
Mentioned as the woman who played a large role in Charlotte's seduction and is now the wife of Mrs. Beauchamp's father.
XXII: Sorrows of the Heart
Referred to by Charlotte as the female friend who, under the mask of friendship, urged her to elope.
XXVIII: A Trifling Retrospect
Now Mrs. Crayton, she is depicted as a successful but unfeeling woman who triumphs through art and hypocrisy, yet is destined for a bitter fall.

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Mademoiselle La Rue unlock in the free preview.

See Mademoiselle La Rue in I: A Boarding School

See Mademoiselle La Rue in Charlotte Temple