“Look at marriages! Who is to say which shall be the one judicious selection out of the nine hundred and ninety-nine mistakes? Who shall decide from the first aspect of the slimy creature, which is to be the one eel out of the colossal bag of snakes?” (page 205)
This short passage, upon a deeper examination, is uniquely illuminating regarding the role of marriage in the novel. In a novel rife with references to bigamy and implications about Lady Audley’s honesty and sexuality, the passage poses yet another question about the role marriage played in Victorian society. Marriage was tied to standing at the time, but Robert points out that, when considered in a certain light, marriage as an institution is really quite ridiculous. Its very existence is predicated on the notion that a successful pairing can be found on such ludicrous grounds as the sheer luck needed to pick the right one out of nine hundred and ninety-nine.
Additionally, as we discussed in class today, prominent individuals of the time bemoaned the “gumming up” of the marriage market and even suggested the “surplus” amount of women be exported to other countries. If there really were that many potential spouses, and they were living in a rigidly constructed society that did its best to inhibit mobility and force matches of convenience, the odds of any couple truly working in any meaningful way were very slim.
This understanding of marriage then, when combined with the logical consequences of the Victorian contradiction that we discussed in class, allows for Lady Audley’s character to take on insidious undertones. Society at that time was obsessed with the face and first appearances, and on that count Lady Audley’s supposedly stunning looks would serve her well, a fact that ties in nicely with Robert’s observation of marriage being influenced by the “first aspect.” It also puts forth Lady Audley, and her marriage, as a perfect representation of the idyllic public facade that Victorian society sought to promote. At the same time, the institution of marriage, or at the very least the desecration of it, can be seen as the root of the novel’s intrigue. After all, the disappearance and potential murder of George Talboys is strongly suggested to be the work of Lady Audley. If this is the case, her marriage to Robert’s uncle and Robert’s friendship with George put Mr. Talboys in danger, leaving us to wonder if Lady Audley really is nothing more than one of the “colossal bag of snakes.” In any case, she certainly seems to be a “slimy creature.”
I agree with Mycroft’s ideas, and they incorporate our in-class discussion quite well. In this comment post, I will add another reason why Lady Audley is quite the “slimy person.” Before I go any further, when someone says “that person is a ‘slimy person'” I imagine someone who is devious and underhanded. Through this lens, I will bring up some evidence that Lady Audley is a treacherous individual. Through Robert Audley’s sleuthing skills, he has finally come to the conclusion that Lady Audley is, in fact, Helen Talboys. In Chapter XI of Volume II, Robert is confronting Lady Audley and states that there has been “a conspiracy concocted by an artful woman, who speculated upon the chances of her husband’s death… had secured a splendid position at the risk of committing a crime… it was the treacherous dagger-thrust of an infamous assassin” that killed George(266). In fact, the entire paragraph that this quote is a culmination of Robert’s efforts to figure out the fate of George. In addition to this, as put by Robert Audley on page 254, Lady Audley is “an arch trickster… an all-accomplished deceiver.” This fully reaffirms my ideas of what a “slimy creature” is, a devious, underhanded individual who is willing to do anything for their own gain. I feel like the analogy of Lady Audley being a “slimy creature” is true through the perspective that I bring up, and through Mycroft’s lens.
This is not an additional blog post, but an add on to my original post (as seen above).
Lady Audley’s nefarious intentions become even more evident through the reading, and even downright (not directly) threatens Robert Audley by stating “but perhaps the time may come in which you will have cause to be afraid of me” (288). Alongside this, in the next chapter, she declares that “if he stood before me now… I would kill him”(302). This further emphasizes the idea of Lady Audley being a “slimy person” and pushes her nefarious character into one that is an individual who is truely willing to do anything for their own selfish gains.