As the moon casts an eerie glow over the desolate road, a figure dressed in white appears, her eyes wild with fear and desperation. Little do we know that this encounter will plunge us into a tangled web of secrets, lies, and betrayal, as we follow the haunting and suspenseful tale. The Woman in White is a ‘sensation’ novel (1860) by Wilkie Collins which became an instant international bestseller, with translated versions across Europe. Collin's talents lie in deft characterization and tightly-woven plots, which The Woman in White is particularly known for.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins was a British novelist and playwright who lived from 1824 to 1889. He was born into a family of artists and writers, and his mother was a well-known author of children's books. Collins was educated at private schools and then studied law, but his true passion was writing. He began publishing his works in the 1850s and quickly gained a reputation as a skilled writer of mystery and suspense.
At the time that Collins was writing The Woman in White, he was at the height of his career and was regarded as one of the most successful and influential writers of his time. He had already achieved success with his earlier novels, including Basil (1852) and Hide and Seek (1854), and was known for his ability to create complex plots and characters.
Wilkie Collins Timeline:
- 1824: Wilkie Collins is born in London during the late Georgian Period.
- 1836-1838: Collins spends a part of his childhood abroad in Italy and France
- 1838: Collins attends a boarding school for three years and discovers his gift for storytelling.
- 1850: Collins' first novel Antonina is published.
- 1851: Collins meets Dickens and the two form a lifelong friendship.
- 1860: The Woman in White is published & becomes a best-seller in the UK and the US.
- 1862-68: No Name, Armadale, and The Moonstone is published.
According to the artist John E. Millais, Wilkie Collins did actually meet a woman in white, which may have partly inspired the story. One summer night in the 1850s, Collins was walking with his brother Charles and Millais when they heard a woman’s scream coming from a nearby villa:
..It was evidently the cry of a woman in distress; and while pausing to consider what they should do, the iron gate leading to the garden was dashed open, and from it came the figure of a young and very beautiful woman dressed in flowing white robes that shone in the moonlight. She seemed to float rather than to run in their direction, and, on coming up to the three young men, she paused for a moment in an attitude of supplication and terror.1
Fig. 1 - Wilkie Collins is a Victorian novelist known for his sensation pieces.
The Woman in White summary
Overview: The Woman in White |
| Author of The Woman in White | Wilkie Collins |
| Published | 1860 |
| Genre | Epistolary fiction, sensation fiction |
| Brief summary of The Woman in White | The novel follows the story of Walter Hartright, an art teacher, who encounters a mysterious and distressed woman dressed in white while walking home one night. This woman, named Anne Catherick, is being pursued by someone, and Walter helps her to escape. |
| List of main characters | Walter Hartright, Anne Catherick, Marian Halcombe, Laura Fairlie, Sir Percival Glyde, and Count Fosco |
| Themes | Identity, secrets, property, class, gender roles |
| Setting | London 1849-50 |
| Analysis | A commentary on the social and cultural mores of Victorian England. Through its portrayal of strong and independent female characters, the novel challenges traditional gender roles and explores the limitations placed on women in Victorian society. |
Walter Hartright, a young drawing master, is offered a post teaching art to the nieces of a Mr Fairlie, Marion and Laura, at Limmeridge House. The offer comes via his Italian friend Pesca, whom he once saved from drowning.
The night before Walter is due to depart, he meets a woman dressed in white, who asks him if she is on the right road to London:
There, in the middle of the broad bright high-road—there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven—stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments, her face bent in grave inquiry on mine, her hand pointing to the dark cloud over London, as I faced her.
I was far too seriously startled by the suddenness with which this extraordinary apparition stood before me, in the dead of night and in that lonely place, to ask what she wanted. The strange woman spoke first.
"Is that the road to London?" she said.
Walter Hartright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 4
He confirms that it is, and agrees to accompany her a part of the way. She reveals a distrust of any titled noblemen and mentions Limmeridge, much to Walter’s astonishment. Walter helps her find a carriage and begins his walk home when he hears another carriage draw up. The man within calls out and asks if anyone has seen a woman in white:
"If you or any of your men meet with the woman, stop her, and send her in careful keeping to that address. I'll pay all expenses, and a fair reward into the bargain."
The policeman looked at the card that was handed down to him.
