Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Fosco tells Sir Percival that Marian is unlike other women: she is as strong and intelligent as a man. He says
that Sir Percival cannot treat Marian as he treats Laura and other traditional Victorian women because she
surpasses them in intelligence and courage. Instead of despising Marian for not conforming to traditional
Victorian femininity, Fosco argues that she is superior to Laura and that he and Sir Percival should treat her
as their equal. The contradiction of Walter‟s comment that Marian is a “good angel” (643) and Fosco‟s
assertion that Marian is comparable to a man demonstrates a new type of woman. Marian‟s masculine
qualities, however, do not threaten the men in the novel, and this explains why Fosco and Walter adore
her.
Marian is intelligent, independent and powerful, but she does not threaten patriarchal authority.
Thus, British Victorian society and the other characters in the novel view her deviation from the feminine
ideal as non-threatening, and they love her for her unusual masculinity. Fosco confesses his love for Marian
when he says that she is,
the magnificent creature who is inscribed on my heart as „Marian‟—who is known in the
colder atmosphere of Society, as „Miss Halcombe.‟ . . . Just Heaven! with what
inconceivable rapidity I learnt to adore that woman. At sixty, I worshipped her with the
volcanic ardour of eighteen. (614-615)
Since Fosco is the villain of the novel, his attraction to Marian is suspicious and alarming. His love for her,
however, redeems him and emphasizes his effervescent charm. In Margaret Oliphant's review, "Sensation
Novels" she argues that
[Fosco] is more real, more genuine, more Italian even, in his fatness and size, in his love of
pets and pastry, than the whole array of conventional Italian villains, elegant and subtle,
whom we are accustomed to meet in literature. (567)
Oliphant, as well as most readers of The Woman in White, cannot help but love Fosco, and his love for
Marian emphasizes the charm of her own unusual qualities. In addition to Fosco, Walter also harbors a deep
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