Throughout the novel, Collins places a significant amount of emphasis on the inherent differences between men and women and what traits he views as acceptable or normal for men and women to have. This is highlighted through his description of Marian Halcombe when Mr. Hartright sees her for the first time. While he is first drawn in by her body, his perceptions of her quickly shift when he sees her face. Mr. Hartright uses the term ‘masculine’ several times to describe Miss Halcombe’s facial features, and he implies that these are undesirable features that he is “almost repelled” by (35). It seems as if Mr. Hartright views Miss Halcombe’s feminine body and masculine face as two things that simply cannot exist at the same time. He does this by saying that “to see such a face as this set on shoulders that a sculptor would have longed to model […] was to feel a sensation oddly akin to the helpless discomfort familiar to us all in sleep, when we recognize yet cannot reconcile the anomalies and contradictions of dreams” (35). These ‘contradictions’ that Mr. Hartright is facing seem to be confusing his idea of what a woman should look like.
Miss Halcombe’s facial expressions also appear to go against Mr. Hartright’s perceptions of femininity. He states that “her expression – bright, frank, and intelligent – appeared, while she was silent, to be altogether wanting in those feminine attractions of gentleness and pliability, without which the beauty of the handsomest woman alive is beauty incomplete” (35). Mr. Hartright views intelligence and frankness as traits that are un-womanlike and instead sees submissiveness as a more desirable trait. In Mr. Hartright’s opinion, no woman is truly beautiful unless she is ‘gentle’ and ‘pliable.’ Mr. Hartright’s opinions on what traits are acceptable for a woman are typical of the time, as many believed that the role of a woman was to be selfless and care for men. Throughout this passage and as the novel continues, it almost seems like Mr. Hartright views Miss Halcombe as less of a woman because of the contradiction or lack of femininity in her personality and physical appearance.
I like this focus on the notion of gender and the subversion of the stereotypically masculine and feminine traits. I do wonder if this is merely an attempt to further the themes of the odd and usual seen throughout this novel or a means by which to lean into the queer coding of these characters. It’s easy enough to look at the description of Mr. Fairlie with his little white hands and weirdly youthful (but still very old looking) face and say that he is queer coded, but I wonder if it is not also Collins attempt at creating characters that Victorian readers would find off-putting or unsettling in a sort of uncanny way.
The idea of one’s appearance being linked to one’s womanhood is old, and if anything, it has become increasingly prevalent. This can be seen especially in the marketing of women’s beauty products. Women’s beauty products and Mr. Hartright have one core thing in common. They have an “ideal woman in mind.” This woman is able-bodied, white, cis, straight, etc. etc. In short she is the Eurocentists “normal”. Hartwright sees that this woman is not infact the European ideal he is disgusted.