In Wilkie Collin’s The Woman in White, I noticed that the characters Marian and Count Fosco were similar in many ways: They are described to be intelligent, practical, and unattractive. However, even though they are similar, they work against each other to achieve different goals. While Marian works to protect Laura, Count Fosco works with Sir Percival to steal Laura’s inheritance. This opposition shows Collins’ ideas of the society in Victorian England: While Count Fosco symbolizes the driving forces behind the oppression of women, Marian becomes a symbol of those who defy this oppression.
Count Fosco is Italian, and is described to be an intelligent man in the novel by Marian (219), and Count Fosco praises Marian to have “the foresight and resolution of a man” (324). Both characters are also described to be unattractive, and they are fighting their cause with a less intelligent, but more attractive, counterpart. Compared to Marian, Laura seems to be a weak character who is prone to emotional outbursts, and her value is placed on her looks and inheritance. Similarly, Sir Percival is also described as attractive and rich. Sir Percival and Laura therefore have several Victorian ideals: While Laura is feminine, Sir Percival is upper-class and rich. Marian’s unattractiveness and traditional masculine qualities, and Count Fosco’s similar unattractiveness and foreign status, therefore make them unlikely candidates to be of importance in the Victorian English society, which then gives them room to attempt to control what happens to the people they care about.
Count Fosco’s oppression against women is exemplified in his behavior with his wife. Marian describes how he controls her briefly in her diary: “The rod of iron with which he rules [the Countess] never appears in company – it is a private rod, and is always kept upstairs” (Collins 222). Marian’s brief explanation that he “rules” her with a “rod of iron” suggests overtones of rape and domestic violence. As Count Fosco works with Sir Percival to steal Laura’s inheritance, this suggests that Sir Percival could also “rule” Laura with a “rod of iron,” as Count Fosco is familiar with controlling women. On the contrary, Marian seems to be interested in women’s rights: “‘I remember the time, Countess, when you advocated the Rights of Women – and freedom of female opinion was one of them’” (232). Her criticism of the Countess’ newfound lack of opinion suggests that Marian is an advocate for the Rights of Women as well, which would then make her a symbol of the New Woman. Furthermore, throughout the novel Marian and Count Fosco are shown to use their intelligence to take control of the situation to promote the interests of themselves or their partner. However, I am curious as to why there seems to be an attraction between Count Fosco and Marian at times. Marian’s initial reaction to Count Fosco was attraction, and although it is not as explicitly stated later as she comes to know his true intentions, she still seems to get certain “sensations” by his presence.
I found it very interesting that your reading of Count Fosco and Marian put them in contrast to each other. While certainly the plot does mean that Marian is working against the Count, I found that their characters seemed to be in the same narrative category of ‘mixed gendered’. Both Marian and the Count are described as having both masculine and feminine characteristics. Marian has the reasoning of a man, and the Count has the sentiment of women. Their characters are both abnormal and so are oddly lumped together.
There definitely appears to be a strange connection between Marian and the Count. The Count himself seems to fancy the idea that he and Marian are kindred spirits of some sort, people of “similar sensibility” (337). I think you are right to point out that one of the things that connects the two characters is there lack of conformity to Victorian ideals. Though Marian’s moments of protofeminist thought may be part of the reason for her unattractiveness in the novel, I think her status as a “redundant woman” has more to do with how she is represented in the text and why she is linked with the Count. Single women and foreigners are both subversives in the context of Victorian England. Marian and the Count both represent potential threats to the status quo and are therefore marked as such in the text.
Your connections here just make me ultimately question this disdain for foreignness that we see so prominently in the novel. Being a woman is obviously a disadvantaged role in society but being a foreign man seems to be a position of equal disregard. Where does this xenophobia stem from? As you mentioned, it seems as though their characterization add to their lowered positions in Victorian society. Marian is not only a woman but she is also unattractive. Count Fosco is not only a foreigner but unattractive as well. The descriptions of each character emphasize this unattractiveness and I wonder if this aesthetic detail is responsible for the discrediting of what Marian has to say, for example, with the Rights of Women or Count Fosco in his mischievous endeavors. I liked the fact that you called Marian a “New Woman.” It does really emphasize what she attempts to accomplish in the narrative but my big question is will she succeed in her endeavors for more freedom of women or will she be inhibited because she is more masculine and therefore less attractive to men? Definitely an interesting element of the novel.
These are some really interesting parallels that you have drawn between the characters of Marian and Count Fosco as well as Sir Glyde and Laura. What I wonder, however, is whether Sir Glyde and Laura are actually as much of a pairing as you suggested. While, yes, they both are the Victorian ideal, their agency in the novel is very different. Were Count Fosco not present, Sir Glyde would still have been very much able to attempt to steal Laura’s money. Whereas, without Marian, I get the distinct feeling that Laura would have been unable to take even the smallest action to escape from her unhappy marriage.