Sir Percival Glyde: A Fiancé and a Doppelgänger

Walter Hartright introduces Anne Catherick to the reader with an almost obsessive lens of modesty and infantile descriptions. This is continued when he reencounters her at Mrs. Fairlie’s grave, where he treats her the way one might treat a small child. He reassures her constantly throughout their conversation, speaking slowly and gently to her (Collins 95). One may think that Walter’s love for Laura Fairlie, who so resembles Anne, may cause him to see Anne in a different light than he did on his first encounter with her. However, when he observes Anne more carefully, he finds all of her dissimilarities to Miss Fairlie, referring to her “worn, weary face” (97). This makes clear to the reader that Walter is still viewing Anne in a patronizing light. Walter’s idea of Anne as a chaste being, however, is unfounded, in my opinion. To look at page 105 and Anne’s reaction to hearing about Sir Percival Glyde, it is clear that she has had unfavorable encounters with him. Walter uses this to conclude that Sir Percival is responsible for locking Anne up in the asylum. While this makes sense and seems to be the correct conclusion for Walter to draw, he also does not seem to ruminate on what may have caused this series of events in Anne’s life. Based on the striking resemblance between Anne and Laura Fairlie, who is to be married to Sir Percival, my immediate assumption of Anne’s hatred of him was that he had forcefully expressed interest in her.