"Why are we to stop her, sir? What has she done?"
"Done! She has escaped from my Asylum. Don't forget; a woman in white. Drive on."
Walter Hartright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 8
Walter reaches the Fairlie household at Limmeridge and meets Marian Halcombe, Laura’s half-sister. Walter mentions his encounter with the woman in white. Marian searches through her mother’s letters for a connection. She explains about her uncle (a self-proclaimed invalid) and introduces Walter to Laura.
By evening, Marian has found a reference in her mother’s correspondence to a little girl called Anne Catherick, whom she dresses in Laura’s old white dresses. In the same letter, Mrs Fairlie remarks on how similar she is to Laura. Laura, who has been walking outside, comes in at this moment, and Walter is struck by her resemblance to the woman in white he met.
"You see it!" said Miss Halcombe. She dropped the useless letter, and her eyes flashed as they met mine. "You see it now, as my mother saw it eleven years since!""I see it—more unwillingly than I can say. To associate that forlorn, friendless, lost woman, even by an accidental likeness only, with Miss Fairlie, seems like casting a shadow on the future of the bright creature who stands looking at us now. Let me lose the impression again as soon as possible. Call her in, out of the dreary moonlight—pray call her in!
Walter Hartright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 8
Months pass, and Walter and Laura discover a mutual attraction. Laura draws back, and Marian explains to Walter that Laura is engaged to be married - an arrangement of her late father’s - to a baronet called Sir Percival Glyde. Laura receives an anonymous letter warning her against Sir Percival. Walter and Marian make enquiries in the village and discover a little boy has seen ‘a ghost’ in the graveyard, a female figure all in white.
Walter and Marian discover that Mrs Fairlie’s tombstone has been recently cleaned. Walter waits to see if whoever cleaned it returns, and again encounters Anne Catherick - the Woman in White. He discovers she escaped from a private asylum and that she was put there by Sir Percival Glyde. He informs Marian and arranges for her to meet Anne the following day. Anne has already left the area, however, after hearing that Sir Percival Glyde would be arriving the following week.
We stopped and looked at one another the moment we were alone again.
"Is there any doubt in your mind, now, Miss Halcombe?"
"Sir Percival Glyde shall remove that doubt, Mr. Hartright—or Laura Fairlie shall never be his wife."
Walter Hartiright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 14
The day of Laura’s marriage approaches and Walter leaves on an expedition to Central America. The narrative passes over to Marian, who describes the arrival of Laura’s betrothed, Sir Glyde. On being questioned about Anne Catherick, Glyde explains convincingly that he paid for Anne to stay in a private asylum as a favour to her mother in return for service to his family.
Laura has qualms about marrying when she is in love with someone else and decides, much against Marian’s advice, to confess to Glyde - leaving it open to him whether or not to go ahead with the marriage. Sir Glyde makes a pretty speech that ultimately holds Laura to her engagement. Marian is still disquieted, but the wedding goes ahead and the couple travels to Italy on their honeymoon.
Marian moves to Glyde’s home at Blackwater the day before Laura and Glyde are due to arrive.
The couple return with a friend of Glyde’s, Count Fosco, and his wife. The Count shows enormous courtesy towards the women, and Marian finds herself liking him against her will:
‘I think the influence I am now trying to find is in his eyes. They are the most unfathomable grey eyes I ever saw, and they have at times a cold, clear, beautiful, irresistible glitter in them which forces me to look at him, and yet causes me sensations, when I do look, which I would rather not feel. ....’
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 2
Glyde attempts to get Laura’s signature on a document and fails. Later Laura describes to Marian how she has discovered Glyde has not married her out of love at all, and worse, he has discovered Walter Hartright’s name.
Ever since that morning when you made your audacious confession to me at Limmeridge,' he said, 'I have wanted to find out the man, and I found him in your face to-night. Your drawing-master was the man, and his name is Hartright. You shall repent it, and he shall repent it, to the last hour of your lives. Now go to bed and dream of him if you like, with the marks of my horsewhip on his shoulders.
