{"id":897,"date":"2016-09-30T03:53:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T03:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=897"},"modified":"2016-10-13T12:47:52","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T12:47:52","slug":"literally-sensational-expression-of-body-parts-in-the-woman-in-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2016\/09\/30\/literally-sensational-expression-of-body-parts-in-the-woman-in-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Literally Sensational: Expression of Body Parts in “The Woman in White”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Woman in White<\/em> is often credited as being the first novel of the sensation genre to be published. \u00a0The sensation genre is defined (on the back cover of our edition of The Woman in White<\/em>)\u00a0as a “Victorian\u00a0genre that combine[s] Gothic horror with psychological realism”, which can evoke intense physical and emotional responses from readers. \u00a0This is why sensational novels tend to focus on stories that involve matters like murder, secrecy, and scandal, making The Woman in White<\/em> a prime example of the genre.<\/p>\n

The tone in the novel is thus\u00a0unsurprisingly\u00a0suspenseful with topics\u00a0such as the mystery of Anne Catherick, the terrifying power of Count Fosco, and the Secret of Sir Percival Glyde being prominent drives for\u00a0the plot. \u00a0After reading the conversation between Walter and Professor Pesca, a big reveal scene of Professor Pesca’s secret, I noticed a reoccurring speech pattern of Professor Pesca. \u00a0I found it curious\u00a0how Pesca kept using body parts to express himself. \u00a0For instance, he uses the phrases “you have shaken me from head to toe”, “on your heart and soul”, and “put my life into your hands” (pg. 573) within the span of a few paragraphs.<\/p>\n

After reading this section of the novel, I realized that scenes that involved cases of suspense or other powerful emotions, such as grief\u00a0and fear, have generally been depicted in a descriptive style that uses the expression of physical body parts rather than\u00a0a frank\u00a0statement of the character’s feelings. \u00a0For example, Pesca could have stated “The information\u00a0that I am about to reveal is extremely dangerous so I am trusting you completely, Walter” instead of saying “My next words, as true as the good God is above us, will put my life into your hands” (pg. 573). \u00a0Another example is from the First Epoch when Marian tells Walter about Laura’s engagement to Sir Percival. \u00a0Walter’s reaction is described as thus: “The last word went like a bullet to my heart. \u00a0My arm lost all sensation of the hand that grasped it” (pg. 72). \u00a0This is an impressive way of expressing Walter’s shock especially when compared to my plainer version: “Marian’s words left me speechless. \u00a0The news had made\u00a0me numb to all my surroundings.” \u00a0The similes and metaphors\u00a0of Wilkie Collins are\u00a0preferable (of course) since they\u00a0emphasize the gravity of a character’s\u00a0thoughts and words.<\/p>\n

I believe that using such language is definitely the writing style of Wilkie Collins. \u00a0By doing so, it is possible for readers to truly feel the pressure of a scene or be able to make a connection with a character, hence fulfilling the purpose of the sensation genre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Woman in White is often credited as being the first novel of the sensation genre to be published. \u00a0The sensation genre is defined (on the back cover of our edition of The Woman in White)\u00a0as a “Victorian\u00a0genre that combine[s] Gothic horror with psychological realism”, which can evoke intense physical and emotional responses from readers. … Continue reading Literally Sensational: Expression of Body Parts in “The Woman in White”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380,111423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities","category-fall-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","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\/3299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}