# Mademoiselle La Rue — Charlotte Temple character guide > Mademoiselle La Rue in Charlotte Temple by Susanna Haswell Rowson. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** La Rue, Mademoiselle **First appearance:** 0003-volume-i-i-a-boarding-school ## Snapshot 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. ## Who they are 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. ## Relationships ### [Charlotte Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/charlotte_temple) _psychological_ La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship. ### [Belcour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/belcour) _psychological_ Co-conspirators in manipulation, with La Rue and Belcour working together to exploit Charlotte for their own gain. ### [Montraville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/montraville) _psychological_ La Rue acts as an intermediary and enabler, helping Montraville access Charlotte while pursuing her own selfish interests. ### [Charlotte Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/charlotte_temple) _psychological_ La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship. ### [Charlotte Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/charlotte_temple) _psychological_ La Rue acts as a corrupting influence and false friend, luring Charlotte into danger under the guise of companionship. ### [Montraville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/montraville) _psychological_ La Rue acts as an intermediary and enabler, helping Montraville access Charlotte while pursuing her own selfish interests. ## In the story ### [Charlotte Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/charlotte-temple) The accomplice who arranges a meeting between Charlotte and Montraville, facilitating the seduction. ### [I: A Boarding School](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-vi-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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!”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xiii-cruel-disappointment) Also missing; implicated as the instigator of Charlotte's elopement. ### [XV: Embarkation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xv-embarkation) Assists Montraville in supporting Charlotte during the ride to Portsmouth. ### [XVI: Necessary Digression](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xvi-necessary-digression) Designing and artful, she abandons Belcour and successfully manipulates Colonel Crayton into promising marriage, feigning remorse for her past. ### [A Wedding](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-i-xvii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxi-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/chapters/volume-ii-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. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters/mademoiselle_la_rue - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/charlotte_temple_se/characters