Arguably the most important imagery in The Woman in White is precisely that which its title conjures up. The title gives the reader the expectation that a character dressed in white will eventually arrive, and that she will be central to the novel's plot. And, sure enough, as Walter walks through London in the middle of the night, he meets "a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments." He describes her at length in Chapter 4 of the First Epoch, Part 1:
All I could discern distinctly by the moonlight, was a colourless, youthful face, meagre and sharp to look at, about the cheeks and chin; large, grave, wistfully-attentive eyes; nervous, uncertain lips; and light hair of a pale, brownish-yellow hue. [...] She held a small bag in her hand: and her dress—bonnet, shawl, and gown all of white—was, so far as I could guess, certainly not composed of very delicate or very expensive materials.
After they part ways, Walter refers to her for the first time as the "woman in white." This title comes to be repeated several times right after, as he witnesses two men in a carriage asking a policeman whether he's seen a "woman in white" in the area. The woman's clothes, and specifically their monochrome nature, come to be a way for Walter and Marian to identify Anne Catherick before they know her name. It also becomes a tool by which characters, like the men in the carriage, investigate whether other characters have come across her. In a way, her unusual appearance is an essential mechanism that Collins uses to make Anne Catherick a character before she more officially joins the novel's cast of named, known characters.
When Walter goes to Limmeridge, the reader discovers that the novel's title could also be referring to Laura Fairlie. In his first description of her, he writes that she was "unpretendingly and almost poorly dressed in plain white muslin." He goes on to say that it was "beautifully put on," but "the sort of dress which the wife or daughter of a poor man might have worn." The reader eventually learns that Laura and Anne resemble one another in their physical characteristics as well, but the similar preference for white clothes is the first thing that binds the two characters together. The color symbolizes their mutual innocence and mutual victimhood.
It turns out that Anne's style choices were influenced by Laura's mother, who believed that young girls look "neater and better" in all white. In Chapter 8 of the First Epoch, Part 1, Marian finds a letter in which Mrs. Fairlie describes a pupil of hers named Anne Catherick. Mrs. Fairlie gave her some of Laura's old white frocks and hats, which prompted an outpouring of gratitude from Anne:
She kissed it, Philip; and said (oh, so earnestly!), ‘I will always wear white as long as I live. It will help me to remember you, ma’am, and to think that I am pleasing you still, when I go away and see you no more.’ This is only one specimen of the quaint things she says so prettily. Poor little soul! She shall have a stock of white frocks, made with good deep tucks, to let out for her as she grows.
Mrs. Fairlie mentions that Anne is a bit strange, and that she has a tendency to become very attached to certain ideas. Not only does Anne's white clothing symbolize her innocence and victimhood, her determination to wear white also comes to indicate her fragile mental health.
Arguably the most important imagery in The Woman in White is precisely that which its title conjures up. The title gives the reader the expectation that a character dressed in white will eventually arrive, and that she will be central to the novel's plot. And, sure enough, as Walter walks through London in the middle of the night, he meets "a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments." He describes her at length in Chapter 4 of the First Epoch, Part 1:
All I could discern distinctly by the moonlight, was a colourless, youthful face, meagre and sharp to look at, about the cheeks and chin; large, grave, wistfully-attentive eyes; nervous, uncertain lips; and light hair of a pale, brownish-yellow hue. [...] She held a small bag in her hand: and her dress—bonnet, shawl, and gown all of white—was, so far as I could guess, certainly not composed of very delicate or very expensive materials.
After they part ways, Walter refers to her for the first time as the "woman in white." This title comes to be repeated several times right after, as he witnesses two men in a carriage asking a policeman whether he's seen a "woman in white" in the area. The woman's clothes, and specifically their monochrome nature, come to be a way for Walter and Marian to identify Anne Catherick before they know her name. It also becomes a tool by which characters, like the men in the carriage, investigate whether other characters have come across her. In a way, her unusual appearance is an essential mechanism that Collins uses to make Anne Catherick a character before she more officially joins the novel's cast of named, known characters.
When Walter goes to Limmeridge, the reader discovers that the novel's title could also be referring to Laura Fairlie. In his first description of her, he writes that she was "unpretendingly and almost poorly dressed in plain white muslin." He goes on to say that it was "beautifully put on," but "the sort of dress which the wife or daughter of a poor man might have worn." The reader eventually learns that Laura and Anne resemble one another in their physical characteristics as well, but the similar preference for white clothes is the first thing that binds the two characters together. The color symbolizes their mutual innocence and mutual victimhood.
