Wilkie Collins’ The Woman In White: 19th Century Victorian femininity e

Wilkie Collins The womanhood In White 19th Century Victorian femininity unfastened through the accounts of multiple narratorsReaders of nineteenth century British literature infer typical Victorian women to be flighty, emotion every(prenominal)y charged, and fully dependent on the men in their lives. One envisions a corseted woman who is a obedient wife, pleasant entertainer, and always the model of etiquette. Wilkie Collins acknowledges this stereotype in his novel The Woman in White, but he contradicts this image by creating operose women in the characters of Marian Halcombe, and to a lesser extent, of Laura Fairlie. Collins also explores these mightily women in relation to marriage, and their loss of identity in becoming a wife, as exemplified by Madame Fosco. He reveals personal details about the women by employing a journal-style novel, one in which most characters have the ability to get word the action in their own words and thoughts. In this way, Collins tramp c raft a mystery where both sexes are in a constant power struggle and the women are as well-equipped to be detectives as the men.The character of Laura Fairlie is an interesting one to explore on one hand, she appears to be the embodiment of Victorian sentiment. Laura is emotional and considered very feminine by all narrators in the novel, and initially seems to be controlled by men because of the promise she makes to her bring forth on his death-bed. Her consent to this loveless marriage with Sir Percival Glyde also proves her to be stronger than an sightly Victorian woman might be she is a moral, respectable woman, whose moral sense will not let her betray the promise to her father for an pick escape. The subscriber first meets Laura through Walter Hartrights eyes, and... ...ntellect with regard to detection and figure out a mystery.In The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins employs a ever-changing narrator that gives voice to powerful women and their struggle against the oppre ssions of marriage. With the characterizations of Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie, he dismisses the modify notions of Victorian womanhood, and places equal power between the men and women in his novel. Madame Fosco is model of the passive Victorian woman, and her extreme change in character forces the commentator to examine the negative aspects of marriage for these women more closely. With the distinct accounts of different authors, the reader is able to gain insights into these women and their motives for accepting or denying their gender roles in the novel. plant life CitedCollins, Wilkie. The Woman In White. Oxford University Press, Inc New York. 1996.