Since the very beginning of The Woman in White the reader is faced with some statements which foreshadow the conception of the woman\u2019s role at the time the novel was written (1860), considered as subordinate to men\u2019s authority. As Miss Halcombe says: \u201cBeing, however, nothing but a woman, condemned to patience, propriety, and petticoats, for life, I must respect the housekeeper\u2019s opinions, and try to compose myself in some feeble and feminine way\u201d (198). In other words, the feminine way at that time, was equal to being a docile and submissive human being, at the mercy of the men\u2019s authority. In order for this to happen, marriage seems to be considered, at that time, the most effective way to put order in society and somehow relegate women to their natural role of subaltern individuals. Once again, is Miss Holcombe to state that: \u201c For the common purposes of society the extraordinary change thus produced in her (Madame Fosco), is, beyond all doubt, a change for the better, seeing that it has transformed her into a civil, silent, unobtrusive woman, who is never in the way\u201d(216).
\nSuch lines seem to reflect Greg\u2019s considerations that \u201cThe residue (of women)-the large excess over this proportion-who remain unmarried constitute the problem to be solved, the evil and anomaly to be cured\u2026\u201d (159). Both Collins\u2019 novel and Greg\u2019s article, even if in different forms (the novel through irony, the article through a more serious tone) refers to women as silly and useless individuals for the society, but at the same time as a threat to get rid of, and the best way to do so is limiting their power by pressuring them to get married and becoming – to use once again Miss Halcombe\u2019s words- their husbands \u201cfaithful dog\u201d (216) and, consequently, harmless to the society.
\nIt seems to me that the novel is full of hints which suggest the fear of the 19th century\u2019s patriarchal societies of everything different to their patriarchal values (women in the first place). The fact that Anne Catherick escapes from the asylum and is a kind of ghost for all the other characters of the novel could be a metaphor of the society\u2019s unsuccessful attempt to shut women down. The irony with which women\u2019s silliness is described by Collins all throughout the book could stand for a defensive literary artifice and the novel itself could be seen as a way to release the unconscious 18th century\u2019s fear of women, the ultimate of the threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since the very beginning of The Woman in White the reader is faced with some statements which foreshadow the conception of the woman\u2019s role at the time the novel was written (1860), considered as subordinate to men\u2019s authority. As Miss Halcombe says: \u201cBeing, however, nothing but a woman, condemned to patience, propriety, and petticoats, for … Continue reading The figure of the Woman in The Woman in White<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380,108029],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities","category-spring-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}