The Wedding Night (Sophie Kinsella)

analyzed by Marissa Frosch

1. What is the genre?

Global—Love Story > Courtship

Secondary—Worldview > Maturation

2. What are the conventions and obligatory scenes for the genre?

Conventions

Triangle: There are two distinct love triangles in this story. Lottie-Richard-Ben being the main one and Fliss-Lorcan-Daniel. The story has strong plots for Fliss and Lottie but Lottie is the one that comes full circle, Fliss’s story ends on the potential for new love and with a love interest.

1. Lottie is in love with Richard when she thinks he’s going to propose and he doesn’t she breaks it off. She’s heart broken when Ben shows up (a fling from her gap year in Greece 15 years ago) and proposes. She agrees and the day they get married Richard returns and hears the news from Fliss (Lottie’s older sister).
   
2. Fliss is in the middle of devastating divorce from Deniel when Lottie tells her Richard didn’t propose she braces herself for one of Lottie’s Unfortunate Choices (in the past after break ups she’s pierced things, gotten tattoos, and joined cults.) She meets Lorcan a divorced man himself and Ben’s best man. They both want to stop the wedding and they bond over it. After stopping the wedding (or so they think) they have a one-night stand. But Daniel is still getting the way because Fliss hasn’t truly dealt with the loss of her family. Daniel is in the story very little. Only actually appearing in one scene and being on the phone in another.

Helpers and Harmers.

1. Fliss is for Lottie and Richard while being against Lottie and Ben.
2. Lottie is against Lorcan and Fliss because Ben gave her a very biased account of who Lorcan is.
3. Lorcan starts out against Lottie and Ben and then defends them later when he finds out Fliss has been sabotaging them.

Gender Divide. Fliss is the pursuer in her and Lorcan’s relationship. While Ben pursues Lottie, she actually ends up proposing to Richard. But Richard also followed her more than half way around the world to apologize and tell her how he felt.  

External Need:

1. Lottie’s external need is to move on from the dating part of her life into the marriage and family part. She thinks she needs this and when Richard and her break up instead of getting engaged, the thought of starting over sends her over the edge.
   
2. Ben is looking to escape his responsibilities and return to the year he met Lottie. When he was eighteen and carefree in Greece.
   
3. Richard realizes Lottie is in fact what he needs and travels half way around the world (and then some) to get her. Only to realize her happiness is the most important thing.
   
4. Fliss is also driven by Lottie’s happiness. Her fear that Lottie is making a huge mistake drives her to take some extreme actions. (Including calling a friend at the hotel where her sister plans to honeymoon and having him sabotage their wedding night so they cannot consummate the union)
   
5. Lorcan is trying to get Ben to focus on his business. He’s flying to Greece to get him to sign restructuring paperwork.

Opposing Forces: Lottie is constantly thinking about and comparing Richard and Ben. Despite her best efforts she can’t help but lean towards Richard even as she believes it’s over between them.

1. Ben believes Lottie is the one who tended him while he had the flu 15 years ago. As soon as he finds out it was the other fling he had that summer, he’s no longer invested in the marriage.  
   
2. Fliss is the biggest opposing force to Lottie and Ben’s marriage as she sabotages it throughout the book.

Secrets:

1. Lottie-Lies to Fliss throughout the novel when it comes to her happiness. She’d rather suffer in a bad marriage then admit she made a mistake to her sister.
   
2. Fliss- Takes the cake. As soon as she finds out where Ben and Lottie are honeymooning she calls Nico (one of the managers at the hotel and sets up one issue after another). Fliss also keeps everything Richard is doing to herself. Including his efforts to get to Greece, while keeping Richard appraised of Lottie’s every move.
   
3. Ben doesn’t tell Lottie he had a relationship with another woman the week before she got to Greece in her gap year or that he’s floundering in business.

Rituals:

1. The rituals in this book are usually from Lottie’s point of view as she remembers things Richard would do for her as she’s comparing him to Ben. Like Lottie has a peanut allergy and Richard was very good about checking labels while Ben smothered her in oil that contained peanut oil and she ended up with a painful rash.
   
2. Lorcan and Fliss are much like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. They dislike each other from the start and have verbal sparring matches. As the story progresses sparring turns into teasing and flirting.

Moral Weight:

1. Lottie’s moral failing is the belief that she needs to get married now. And marriage with anyone will do. As soon as she overcomes this she can’t get Richard out of her head and is able to realize marriage with the right person is more important.
   
2. Fliss’s moral weight is letting go of her ex husband and letting her bitterness fade so she can be happy on her own and has the potential to let Lorcan in. 

Obligatory Scenes

Lovers Meet.

1. Lottie and Richard- Meet off screen before the start of the novel. (Lottie and Richard have a commitment story)
   
2. Lottie and Ben- Met in Greece 15 years ago. Ben calls her after her and Richard break up and he proposes in a restaurant.
   
