Women are basically Insane.

”You have conquered—a MAD WOMAN!”
“A mad woman!” cried Mr. Audley
“Yes, a mad woman. When you say that I killed George Talboys you say the truth. When you say that I murdered him treacherously and foully, you lie. I killed him because I AM MAD! Because my intellect is a little way upon the wrong side of that narrow boundary-line between sanity and insanity; because, when George Talboys goaded me, as you have goaded me, and reproached me, and threatened me, my mind, never properly balanced, utterly lost its balance, and I was mad!”
This passage is interesting and reveals several different things about the novel and Lady Audley herself. The first thing that struck me was that in the chapter titled “In the Lime Walk” there is a passage where Robert speaks about a conspiracy, Lady Audley cried “a conspiracy” and George launches into a long rant about what the conspiracy is. This passage has the same structure, although with the roles of Robert and Lady Audley reversed. When accused straight out, Lady Audley almost takes the place of a man in her outspokenness. This makes readers draw parallels between Robert and Lady Audley. Is Robert just as mad as Lady Audley in his obsession with George? The way Lady Audley presents her confession is also interesting. While the explanation of her madness might be an exciting twist for the readers, there appears to be more in it. She does not seem crazy when she speaks, but rather seems to be trying to convince Robert that she is justified in her actions. Perhaps because of the time period, she could not come out and say she was doing what is justified and accepted for any man to do, but when a woman does the same thing, she must be considered crazy. This is also showed through the parallel form. Lady Audley also threaten Robert in this passage. She seems to still be power hungry, deriving that power from the fear she is instilling in him. When she says “When George Talboys goaded me, as you have goaded me…” In this Lady Audley threatens to do to Robert what she did to George. The diction and form of this passage is also telling. The author begins sentences with because, uses long sentences with dashes and commas, and in my version of the novel capitalizing the words “I am mad” several times. Perhaps this is to mimic how a lunatic would sound.
Over all the passage seems to be directly telling readers two things. I first brings up the idea of a double standard between men and women, as using the same form as a previous passage between Robert and Lady Audley and reversing roles, now calling Lady Audley mad for acting and speaking in the way Robert did. This only adds to the novels interesting discussion of men and women. The second thing the passage does for the novel as a whole is add to Lady Audley’s complex character. It appears her last defense is to plead insane, and yet she is cunning and calculated in doing so. In the Victorian Era, madness was viewed very poorly as well, and people who were crazy were also treated very poorly. I find that this passage almost links craziness with womanhood, as the more and more you push a women, the more insane she will become.