The Woman in White is Wilkie Collins's fifth published novel, written in 1860 and set from 1849 to 1850. It started its publication on 26 November 1859 and its publication was completed on 25 August 1860. It is a mystery novel and falls under the genre of "sensation novels".
The story can be seen as an early example of detective fiction with many of the sleuthing techniques of protagonist Walter Hartright being employed by later private detectives. The use of multiple narrators (including nearly all the principal characters) draws on Collins's legal training,
and as he points out in his preamble: "the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness". Collins also drew on memories of his father, the artist William Collins, in the creation of drawing master Walter Hartright, and populates his story with a number of Italian characters, likely inspired by the two years he spent in Italy during his childhood.
In 2003, Robert McCrum writing for The Observer listed The Woman in White number 23 in "the top 100 greatest novels of all time", and the novel was listed at number 77 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Contents
Plot
Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, encounters and gives directions to a mysterious and distressed woman dressed entirely in white, lost in London; he later learns she has escaped from an asylum. Soon afterwards, he travels to Limmeridge House in Cumberland, having been hired as a drawing teacher on the recommendation of his friend, Pesca, an Italian language teacher. The Limmeridge household comprises the invalid Frederick Fairlie and Walter's students: Laura Fairlie, Mr. Fairlie's niece, and Marian Halcombe, her devoted half-sister. Walter realises that Laura bears an astonishing resemblance to the woman in white, who is known to the household by the name of Anne Catherick, a mentally disabled child who formerly lived near Limmeridge and was devoted to Laura's mother, who first dressed her in white.
Over the next few months, Walter and Laura fall in love, despite Laura's betrothal to Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet. Upon realising this, Marian advises Walter to leave Limmeridge. Laura receives an anonymous letter warning her against marrying Sir Percival. Walter deduces that Anne has sent the letter and encounters her again in Cumberland; he becomes convinced that Sir Percival originally placed Anne in the asylum. Despite the misgivings of the family lawyer over the financial terms of the marriage settlement, which will give the entirety of Laura's fortune to Sir Percival if she dies without leaving an heir, and Laura's confession that she loves another man, Laura and Sir Percival marry in December 1849 and travel to Italy for six months. Concurrently, Walter joins an expedition to Honduras.
After six months, Sir Percival and Lady Glyde (Laura) return to his house, Blackwater Park in Hampshire; accompanied by Sir Percival's friend, Count Fosco (married to Laura's aunt). Marian, at Laura's request, lives at Blackwater and learns that Sir Percival is in financial difficulties. Sir Percival attempts to bully Laura into signing a document that would allow him to use her marriage settlement of £20,000, which Laura refuses to do. Anne, who is now terminally ill, travels to Blackwater Park and contacts Laura, saying that she holds a secret that will ruin Sir Percival's life. Before she can disclose the secret, Sir Percival discovers their communication, and believing Laura knows his secret, becomes extremely paranoid and attempts to keep her held at Blackwater. With the problem of Laura's refusal to give away her fortune and Anne's knowledge of his secret, Fosco conspires to use the resemblance between Laura and Anne to exchange their two identities. Sir Percival and Fosco will trick both individuals into travelling with them to London; Laura will be placed in an asylum under the identity of Anne, and Anne will be buried under the identity of Laura upon her imminent death. Marian overhears enough of the plan to understand they are conspiring against someone's life but not any of the details, but becomes soaked by rain in her hiding place and falls ill.
Characters
Walter Hartright – A young teacher of drawing, something of an everyman character, and distinguished by a strong sense of justice.
Frederick Fairlie – A wealthy hypochondriac land-owner: the uncle of Laura Fairlie, distinguished principally by his mock-politeness toward all other characters.
Laura Fairlie – Mr. Fairlie's gentle, guileless, pretty niece: an heiress and orphan.
Marian Halcombe – Laura's elder half-sister and companion; not attractive but intelligent and resourceful.
Anne Catherick ("The Woman in White") – An unconventional young woman distinguished by her insistence on white clothes; an illegitimate daughter of Laura's father.
Jane Catherick – Anne's unsympathetic mother; in league with Sir Percival Glyde in committing her daughter to the asylum. Depicted as an unpleasant character.
Vincent Gilmore – Lawyer to the Fairlies and close friend.
Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet – Laura's fiancé and then husband; able to appear charming and gracious when he wishes but often abrasive.
