Laura’s time in the Asylum affected her quite a bit physically and emotionally. The “sorrow and suffering… set their profaning marks on the youth and beauty of her face” (Collins 434), making post-Asylum Laura look almost identical to Anne. Laura also becomes increasingly childish, a trait we previously associated with Anne.
The relationship between Walter and Laura has altered drastically since Laura’s release from the Asylum. As Laura changes to become more like Anne, Walter loses romantic interest in her. Previously in the novel when Walter talked about drawing with Laura, he talked about how he could barely keep his hands and eyes off of her. Now when he talks about drawing with her he simply says he “sat by her side” (Collins 435). Walter never had an inkling of a romantic feeling for Anne, and now that Laura looks and acts more like Anne, Walter isn’t having as strong romantic feelings or any romantic feelings at all for Laura.
This makes me wonder exactly what attracted Walter to Laura in the first place. Clearly her appearance was a significant part of why Walter loved her. Earlier in the novel when Walter gushes about being in love with Laura, all he talks about is her appearance. He sees her as an object. Walter also might be losing romantic interest in Laura because she is someone who he now needs to take care of. Instead of just being able to watch her be pretty, he needs to worry about keeping her occupied and in a good mood.
The way Laura and Walter behave around each other post-Asylum reminds me of a way a dog interacts with it’s owner. Just as if Laura was his dog, Walter takes “Laura out for her walk as usual” (Collins 437). Whenever Walter leaves her, Laura gets anxious, claiming “Don’t be gone long! I can’t get on with my drawing, Walter, when you are not here to help me” (Collins 438). Laura’s anxiety about being separated from Walter reminds me of the way a dog behaves whenever it’s owner leaves. After her release from the Asylum, Laura also acts similarly to Mrs. Vesey, sitting around all day and being a very uninteresting character.
This is an interesting portrayal of Laura Fairlie’s true character. She is indeed, like an object/dog who is “owned” by another person such as Walter, Marian, or Sir Percival since her own voice is never heard except through another character. She is a very passive character, who, I would argue, has been an uninteresting person since before being locked up in the asylum. Since the beginning, Laura has been described as being childish, emotional, and delicate making her a rather unflattering character.
I found this blog post similar to another blog post entitled “Mine: The Language of Possession and Female Objectification.” Both posts relate to each other since both discuss the objectivity of Laura and the theme of identity and feminine power in “The Woman in White.”
There are scattered phrases throughout the third epoch describing how Walt sees Laura, such as “faded flower,” and “lost, afflicted sister.” I believe that she has become even dearer to him than before because of her becoming less attractive to him. In their first interactions, Walt sums her up as the consummate soulmate for a man, an amalgamation of all of the best traits a young maiden could have. Now that Laura is less than perfect in his eyes, he can feel even stronger about her and form a more intimate connection. His perception of her seems to become more and more like Mr. Gilmore’s: “To remember her, as I did, the liveliest, happiest child that ever laughed the day through; and to see her now, in the flower of her age and her beauty, so broken and so brought down as this!” (144) She is pitiable to any man (sans Percy, her uncle, and the Count) no matter what her mental state because she has been infantilized (is that a word) from the beginning.