“I must say I think the ‘Woman in White’ a marvel [of] workmanship. I found it bear a second reading very well, and indeed it was having it thrown my way for a second time which attracted so strongly my technical admiration” (Coghill 186).
That is very high praise indeed.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of the first mystery novels. It features a young painter, Walter Hartright, who falls in love with a rich student, Laura Fairlie, but they cannot marry partially because of his station and partially because her father has already promised her hand to another man. One of the characters, Anne Catherick, looks so much like Laura that when Laura marries Percival Glyde and he decides he wants her fortune for himself but is unable to kill her without suspicion so he uses Anne’s death to fake his wife’s death, tucking his wife in the insane asylum. Her sister, Marian, discovers the switch and helps Laura escape. Walter believes she died only for a short time before he is also brought in to help the two sisters.
Intrigue ensues.
After Sir Percival dies in a fire he set trying to cover up the circumstances of his birth, Walter marries Laura while still undercover. Once Fosco (who turns out to be a traitorous member of a secret society) has been dealt with Walter, Laura, and Marian return to reclaim Laura’s inheritance by proving her death was faked.
It was very engaging.
As I was reading The Woman in White last year I could not help but see some remarkable similarities to another Victorian novel: Lady Audley’s Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. In both novels there is a mystery, heinous crime, insanity, mistaken identities, faked deaths, and a marriage for money. Both of the novels were engaging, mysterious, and thought provoking. And yet, the critics in Victorian times had a clear preference for The Woman in White. For the next few posts I want to explore some of the reasons critics may have had for praising The Woman in White while disparaging Lady Audley’s Secret. Because this discrepancy is likely caused by differences between the two novels I will be taking a closer look at some of those differences.
But first, a summary!
In Lady Audley’s Secret a young and beautiful woman, Lady Audley, marries an older rich gentleman, Michael Audley. She marries him for money because her first husband left to get his fortune without warning and she hasn't heard from him since. She has a son which her current husband is unaware of. When her first husband, George Talboys, sends word ahead that he has made his fortune and is coming home she fakes her death, with her father’s help, just in time for his arrival.
When George comes to her home to visit with his friend, Robert, he disappears and we spend the majority of the novel believing he was murdered by Lady Audley. She also believes for the majority of the novel that she killed George. She eventually tries to kill Robert as well by burning down an inn that her former maid owns, but instead she successfully kills her maid’s husband. In the end she pleads insanity and supposedly dies in the asylum where she is treated very well. Oh! And George was only was injured when Lady Audley pushed him down the well and he left the country after he climbed out of the well.
And now, onto the main event!
No comments:
Post a Comment