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 5
Laura encounters Anne Catherick at the boathouse, who mentions a secret concerning Glyde. Anne leaves hurriedly after arranging to meet with Laura the next day. Marian waits for Laura to come back from her meeting with Anne, only to find Laura locked in her room and her maid sent away. On Marian’s protest, Glyde threatens to lock her up as well. Marian loses her temper:
Take you care how you treat your wife, and how you threaten me,"'I broke out in the heat of my anger. 'There are laws in England to protect women from cruelty and outrage. If you hurt a hair of Laura's head, if you dare to interfere with my freedom, come what may, to those laws I will appeal.
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 7
Count Fosco and his wife take Marian’s side and Glyde leaves and Laura is released from her room. Marian, increasingly suspicious, eavesdrops on the Count and Glyde and discovers they are planning a way to get hold of Laura’s money. The Count discovers for the first time what Anne Catherick looks like:
“I must know how to recognise our invisible Anne. What is she like?"
"Like? Come! I'll tell you in two words. She's a sickly likeness of my wife."
The chair creaked, and the pillar shook once more. The Count was on his feet again—this time in astonishment.
"What!!!" he exclaimed eagerly.
"Fancy my wife, after a bad illness, with a touch of something wrong in her head—and there is Anne Catherick for you," answered Sir Percival.
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 9
Marian, caught in the rain, catches a fever, which turns to typhus fever and is seriously ill for weeks. Following this, the housekeeper's narrative describes how Laura (and the housekeeper) are deceived into thinking that Marian has left for London, on her way back to their uncle’s house. Laura is persuaded to leave in order to join her there.
After Laura has left, the housekeeper discovers that Marian is still at Blackwater - in another part of the house. Glyde's explanation is that Laura would never have left otherwise. The housekeeper hands in her notice, but stays on until Marian recovers. Then they travel together to London, where they separate.
Walter returns from his expedition to learn that Laura has died while in London. He visits her tombstone and encounters two women - Marian Halcombe and a second, veiled, woman:
…But the veiled woman had possession of me, body and soul. She stopped on one side of the grave. We stood face to face with the tombstone between us. She was close to the inscription on the side of the pedestal. Her gown touched the black letters.
The voice came nearer, and rose and rose more passionately still. "Hide your face! don't look at her! Oh, for God's sake, spare him——"
The woman lifted her veil.
"Sacred to the Memory of Laura, Lady Glyde——"
Laura, Lady Glyde, was standing by the inscription, and was looking at me over the grave.'
Walter Hartright, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 5
Marian, on recovering, discovered Laura had been swapped for Anne Catherick and placed in the asylum in Anne’s place. By means of bribery, Marian has rescued her and they now live in secret with Walter while they prepare a case to re-establish Laura’s true identity.
Walter tracks down Glyde to a parish church where he discovers Glyde’s Secret. Glyde is illegitimate and had forged, with the help of Anne Catherick’s mother, his parents’ marriage in the register. Glyde locks himself in the vestry in an attempt to destroy incriminating evidence and ends up dying in the ensuing fire.
Walter begins following Fosco - he takes his friend Pesca, to see if he can identify the Count, who is going to the opera house. Pesca does not recognise Count Fosco at the opera, but Walter notes that the Count does recognise Pesca.
The instant before I had been perfectly satisfied, from his own reiterated assertion, that Pesca did not know the Count. The instant afterwards I was equally certain that the Count knew Pesca!
Knew him, and—more surprising still—feared him as well! …. A mortal dread had mastered him body and soul—and his own recognition of Pesca was the cause of it!
Walter Hartright, 3rd Epoch, Chapter 5
Another man is also clearly watching the Count and follows when the Count hastily leaves the theatre. Pesca reveals his background to Walter as a member of a secret political society in Italy, a society that allows for no betrayal:
"...The object of the Brotherhood," Pesca went on, "is, briefly, the object of other political societies of the same sort—the destruction of tyranny and the assertion of the rights of the people. … In the time of your first Charles you might have done us justice—the long luxury of your own freedom has made you incapable of doing us justice now."
Walter Hartright, 3rd Epoch, Chapter 5
Walter arranges a meeting with Fosco and obtains a signed confession of the kidnapping and substitution of Anne Catherick for Laura Fairlie. Fosco leaves for Europe, hunted by members of the Brotherhood. Armed with the Count’s confession, Walter, Laura and Marian return to Laura’s uncle at Limmeridge, where he is obliged to formally recognise Laura’s identity.
