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The Woman in White (novel)

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For other uses, see The Woman in White (disambiguation).
The Woman in White
Cover of first US edition
LanguageEnglish
GenreEpistolary, Mystery Novel, Sensation novel
PublisherAll the Year Round
Publication date
26 Nov. 1859 - 25 Aug. 1860
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN0-19-283429-0
OCLC41545143
Preceded byThe Dead Secret 
Followed byNo Name 

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of 'sensation novels'.

The story is considered an early example of detective fiction with the hero, Walter Hartright, employing many of the sleuthing techniques of later private detectives. The use of multiple narratives draws on Collins's legal training [1] [2] and as he points out in his Preamble: 'the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness'.

Plot

Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, is walking from Hampstead to London. On this he meets a mysterious woman dressed in white, apparently in deep distress. He helps her on her way to London but later learns that she has escaped from an asylum. The next day he travels north to Limmeridge House, on a commission of being drawing master to residents of the house, previously gained by his devoted friend, an Italian language professor named Pesca. The household comprises Mr Frederick Fairlie, and Walter's students: Laura Fairlie, Mr Fairlie's niece, and Marian Halcombe, her devoted half-sister. Hartright finds that Laura bears an astonishing resemblance to the woman in white, called Anne Catherick. The mentally disadvantaged Anne had lived for a time in Cumberland as a child and was devoted to Laura's mother, who first dressed her in white.

Walter and Laura quickly fall in love. Laura, however, has promised her father that she will marry Sir Percival Glyde, and Marian advises Walter to leave Limmeridge. Anne, after sending a letter to Laura warning her against Glyde, meets Hartright who is convinced that Glyde was responsible for shutting her in the asylum. Laura and Glyde marry in December 1849 and travel to Italy for 6 months. Hartright also leaves England, joining an expedition to Honduras. After their honeymoon, Sir Percival and Lady Glyde return then to his family estate in Hampshire, Blackwater Park. They are accompanied by Glyde's friend, Count Fosco. Marian Halcombe is also living at Blackwater and learns that Glyde is in financial difficulties. Sir Percival unsuccessfully attempts to bully Laura into signing a document which would allow him to use her marriage settlement of £20,000. While Marian is hearing about their plan, it is also raining and then she collapses with a fever which turns to typhus.

While she is ill, Laura is tricked into travelling to London. Her identity and that of Anne Catherick are then switched. Anne Catherick dies of a heart condition and is buried in Cumberland as Laura, while Laura is drugged and placed in the asylum as Anne Catherick. When Marian recovers and visits the asylum hoping to learn something from Anne Catherick, she finds Laura, supposedly suffering from the delusion that she is Lady Glyde.

Marian bribes the nurse and Laura escapes. Hartright has safely returned and the three live together in obscure poverty, determined to restore Laura's identity. After some time Walter discovers Glyde's secret, which was known only to Anne's mother and which Anne only presumed to know: several years earlier, Glyde had forged an entry in the marriage register at Old Welmingham Church to conceal his illegitimacy and hence unlawful inheritance of estate and title. Glyde attempts to destroy the register entry, but the church vestry catches fire and he perishes in the flames. Hartright then discovers that Anne was the illegitimate child of Laura's father, which accounts for their resemblance. On returning to London to resume his battle with Fosco, Hartright marries Laura. When he secretly tails Fosco to investigate about him, Hartright also discovers that Fosco belongs to, and has betrayed, an Italian secret society (dubbed "The Brotherhood"), of which Pesca is a high-ranking member with enough authority to dispatch him. Using Fosco's weakness as bargaining chip, Hartright now has the power to force a written confession from Fosco and Laura's identity is restored. Fosco departs from England in haste, only to be discovered by the Brotherhood's agents some time later and murdered. Hartright and Laura have married and, on the death of Frederick Fairlie, their son becomes the Heir of Limmeridge.

Characters

  • Walter Hartright—A poor young man who earns his living as a drawing master.
  • Frederick Fairlie—A fanciful, selfish invalid, owner of Limmeridge House in Cumberland. Laura's uncle. His irresponsibility in handling matters concerning Laura's welfare as her guardian is one of the key factors that lead to the success of Count Fosco's plan.
  • Laura Fairlie—Mr Fairlie's gentle, pretty niece, an heiress and an orphan.
  • Marian Halcombe—Laura's half-sister and companion, not attractive but intelligent and resourceful. She is described as one "of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction" by John Sutherland.[3]
  • Anne Catherick ("The Woman in White")—A young woman said to be of disordered wits. It's heavily implied that she's an illegitimate daughter of Laura's father.
  • Mrs Catherick—Anne's unsympathetic mother, who is in league with Sir Percival Glyde in committing her daughter to the asylum.
  • Sir Percival Glyde—Laura's fiancé and then husband, he is an unpleasant baronet with a secret. He is able to appear charming and gracious when he wishes, but his true character appears soon after his marriage to Laura. Walter later discovers that his secret is that his inheritance of his title and estate was unlawful because his parents had never married, and to obtain it he forged a false marriage register entry.
  • Count Fosco—Sir Percival's closest friend, his full name is revealed to be Isidor Ottavio Baldassare Fosco. A grossly obese Italian with a mysterious past, he is eccentric, bombastic, urbane, but also unfathomably intelligent and menacing. He takes especial interest in little animals, and keeps many birds and mice as pets. The Count greatly admires Marian for her intellect, so much that he is willing to compromise several weak points in his plan (such as allowing Marian to retrieve Laura from the asylum) for her sake.
  • Countess Fosco—Laura's aunt, once a giddy girl but now humourless, cold and in thrall to her husband and his schemes.
  • Professor Pesca—A teacher of Italian, and a good friend of Hartright. The professor finds Hartright the Limmeridge job, introducing him to Laura and Marian, and proves to be Fosco's unexpected nemesis.

Adaptations

Theatre

Film and television

Literature

  • Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child published the novel Brimstone (2004), featuring a modern re-imagining of the villain Count Fosco.
  • James Wilson, The Dark Clue (2001): a "sequel" to The Woman in White

References

  1. ^ Wilkie Collins (26 November 1887). "How I Write my Books". The Globe.
  2. ^ "Mr Wilkie Collins in Gloucester Place". Number 81 in 'Celebrities at Home' The World. 26 December 1877.
  3. ^ The Woman in White, notes by John Sutherland, ISBN 0-19-283429-0
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