Themes
Key
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 walks home across Hampstead Heath. When he reaches the crossroads, he suddenly he feels a hand on his shoulder and is shocked to find a woman dressed in white clothes standing in the road behind him. She asks Walter if the road leads to London. Walter observes that her face is pinched and thin and that there is something watchful and guarded about her manner, which is not that of a lady of noble rank but also not that of a very poor woman. Noting Walter’s hesitation, the woman repeats her question and Walter replies that it is the road to London.
Walter guesses that the woman is neither very rich nor very poor based on her mannerisms. This suggests that a person’s class can be determined by their behavior, accent, or use of language, among other things. The nineteenth-century class system was heavily based on social etiquette, and upper-class people deliberately behaved in ways which distinguished them from lower-class people.
Themes
Literary Devices
Walter apologizes to the woman and confesses that he was shocked by her sudden appearance. The woman then asks Walter if he suspects her of “doing wrong” and becomes panicked and fretful. She explains that she has had an accident and shrinks away when Walter tries to calm her. She tells him that she has watched him from the bushes at the side of the road to see “what sort of man he was” before approaching. Concerned for her, Walter asks her if he can do anything to help and the woman asks if he will show her where to get a cab in London on the condition that he does not try to “interfere with her” in any way. Walter agrees and they walk towards London together.
Walter is kind of respectful towards the woman, but she misunderstands him and becomes afraid. This suggests that the woman has a guilty conscience or is hiding something. She seems to be afraid that she will be forcibly detained or imprisoned. Just as Walter can tell the woman’s social background, the woman too has judged Walter by his appearance and decided he is safe to approach. The woman is afraid of being approached by the wrong type of man, because some men are a danger to women.
Themes
On the way, the woman asks Walter if he knows any noble men in London. Walter tells her that he does not, and the woman responds darkly that there is one Baronet she hopes he does not know. Walter asks for this man’s name, but the woman refuses to tell Walter. She then asks Walter about his own station in life and, when he tells her that he is only a drawing teacher, she is relieved and says that she feels she can trust him. She asks Walter if he lives in London and he says that he does but that he will leave the next day for Limmeridge House. The woman is excited by this and seems to know Limmeridge House.
It is implied that the woman is afraid of upper-class men, particularly the “Baronet” she mentions. Upper-class men of rank wielded huge amounts of social power in the nineteenth century and could threaten a poor, or even a wealthy, woman’s reputation by spreading lies about her or suggesting that she was sexually promiscuous. Nineteenth-century British society was very patriarchal, and most people would believe a man’s word over a woman’s, especially a man with a lot of social power. Walter seems unthreatening to the woman because he is at least lower middle-class.
Themes
Struck by this coincidence, Walter stops, and the woman becomes frightened and thinks that he has heard someone following then. Walter tries to calm her by asking who she knows at Limmeridge. The woman replies that Mr. Philip Fairlie and Mrs. Fairlie are dead and that their daughter is probably married by now. She does not know who lives there now but says that she “loves them for Mrs. Fairlie’s sake.” As they reach London, the woman begins to hurry. Although Walter would like to question her more about Limmeridge, she becomes distracted looking for a cab.
The woman reveals that she has connections at Limmeridge House. This adds to the foreshadowing associated with Walter’s upcoming journey to Limmeridge and his apprehension about accepting the position there. The woman suggests that the family who once lived at Limmeridge were very good, kind people.
Themes
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They haven’t traveled very far when a cab pulls up nearby and drops off a passenger. Walter makes sure that the cab is going the right way and that the driver is not drunk, and the woman in white clothes climbs eagerly into the carriage. The cab drives away, and Walter continues his walk home. Ten minutes later, a carriage passes him, and the driver leans out to address a policeman on the other side of the road. Walter hears the man in the carriage ask the policeman if he has seen a “woman in white.” The policeman asks why he is looking for this woman, and the man in the carriage replies that she has “escaped from his asylum.”
Walter is protective towards the woman and recognizes that she may be threatened by the male cab driver if he is drunk or seeks to take advantage of her. The shocking revelation that the woman has “escaped from an asylum” reinforces the atmosphere of tension and anxiety which is building around Walter’s connection with Limmeridge House. It also contributes to the mystery of the novel, as the reader is left wondering who this woman is and what she will do next now that Walter has helped her escape.
Themes
