Category: 360: Victorian Sexualities

Miss Halcombe’s influence as an essential narrator and witness in The Woman in White causes the reader to consider if Wilkie Collins supported female rights during the Victorian era. Marian Halcombe’s voice is predominantly audible throughout the novel and is presented as rational and trustworthy, like the voice of a man. Mr. Hartright and Mr. Gilmore’s narratives comment extensively on Marian’s sensibility and astuteness. Marian’s most important moments of reason are obstructed, however, my her status as a women, and she is forced to sensor her opinion to please the men around her. For instance, after Sir Percival clears himself of all Anne Catherick’s allegations, Marian remains suspicious of his character and disagrees with Laura’s choice to continue with the engagement. However, after a conversation with Sir Percival about Laura’s happiness Marian explains that she “answered him- more because [her] tongue is a woman’s, and must answer, than because [she] has anything convincing to say” (175). Marian is expected to behave and speak as a woman and refrain from causing unnecessary controversy. If she expresses her true opinion on their engagement, which is defined upon her unsupported intuition about his character, it would be interpreted as female hysteria or irrational because her judgements are solely reinforced by her female emotions.

Another instance where Marian is barred from expressing herself rationally as a women occurs when she must legally witness Laura’s signature for Sir Percival’s business arrangement. Marian explains, when Sir Percival becomes angry at Laura’s desire to read the document before signing, that she will not “assume responsibility of witnessing her signature[…] unless [Laura] first understands what the writing” is about (245). From a legal standpoint Marian’s interjection is justified and unerring, but through Sir Percival’s perspective she has overstepped her boundaries as a woman. After threatening her ability to remain at his home with Laura, Marian explains that if she “had been a man, [she] would have knocked him down on the threshold of his own door, and have left his house, never on any earthly consideration to enter it again. But [she] was only a woman- and [she] loved his wife so dearly” (245)! Because she is a woman, Miss Halcombe’s relationship with Laura and her financial situation are dependent on remaining on good terms with Sir Percival. At this moment, Marian has no choice but to retreat into her thoughts and continuing advising Laura privately against his irrational persuasions to sign the document she is legally sanctioned to examine. Instead, she must use her wit to uncover legal support from a man, because as women in Victorian society they are powerless, expected to obey, and prone to hysteria. Why then does Collins have Miss Halcombe confront all these Victorian female stereotypes? Is he, by contrast, revealing the irrational, greedy, and sexist nature of Victorian men?

A passage in The Woman in White which I found to be indicative of the general ideas thus far was on page 232, under Marian’s narration, when she quotes the Countess. The passage reads, “‘I wait to be instructed,’ replied the Countess, in tones of freezing reproof, intended for Laura and me, ‘before I venture on giving my opinion in the presence of well-informed men.'” First, I think it interesting that in this section of the book, the Countess so easily submits to the will of her husband, intentionally setting an example for Laura and how she should interact with her new husband Sir Percival Glyde. It also demonstrates the ideal role for a woman at the time; the Countess is portrayed as the silent, submissive wife who only speaks when spoken to in contrast to Marian’s outburst, following the above passage, in questioning the Countess’ change of heart in advocating for the rights of women.

What struck me most about this passage is not that the Countess is passive to her husband’s wishes; that is to be expected of the time in which the book was published. Instead, I was shocked that the Countess sought to essentially shut Marian and Laura up and to discourage them from a further discussion with the Count and Sir Glyde. She, and, one can infer, Collins, believe that a woman should not speak until she is “instructed” to by her husband or the male guardian in her life. This yet again depicts a woman as inferior; Marian draws out the idea that the Countess once cared about the “freedom of female opinion”, yet no longer believes it since she has become the Count’s wife. It ties into the legal determinations that a woman is no longer a private entity when married, but that she becomes virtually a part of her husband and is subject to his demands as she technically no longer exists.

It is necessary, also, to look at this passage in context; the Countess’ comment takes place at the lake during a discussion of crimes which results in Count Fosco’s description that a crime is only considered a crime once it is discovered. It seems to me that this entire section is an incredibly overt instance of foreshadowing; one can infer that a crime, likely a murder, will take place or be attempted, and it may take place in this very location. I would even reach so far as to consider that the Countess may be complicit, or at least aware, though she would not see it to be her place to make anyone aware of what will or has occurred. This conclusion might be a stretch, but I think with all the foreshadowing in the lake section, it’s a reasonable conclusion to draw.