Women in the Victorian period were expected to be docile, submissive, and were relegated to the domestic sphere. Once married, as Greg states in his essay, they became their husband’s servants and had no legal rights to own property. Laura Fairlie’s character in The Woman in White embodies all these characteristics, representing the typical Victorian woman. The Victorian stereotype that Laura impersonates can be seen not only in her personality which is described as servile, vulnerable and weak, but it does also apply to her social status. In that period, in fact, marriages used to be arranged by parents, and Laura, being engaged to an older and wealthier man she does not love, is no exception.
However, the interesting figure of Marian Halcombe in this novel completely contradicts this stereotype. From the beginning, she is described by Walter as an intelligent, curious, rational and outspoken woman. When introduced, Walter immediately notices Marian’s physical masculinity which, to a broader extent, can be read as seeping into her character personality, given that she is an independent, dominant character who has great influence in Limmeridge House. She is verbally frank and extremely critical of her own gender, as she states on her first meeting with Walter, “How can you expect four women to dine together alone every day, and not quarrel? We are such fools, we can’t entertain each other at table. You see I don’t think much of my own sex, Mr. Hartright” (36) In addition to this, Marian’s presentation as both an “ugly” and unmarried woman typifies Greg’s idea of a societally dangerous woman: “the residue who remain unmarried constitute the problem to be solved, the evil and anomaly to be cured” (159)
The duality of Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie definitely seem to fit within Greg’s suppositions about Victorian woman. I wonder, is Miss Halcombe painted in a more positive or equally positive way (though more masculine) than Laura or whether she is painted in a less positive role? This duality you’ve picked out seems to illicit either reading. Either Miss Halcombe is a more positive because of her narrative voice in the novel and her assumed trustworthiness by other characters or she is less than Laura through her literal placement as a figure who bends to Laura’s (the traditional woman’s) will.
Maybe Collins’characterization of Marian with both female and male features responds to his necessity of making the narration reliable. Considering, in fact, that Marian is the narrator for a good amount of the story, the fact that Collins attributes her male connotations may be a good compromise to make the story credible to the reader. As a matter of fact, Marian is described with female traits when it comes to her physical beauty, and with male traits when it comes to her personality. This duality in her description seems to convey the author’s ideas about women as silly individuals, and men as clever and superior individuals.