Walter carries out an art commission from a former colleague which takes him to Paris, where he discovers that the Count has been killed and his body recovered from the Seine. A year later Walter and Laura have a son, Laura’s uncle dies, and Laura, Marian, and Walter return to Limmeridge as their home.
The Woman in White: characters
The main characters in The Woman in White are Walter Hartright, Marian Halcombe, Laura Fairlie, Sir Percival Glyde, and Count Fosco.
Walter Hartright
Hartright is a drawing master living in modest circumstances. At the opening of the book, he spends his time between Hampstead, where his mother and sister live, and his chambers in London. He is gentlemanly and reliable, coupled with an artistic temperament and gentleness which makes him an ideal partner for Laura Fairlie.
Like Laura, his word holds true, and he will not take advantage of a situation or a person for his own gain. He also has deductive abilities which he brings to bear on the mystery surrounding the Woman in White and the secret she keeps.
Anne Catherick - The Woman in White
A mysterious and haunting figure who appears throughout the book, dressed entirely in white. She is first encountered by Walter Hartright, the novel's protagonist, on a dark and lonely road, where she appears to be in a state of distress and confusion.
Fig. 2 - Anne Catherick's sense of justice is the driving force of the plot.
As the novel progresses, the woman in white becomes a central figure in the complex and suspenseful mystery that unfolds. It is revealed that her name is Anne Catherick, and that she has a tragic past that has left her mentally and emotionally unstable. She is being pursued by a mysterious figure, who is revealed to be Sir Percival Glyde, a wealthy landowner with a dark secret.
Despite her fragile appearance, the woman in white is portrayed as a strong and resilient character, who is determined to uncover the truth about Sir Percival and to protect those she cares about. She forms a bond with Walter and Marian Halcombe, Laura Fairlie's half-sister, and together they work to uncover the secrets that have been hidden for so long.
Marian Halcombe
Walter Hartright describes her as ugly, stating that she has a man’s head on a woman’s body. Hartright may be speaking as an artist, pointing out the contrasts, with the artist's surprise, or Collins may be making a dig at society’s perception of feminine beauty.
Regardless of this, Marian is intelligent, good at chess, and, like Walter, has deductive reasoning: as soon as Walter describes his encounter with the Woman in White, she searches through her mother’s letters until she finds a clue and puts the pieces together. She is also resolute and courageous. Once she realises what she and Laura are up against, she takes steps to find out as much as she can in order to arm herself - and Laura - against the Count and Glyde.
The lady's complexion was almost swarthy, and the dark down on her upper lip was almost a moustache. She had a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw; prominent, piercing, resolute brown eyes; and thick, coal-black hair, growing unusually low down on her forehead.
Walter Hartright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 6
Laura Fairlie
Laura is the Limmeridge heiress, half-sister to Marian Halcombe, and shares an uncanny resemblance to Anne Catherick. She shares Anne’s fragility, and she also shares Marian’s resolution in her own unique way. She will not give up on a promise she made to her late father, and she also resolutely refuses to sign the documents Glyde attempts to force on her.
Her personal morality tells her she must tell Glyde of her feelings before the wedding, leaving him free to break off the engagement if he chooses. Her trusting nature ill prepares her for the cynical treatment she receives for being honest. Where Marian draws strength from anger, Laura suffers from heightened sensibility.
...Lovely eyes in colour, lovely eyes in form—large and tender and quietly thoughtful—but beautiful above all things in the clear truthfulness of look that dwells in their inmost depths.
Walter Hartright, 1st Epoch, Chapter 8
Sir Percival Glyde
Glyde is deep in debt, having squandered the fortune left to him. He has a secret that could at best have him sent to a penal colony and he is desperate to marry an heiress. None of this, of course, is revealed immediately.
On the surface, he is one of the landed gentry, sophisticated and educated with (at first) every appearance of being a humane and considerate gentleman. His cold aloofness, arrogance, and sheer bad temper lie just beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest provocation: a sign of the extremity of his terror at being found out.
He is mad—mad with the terrors of a guilty conscience.
