"The Woman in White"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Wilkie Collins' novel, "The Woman in White", a mystery written at a time in which the economic, social, and political worlds of England were in great upheaval, and most significantly, women finally had the right to own their own wealth. In particular, it looks at how the female characters in the novel serve to perpetuate the archetype of the unified woman - the feminine trinity and how their relationships, as such, were not based then upon title, position, economy, or politics as are those of all of the men in the story, but upon their feminine relationship.

From the Paper:

"Collins' story focuses upon the strength of a familial relationship that harkens back to Antigone's dedication to her brother, regardless of the danger to her at the hands of the patriarchy. It is important to note that even in a time in which women were starting to have some legal independence, they were still very much under the control of their husbands and fathers. Thus, as it was for Antigone millennia before, so it was too for Marian and Laura, and also the woman in white (Anne Catherick) - their strength lay not in their financial power, but in their archetypal connection to each other as women. Collin's played this very typical relationship with a significant eye toward showing it's practicality and strength as opposed to the commonly portrayed weakness or "childishness" that many other authors of the time and earlier had patronizingly written into their feminine characters. "

More papers on "The Woman in White":

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• Comparison Essay # 148274 : "A Raisin in the Sun" vs. "Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat"
• Analytical Essay # 53992 : "Women Breaking the Barriers in Literature"

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