Count Fosco – Sir Percival's closest friend; his full name is Isidor Ottavio Baldassare Fosco. A grossly fat Italian with a mysterious past: eccentric, bombastic, urbane but intelligent and menacing. He keeps canaries and mice as pets.
Countess Fosco – Laura's aunt: once a giddy girl but now humourless and obedient to her husband.
Professor Pesca – A teacher of Italian and good friend of Walter. The professor finds Walter the Limmeridge job, introducing him to Laura and Marian, and proves to be Fosco's unexpected nemesis.
Themes and influences
A theme of the story is the unequal position of married women in law at the time. Laura Glyde's interests have been neglected by her uncle, and her fortune of £20,000 (then an enormous sum of money) by default falls to her husband on her death. Collins dedicated this novel to Bryan Procter, poet and Commissioner for Lunacy, and was inspired by the case of Louisa Nottidge, who was abducted and imprisoned for the monetary convenience of her family. Women could be imprisoned in "lunatic asylums" if they became embarrassing or inconvenient to their husbands or fathers. In addition, before the passage of the Married Women's Property Act 1882, all of a wife's assets passed automatically to her husband.
Publication
The novel was first published in serial form in 1859—60, appearing in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round (UK) and Harper's Weekly (US). It was published in book form on 15 August 1860.
Critical reception
The novel was extremely successful commercially, but contemporary critics were generally hostile. Modern critics regard it as Collins's best novel, a view with which Collins concurred, as it is the only novel named in his chosen epitaph: "Author of The Woman in White and other works of fiction".
The novel’s continuing influence in the 21st century led to the publication of a 12-novel series by American author Brenda Clough, following up on the plot, with Marian Halcombe as protagonist.
Adaptations
Theatre
1860 Surrey Theatre stage melodrama The Woman in White
1871 Wilkie Collins stage melodrama The Woman in White
1975 Tim Kelly stage melodrama Egad, the Woman in White
1988 Melissa Murray stage play The Woman in White
2004 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical The Woman in White
2005 Constance Cox stage play The Woman in White
Film and television
two 1912 American silent films
The Woman in White
two 1917 American silent films
The Woman in White with Florence La Badie
Tangled Lives
1921 Austrian silent film The Woman in White
1929 British silent film adapted by Robert Cullen starring Haddon Mason as Walter Hartright and Louise Prussing as Marian Halcombe
The Woman in White
The 1940 film Crimes at the Dark House (1940) directed by George King is loosely based on The Woman in White with Tod Slaughter playing the part of the false Sir Percival Glyde and Hay Petrie as Count Fosco renamed "Dr. Isidore Fosco".
1948 Hollywood film adapted by Stephen Morehouse Avery starring Gig Young as Walter Hartright, Alexis Smith as Marian Halcombe, Eleanor Parker as Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick and Sydney Greenstreet as Count Fosco.
1964 Indian Hindi film Woh Kaun Thi?
1966 BBC serial in six parts starring Alethea Charlton as Marian Halcombe, Jennifer Hilary as Laura Fairlie and Nicholas Pennell as Walter Hartright. All six episodes are believed to be lost.
1969 PTV Drama Safaid Saya starring Badar Munir
1971 German TV miniseries The Woman in White (1971 miniseries), adapted by Herbert Asmodi, directed by Wilhelm Semmelroth, starring Christoph Bantzer as Walter Hartright, Heidelinde Weis as Laura Fairlie/Anne Catherick and Eric Pohlmann as Count Fosco.
Radio
A 12-part adaptation by Howard Agg, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 October–December 1969, with Peter Baldwin as Walter Hartright, Margaret Wolfit as Marian Halcombe, Patricia Gallimore as Laura Fairlie, Denys Hawthorne as Sir Percival Glyde and Francis de Wolff as Count Fosco.
A four-part adaptation by Martyn Wade, broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial November–December 2001, with Toby Stephens as Walter Hartright, Juliet Aubrey as Marian Halcombe, Emily Bruni as Laura Fairlie, Jeremy Clyde as Sir Percival Glyde and Philip Voss as Count Fosco.
Literature
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child published the novel Brimstone (2004), featuring a modern re-imagining of the villain Count Fosco.
James Wilson, The Dark Clue (2001): a "sequel" to The Woman in White
Sarah Waters, Fingersmith (2002) is a reimagining of The Woman in White
Computer games
"Victorian Mysteries: Woman in White" created by FreezeTag Games (2010)