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 7
Count Fosco
One of Collins’ finest creations, the Count is a superior criminal mind of the utmost suavity, perception, and brilliance. He resembles (a very corpulent) Napoleon in appearance, his skills are many, his patience endless, and his movements as silent as a cat. Despite their differences, there is a magnetic attraction between Fosco and (unwillingly) Marian - intellectually they are well-matched. Fosco is a worthy foe to Marian’s intelligence and sensibility. He idolizes her for her brains and personality, and this idolisation holds his hand at a pivotal moment in the novel.
He looks like a man who could tame anything. If he had married a tigress, instead of a woman, he would have tamed the tigress...
Marian Halcombe, 2nd Epoch, Chapter 2
The Woman in White: themes
Identity is a recurring theme in several of Collins’ most important books, including No Name (1862), Armadale (1864), and The Moonstone (1868). In The Woman in White, identity lies at the heart of the story: a deeply indebted baronet colludes with his Italian associate to switch the identity of his wealthy wife with that of Anne Catherick, whom he has had placed in a lunatic asylum.
The Woman in White and identity
The Woman in White is about forgery, fraud and secrets. Its plot turns on a question of identity, in particular the identity of Ann Catherick. This leads to the stealing of Laura Fairlie’s identity later on. Then there is the question of Sir Percival Glyde’s identity. All of these characters have identities that are either questioned, or questionable. Glyde’s collaborator Count Fosco also has a secret to keep concerning his identity.
Glyde’s secret concerns his birth; in order to silence the woman (Anne Catherick) who claims to know his secret, and to access Laura’s fortune, he plots with Count Fosco to switch the women’s identities. However, their original plan is slightly marred when the substitute (Anne) dies suddenly. They forge death certificates to suggest Laura has died instead, and place her meanwhile in a lunatic asylum. Her half-sister and their drawing master help her to escape the asylum and look for a way of proving her real identity.
Note: This is also the first novel to use methods of investigation and deduction, (and some shadowing) to solve a crime.
The Woman in White and secrets
The Woman in White is also about secrets. Glyde’s secret concerns his birth; born illegitimately, he has no legal right to the property of Blackwater. Desperate to maintain status he has at some point in the past forged his parents’ marriage certificate. Convinced that Anne Catherick knows his secret, he has her placed in a lunatic asylum.
Count Fosco has a secret: he is a former member of a secret society called The Brotherhood. This is revealed in the final chapters of the novel, when Walter Hartright follows the Count to the opera, taking with him his Italian friend Pesca in the hopes that Pesca can identify him. Pesca does not recognise the Count, but the Count recognises Pesca, and is clearly terrified of him. By association, Pesca’s secret identity as a secretary within the Brotherhood is revealed.
Finally, Anne Catherick also has another identity: she is Laura’s half-sister, born as the result of an affair between Mrs Catherick and Laura’s father.
The Woman in White property
The theme of property in The Woman in White is intricately linked to the novel's exploration of power, control, and gender roles. Throughout the novel, property is used as a means of exerting power and control over others, particularly women.
One of the key examples of this theme is the character of Laura Fairlie, who is a wealthy heiress with a large inheritance. Her property, which includes her estate, her money, and even her own body, is constantly under threat from the male characters in the novel. Sir Percival Glyde, Laura's husband, seeks to control her property in order to maintain his own social status and financial security. He also attempts to force Laura to sign over her inheritance to him, which would effectively make her powerless and dependent on him.
Similarly, the character of Anne Catherick is also connected to the theme of property. Her mother was disowned by her family and disinherited from her estate, which has led to Anne being deprived of her rightful inheritance. This deprivation of property has contributed to Anne's sense of isolation and vulnerability, and has made her a target for those seeking to exert control over her.
The theme of property highlights the ways in which property can be used to exert power over others, particularly women, and how the denial of property can lead to vulnerability and oppression.
The Woman in White - Key takeaways
Wilkie Collins (1824 - 1889) is credited with having written the first ‘sensation’ novel, The Woman in White.
The Woman in White is published in 1860 and becomes an international bestseller.
According to the artist John E. Millais, Wilkie Collins did meet a woman in white, who may have partly inspired the story.
- The key themes of The Woman in White are identity and property.
- The Woman in White is the first of Collins’ four most important novels (the other three are Armadale, No Name and The Moonstone).
1 J.G.Millais, The life and letters of Sir John Everett Millais, 1905.
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