LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Woman in White, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Evidence and Law
Morality, Crime, and Punishment
Identity and Appearance
Marriage and Gender
Class, Industry, and Social Place
Summary
Analysis
Walter sets out for Hampshire and visits Mr. Dawson, but Mr. Dawson is unable to give him the date he visited Marian, the same day that Sir Percival left in the night and that Laura was taken to London. The Inn where Sir Percival stayed on the night of his departure is closed and Walter decides to visit Blackwater to speak to the servants. On his way up the drive to the house, he sees a short man dressed in black who he thinks is a clerk. He finds Margaret Poacher there with another female servant and the gardener. The gardener is friendly and talkative but none of them can give Walter the exact date of Laura’s or Sir Percival’s departure.
Walter fails in his plan to discover the date of Laura’s journey to London.
Active
Themes
Walter makes to leave the property but, as he does, sees that the man in black has returned and is watching him. He approaches the man and tries to engage him politely, but the man tries to pick a fight with Walter. Walter knows then that this man is a spy of Sir Percival’s and that he wants Walter to assault him so that Walter will be arrested. Walter, therefore, quickly leaves the grounds and returns to London, disappointed with the day’s inquiries.
Sir Percival is trying to get Walter out of the way so that he will not be able to investigate him. He has told his spies to provoke Walter so that Walter will be placed in prison for assault.
Active
Themes
Walter now knows that he may have no choice but to threaten or use violence against Sir Percival to get to the secret. Although he wishes to act nobly for Laura’s sake, he also knows that part of him longs to get revenge on Sir Percival for marrying Laura. Since he has had no luck with the dates, he must try and get to Sir Percival through the secret. He decides to find and question Mrs. Clements, Anne Catherick’s companion. He hopes that she will tell him something about Mrs. Catherick which he may be able to use against her, as Mrs. Catherick too knows the secret. He writes to Todd’s Corner, where Anne and Mrs. Clements stayed at Limmeridge, and asks if they know where Mrs. Clements is.
Although Walter is a virtuous character and does not wish to use violence, he feels it may be necessary in this case to bring justice against Sir Percival if he cannot attain justice in a legal way, because the conventions of the legal system are too stacked against him. Although it is illegal to commit blackmail, Sir Percival has left Walter with no choice and has essentially provoked him into action, which will prove to be for the greater good if they succeed in punishing Sir Percival for his crimes.
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Themes
While Walter waits for their reply, Marian tells him the history of Sir Percival’s family. His father was born with a serious “physical deformity” and was not popular in the village of Blackwater. The family left the village after an argument with the local minister and did not return. Sir Percival’s parents both died quite young while living abroad and Sir Percival returned to England as an adult, where he became friends with Laura’s father, Mr. Philip Fairlie.
Sir Percival has a mysterious family history and comes from a family of social outcasts. This reflects Victorian society’s rejection of and cruelty towards people with physical and mental disabilities and suggests that this type of unfair social isolation can make people bitter and cruel.
Active
Themes
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Although Walter feels that everything has been against him in discovering the truth of the case, his luck changes when he receives the reply from Todd’s Corner which gives him Mrs. Clements’ London address.
Mrs. Clements was Anne’s close companion and Anne may have told her Sir Percival’s secret.