It turns out that Anne's style choices were influenced by Laura's mother, who believed that young girls look "neater and better" in all white. In Chapter 8 of the First Epoch, Part 1, Marian finds a letter in which Mrs. Fairlie describes a pupil of hers named Anne Catherick. Mrs. Fairlie gave her some of Laura's old white frocks and hats, which prompted an outpouring of gratitude from Anne:
She kissed it, Philip; and said (oh, so earnestly!), ‘I will always wear white as long as I live. It will help me to remember you, ma’am, and to think that I am pleasing you still, when I go away and see you no more.’ This is only one specimen of the quaint things she says so prettily. Poor little soul! She shall have a stock of white frocks, made with good deep tucks, to let out for her as she grows.
Mrs. Fairlie mentions that Anne is a bit strange, and that she has a tendency to become very attached to certain ideas. Not only does Anne's white clothing symbolize her innocence and victimhood, her determination to wear white also comes to indicate her fragile mental health.
The Second Epoch of The Woman in White opens with Marian's impressions of Blackwater Park and its environs, where she awaits the return of Laura and Sir Percival from their honeymoon. The imagery of the new setting that she provides in her narration is not particularly positive, as she finds Blackwater a gloomy and stiff change from the familiar and beautiful Limmeridge. Exploring the grounds, Marian arrives at Blackwater Lake and describes it in detail:
As I walked down to the lake, I saw that the ground on its farther side was damp and marshy, overgrown with rank grass and dismal willows. The water, which was clear enough on the open sandy side, where the sun shone, looked black and poisonous opposite to me, where it lay deeper under the shade of the spongy banks, and the rank overhanging thickets and tangled trees.
The diction she employs to describe the area around Blackwater Lake reflects her disgust with the place. She uses a number of words that have a negative connotation, such as "damp," "rank," "dismal," and "poisonous." Many of the images revolve around moisture and stagnant water, which are often breeding grounds for disease—or at the very least produce bad smells. Marian's feelings appear to be contaminated by her sickening surroundings. Another image, that of the thickets and trees, suggest snarled up knots that cannot be undone. She goes on:
The frogs were croaking, and the rats were slipping in and out of the shadowy water, like live shadows themselves, as I got nearer to the marshy side of the lake. I saw here, lying half in and half out of the water, the rotten wreck of an old overturned boat, with a sickly spot of sunlight glimmering through a gap in the trees on its dry surface, and a snake basking in the midst of the spot, fantastically coiled, and treacherously still.
The negative diction and tone continue as Marian describes what she says, with words like "rotten," "sickly," and "treacherously." There is minimal movement in the scene, aside from the frogs and rats—animals that are associated with grime and disease. This imagery reflects Marian's feelings about her new home. She feels lonely, melancholy, and trapped, which the barren and decaying landscape only reinforces. The imagery also foreshadows the bad experiences that she and Laura will have at Blackwater Park.
Just like Anne Catherick's clothing is important to the novel, Count Fosco's appearance occupies a central role in the novel's visual imagery. The reader hears quite a bit about Count Fosco before he appears as an active character. When he does, Marian takes on the task of introducing him to the reader in the first part of the Second Epoch.
The first thing Marian says about Count Fosco's physical appearance is that he is as fat as Henry the Eighth himself." She goes on to describe him by comparing him to Napoleon the Great:
He is a most remarkable likeness, on a large scale, of the Great Napoleon. His features have Napoleon’s magnificent regularity: his expression recalls the grandly calm, immovable power of the Great Soldier’s face.
These comparisons to renowned leaders emphasize that the Count commands respect. The reader comes to visualize Count Fosco as a big, tall, dark man with a powerful countenance. His stature is important to his character development, and all the characters who describe him mention it. Mr. Fairlie, for example, writes that the Count "was such an alarmingly large person" that he "felt certain that he would shake the floor, and knock down [his] art-treasures."
Marian continues beyond his size, however. She fixates on his eyes, which greatly fascinate her, writing that what "singles him out from the rank and file of humanity" lies entirely "in the extraordinary expression and extraordinary power of his eyes." She expands on this:
[Count Fosco's eyes] are the most unfathomable gray eyes I ever saw: and they have at times a cold, clear, beautiful, irresistible glitter in them, which forces me to look at him, and yet causes me sensations, when I do look, which I would rather not feel.
This focus on his eyes symbolizes Count Fosco's perceptiveness and control—Marian feels as though he sees, and therefore knows, everything. In addition, there is something threatening to their gray coldness, and to the undesirable effect they have on her. The imagery that the reader is given of Count Fosco establishes him as a man with an immense physical presence, but whose power especially lies in his discerning and cunning intelligence.
