For a few moments in class, we touched on whether readers are to consider Lady Audley the protagonist because it is her name, alone, that shows up in the title. As the book progresses, however, more and more signs point to our lymphatic friend, Robert, being the true protagonist. So, why throw us off with the title? I would think two main reasons, both directly related to the tradition of sensation novels. One, it emphasizes the secret rather than the solving and in turn, the oddity that is a person in a “Lady” position even having secrets or a hidden identity. (The upper class was often assumed to have a better nature than the lower class). The more mysterious and unexpected the premise, the better the sensation novel. And two, it allowed readers to follow the events with an open perspective. Had this book been titled “Robert’s Zany Adventures” or “Robert Audley: Amateur Detective,” reader’s initial focus would have been on Robert instead of the nuances of Lady Audley’s behavior which later help us solve the mystery alongside Robert.
That being said, though the attention should be on Lady Audley, I think readers are meant to root for Robert. Lady Audley certainly does not make herself out to be a sympathetic character. From her reducing the hope of Sir Michael to a mere corpse in the very first chapter to her distasteful treatment of Phoebe to her very character (!) shown to be manipulative and calculated, the Lucy we know, we do not like. So, we are that much more eager to understand the Lucy we do not know, with the help of our amateur detective, of course.