The authorial decision to designate multiple narrators throughout a text influences the way a reader interprets a given scene and limits the amount of information available to the reader. In The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins creates smooth and seemingly logical transitions from one narrator to the next; however, thus far, Collins has not given the role of narrator to a number of the prominent characters. Therefore, there is a significant amount of mystery that still surrounds these characters—Laura, Sir Percival, Anne, etcetera. With each new narrator, these characters are described in distinctly different ways. In The Woman in White, Collins portrays Sir Percival in contradicting ways through the narrators of Mr. Gilmore and Marian Halcombe, which adds a level of mystery and uneasiness around his character.
Mr. Gilmore provides the reader with the first vivid description of Sir Percival’s character when he arrived at Limmeridge House. This provides the reader with his or her first impression of his persona. Despite his surprise at how old Sir Percival appeared, Mr. Gilmore describes him in a very positive light. According to him, Sir Percival is “easy and pleasant […] with perfect grace […and] a mixture of tenderness and respect” (130). Additionally, Sir Percival’s “tact and taste were never at fault on this or any other occasion” while Mr. Gilmore resided at Limmeridge House with him (130). From the perspective of the lawyer, Sir Percival embodies everything that a wealthy, well-educated man should be. It is easy to see why Laura’s father chose him as her future husband.
Even though Mr. Gilmore leaves with a lesser impression of Sir Percival after the negotiation over money, his overall description of him is exceedingly positive. However, when Marian Halcombe becomes the narrator, the overall impression of Sir Percival becomes convoluted because her portrayal of him is very negative. After attempting to have a more optimistic outlook on Sir Percival’s character for a few journal entries, Marian begins her entry on November 20th by saying, “I hate Sir Percival!” (191) She then precedes in describing him as “eminently ill-tempered and disagreeable, and totally wanting in kindness and good feeling” (191). Her rant over her renewed hatred of him that completely contradicts Mr. Gilmore’s description is prompted by him whispering something in Laura’s ear that made her face turn white. Since Marian is so willing and able to adjust her description of one of the other characters so drastically from one day to the next, she becomes difficult to trust as a narrator.
The juxtaposition of the various accounts and descriptions by the three narrators presented so far in The Woman in White have allowed more clarity to certain situations but have also made character analysis extremely problematic. Due to her close connection with Laura, Marian seems like a trustworthy narrator, but this bias often muddles her judgment. Additionally, Mr. Gilmore and Mr. Hartright have their own reasons for being biased towards or against specific characters in the novel.
I agree with you that there are many conflicting opinions on Sir Percival Gylde in the novel. However, I think that it is important to consider the implications of how he is characterized, and what that says about his character. Since he is described as such a gentleman in the beginning of the novel and so negatively later on, it can be assumed that he is either being inconsistent in his behavior or Marian’s perception of him is affected by her upset over her sister leaving. Knowing how Sir Glyde behaves following their marriage, however, it would be safe to say that he was pretending to behave well at first in order to ingratiate himself to the family and friends before revealing his true intentions.
I agree that being aware of who is allowed to speak in the novel, and who is not, is very important to recognize. After reading your post, I realized that most of the narrators thus far have been men. The one exception is Marian, but we still need to be persuaded of her trustworthiness by Count Fosco, a man. Even Collins himself has actively built up her credibility as a narrator by giving her masculine characteristics such as frankness and intelligence. The fact that we are hearing most of this story from a male perspective is significant, since at its heart it is really a story about two women, Laura and Anne.
I agree with you that Sir Percival is described in opposite ways by Miss Halcombe and Mr.Gilmore. At first, it is not clear whether these two discordant descriptions are the result of an actual incoherence in his behavior, or of Miss Halcombe’s potentially biased opinion and unreliable narration. However I think that his change in his behavior after the marriage with Laura clearly reveals that in the beginning he was only pretending and trying to make a good impression on the Fairlie’s family and their closest friends.