As we have recently discussed in class, part of the fascination with The Woman in White is based in the triangular marriage between Laura, Marian, and Walter. Deven, in her short essay on how Collins plays with marriage plots in most of his work, discusses that the “marital love among three figures, rather than the conventional two” is a key plot used by Collins (page 113). The entirety of The Woman in White revolves around these marital irregularities, as Deven discusses, and through that lens it is possible to see how this book really was a “sensation” novel in the 1860s; it is sensational in that these marriages and situations were unlike the common theme. These plots are tremendously unrealistic, from our viewpoint in 2015, though it is possible that in 1860, maybe there were often plots to change status or marriages of equal minds in conflict with a marriage of property. I think the most important thing in reading The Woman in White is to be able to interpret the story from our perspective in 2015 as well as from Collins’ perspective in the 1860s.
It was interesting to see that Collins has a preference for unusual marriage plots in more of his work than just The Woman in White, and to question just how prevalent the marriage plot was in Victorian literature; in what I’ve read previously, it seems like the only thing going on in Victorian life is marriage and the intrigues surrounding it. Is there anything but marriage in Victorian life, or is it just the most relatable part?