3. Fliss and Lorcan- They meet after Fliss talks Lottie into postponing the wedding. She bumps into him on his way to the ceremony and tells him the wedding is postponed they decided to get a drink together. (Fliss and Lorcan have a courtship kind of but while things get romantic, they are also the strongest worldview maturation)

First Kiss or Intimate Connection:

1. Lottie and Ben- Kiss at the restaurant when he proposes but they lack a true intimate connection. Our first hint that Ben will not in fact be the hero of this tale.
   
2. Fliss and Lorcan- Have a one night stand the day they meet but their true intimate connection comes later when Fliss has a breakdown and he helps her find a private place (a steam room) and then lets her cry on his shoulder. And again when she shows him the error of his ways and his own unfortunate choices.

Confession of Love.

1. Lottie and Richard- When he shows up in Greece and proves his love to Lottie and she asks why he went through all the trouble.
   
2. Lottie and Ben- While both Ben and Lottie say they’ve loved each other for the last 15 years before, neither of them truly mean it. But the scene where they talk about it is that first scene that Ben asks her to Marry him right in the beginning.
   
3. Fliss and Lorcan- They don’t have a confession of love, but the ending hints towards it in the near future. Fliss confesses to the reader she “Doesn’t just fancy him, she likes him.” and Lorcan talks about moving to London where Fliss lives

Lovers Break Up:

1. Richard and Lottie- This is the inciting incident of the novel. Lottie thinks Richard is going to propose but he asks her about how to spend his airline miles instead. She ends the relationship.
   
2. Lottie and Ben- Richard shows up while Ben and Lottie are on stage in front of all the couples on honeymoon accepting a “Happiest Couples trophy” when Richard appears to prove his love.
   
3. Fliss and Lorcan- When Lorcan finds out Fliss is sabotaging Ben and Lottie’s honeymoon. Lorcan and Fliss are about to get it on again in her hotel room (on their way to Greece) and after a glass of particularly strong wine she confesses the whole plot to him. He’s shocked and calls on her crazy. She’s not pleased.  

Proof of Love:

1. Richard and Lottie- Lottie has a story she tells through out the novel about a fire when she was on her gap year in Greece. She kept a level head and got everyone to safety. She was defined by this moment and thought of it as who she is. While revisiting the site with Ben, she finds out the fire was started by scented candles and believes she started the fire. This shakes her to her core. Ben essentially tells her to get over it. Richard finds out from Fliss while they are still trying to get to Greece, when he arrives he decides to investigate and discovers that the candles that caused the blaze were in someone else’s room. He finds Lottie and wishes her all the happiness in the world in her new marriage (believing she’s happy with Ben) and tells her what he discovered about the fire. Lottie proves her love later by proposing to Richard on the beach (he says yes).
   
2. Lottie and Ben- FAIL Ben has multiple opportunities to prove his love and does not. Lottie also struggles to even convince herself she’s truly in love with Ben.
   
3. Fliss and Lorcan- Are just starting on their relationship but both step up to help each other and challenge each other to leave their comfort zones. The scene that says the most to me for Lorcan loving Fliss is at the end when he finds her and her son on the beach to tell her she challenged him and no one has ever done that before. He then resigns from his job (his own unfortunate choice after a divorce). For Fliss it’s more an internal realization that she doesn’t just want Lorcan to be a one-night stand.

Lovers Reunite:

1. Lottie and Richard- They are technically back together when she literally leaps off the stage into Richards arms after he tells her about the fire but they are on their way to marriage after she proposes on the beach in front of Lorcan, Fliss, and Noah (Fliss’s child)
   
2. Lottie and Ben- Don’t. Their courtship was a mistake.
   
3. Lorcan and Fliss- They get back together the morning after she tells him about her plot to keep Ben and Lottie out of bed when she has a break down and he helps her through it (in the steam room).

3. What is the point of view?

Kinsella used first person alternating between the two sisters with the chapters as well as text messages to tie the two timelines together.

4. What are the objects of desire?

External/Conscious—Lottie’s external object of desire is to be married. For Fliss it’s to stop her sister from having to get divorced with a child on the way (there’s talk of a honeymoon baby).

Internal/Sub-Conscious— Lottie’s internal need is a marriage to the right man,. Fliss’s internal need is to let go of the idea of marriage she once had and accept her new life for what it is can still be.

5. What is the controlling idea / theme?

When you’re heart broken, you can make some pretty big mistakes (unfortunate choices like marrying an old flame before you’ve gotten to know them again, inserting yourself into a company you don’t own, and sabotaging your sisters honeymoon.)

6. What is the beginning hook, middle build and ending payoff?

Beginning Hook: Richard breaks Lottie’s heart and she agrees to marry Ben in a cloud of heartbreak and raw emotions.

Middle Build: Fliss sabotages the honeymoon believing that if the marriage isn’t consummated, her sister will be able to annul the marriage and a possible life destroying decision.

Ending Payoff: Ben and Lottie decided to end the marriage, Richard shows up to save the day, and Fliss helps Lorcan realize his own unfortunate choices.

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