{"id":1990,"date":"2025-02-06T16:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=1990"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:08:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T16:08:02","slug":"water-color-i-hardly-know-her-subliminal-sexuality-in-the-woman-in-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2025\/02\/06\/water-color-i-hardly-know-her-subliminal-sexuality-in-the-woman-in-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Color? I Hardly Know Her: Subliminal Sexuality in “The Woman in White”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As Mr. Walter Hartright confesses his love for Miss Laura Fairlie, his latent sexual desires bubble to the surface. Hartright reluctantly admits to the reader that Laura has led him away from the \u201cnarrow path\u201d of propriety and respectability (Collins 66). His \u201csituation in life\u201d usually acts as \u201ca guarantee against any of [his] female pupils feeling more than the most ordinary interest in [him],\u201d but Laura is an exception to this rule (66). In Hartright\u2019s mind, she experiences the same \u201cunacknowledged sensations\u201d that he does (67). These shared sensations imbue each of their interactions with an electric sexual energy, regardless of how innocent they may appear on the surface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In a society where physical contact is frowned upon, even the shadow of a touch can arouse excitement. When Hartright recalls shaking Laura\u2019s hand each \u201cnight and morning,\u201d he acknowledges the eroticism in the slightest brush of their fingertips (66). To him, this ritual is not a mere formality; it represents a temporary transgression of social norms. If even for a moment, Hartright can feel Laura\u2019s skin against his own. Their drawing lessons adopt a similarly sexual charge. Hartright cannot get \u201cclose to [Laura\u2019s] bosom\u201d without \u201ctrembl[ing] at the thought of touching it\u201d (65). He longs to feel \u201cthe warm fragrance of her breath\u201d on his skin (65). His body thrills as she watches \u201cevery movement\u201d of his phallic \u201cbrush\u201d on the canvas (65). It is reasonable to believe that these close encounters feed Hartright\u2019s fantasies \u201cin the quiet and seclusion of [his] own room\u201d (64). He must keep his \u201chands and eyes pleasurably employed\u201d to avoid other, even more pleasurable employments (64). Sin encroaches, and sexuality threatens to invite it into the most hidden recesses of the heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Other domestic acts and subtle word choices also imply sexual connotations. When Hartright claims that he \u201calways notice[s] and remember[s] the little changes in [Laura\u2019s] dress,\u201d for instance, he inadvertently admits that he ogles at her body (66). Hartright considers Laura\u2019s figure as alluring as a \u201cSyren-song\u201d (66). In many nineteenth-century paintings, these seabound seductresses are depicted without a shred of clothing; perhaps Hartright imagines his beloved in much the same way. One thing can be said with certainty, however; with Laura around, the \u201cmonotony of life\u201d becomes \u201cdelicious\u201d (66). This adjective choice invokes kissing, licking, and other erotic activities involving the mouth. The days become so sweet that they beg to be consumed. Perhaps, in Hartright\u2019s eyes, the same occurs with Laura\u2019s body.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Once considered \u201ca harmless domestic animal,\u201d Hartright evolves into a tertiary sexual predator (66). It only takes one encounter with erotic possibility for Hartright to discard his \u201chardly-earned self-control\u201d as if he \u201chad never possessed it\u201d at all (66). As Hartright himself points out, the very same happens \u201cto other men, in other critical situations, where women are concerned\u201d (66). Collins demonstrates how quickly propriety crumbles under the immense weight of passion. As the novel progresses, I am curious to see if sexual desire is strong enough to fracture other Victorian customs, particularly the reticence surrounding the erotic.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As Mr. Walter Hartright confesses his love for Miss Laura Fairlie, his latent sexual desires bubble to the surface. Hartright reluctantly admits to the reader that Laura has led him away from the \u201cnarrow path\u201d of propriety and respectability (Collins 66). His \u201csituation in life\u201d usually acts as \u201ca guarantee against any of … Continue reading Water Color? I Hardly Know Her: Subliminal Sexuality in “The Woman in White”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135984],"tags":[111391,135993,135992,135994,2819,2290,135991,111386,135990,111388,111393],"class_list":["post-1990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-posts","tag-laura-fairlie","tag-lust","tag-propriety","tag-romance","tag-sex","tag-sexuality","tag-societal-expectations","tag-the-woman-in-white","tag-victorianism","tag-walter-hartright","tag-wilkie-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990","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\/5596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}