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
The next section of the narrative is a letter written by Mr. Fairlie, which he has been asked to write by Walter Hartright, and which details his interactions with Count Fosco and a visit he received from Laura’s maid, Fanny. Mr. Fairlie feels very sorry for himself because he has been asked to write this letter—which is a terrible exertion for one in such poor health—and is deeply resentful that people will not leave him alone.
Mr. Fairlie’s letter showcases his totally selfish personality and his failure to empathize with or care about anyone other than himself. Considering this, it is very unfortunate that he holds so much power over his nieces’ fates simply because of societal norms.
Themes
Mr. Fairlie says that he cannot possibly remember dates but that he thinks Fanny visited him in June or July. He was busy surveying the artworks he collects—for the sake of the “barbarians” who surround him in the village—when his servant Louis announced that Fanny, Laura’s maid, wished to see him and that she had a letter for him from Marian. Mr. Fairlie was very concerned that the girl’s shoes would squeak and upset him, but he graciously agreed to see her, nonetheless.
The timing of events in the novel—particularly this period between June and July—is crucial as the plot continues. Although Mr. Fairlie is totally self-absorbed, he keeps up a pretense that his interest in culture is necessary to maintain artistic standards in the country. Of course, this is not true and his behavior benefits no one but himself. This is Collins’s satirical criticism of members of the upper class who do not contribute to society at all, and who snobbishly consider themselves better than lower-class people because of their education while actually doing harm to others through their inaction.
Themes
When Fanny is shown in, she begins to cry, and Mr. Fairlie irritably asks Louis to step in and find out what she wants. He wishes the girl would not go into so much irrelevant detail but learns that she has been dismissed from Blackwater and was sent with a letter in her “bosom” from Marian. While resting at the Inn in the village—where she stayed the night after leaving Blackwater—she ordered a cup of tea and was terribly surprised when Madame Fosco suddenly burst into her room. Madame Fosco told her that Marian sent her with some messages which Marian forgot to give to Fanny. When she saw how upset Fanny was, Madame Fosco acted very kindly and made the tea for her. After drinking a cup, Fanny fell asleep and, when she woke up, Madame Fosco was gone and the letters she carried were crumpled.
Fanny describes the evening she was dismissed from Blackwater by Sir Percival; the same day that he caught Laura on her way to meet Anne Catherick. Fanny’s account of events makes it clear that Count Fosco and Madame Fosco knew that Marian had gone to the village to give Fanny some letters. This is why Count Fosco deliberately brought Marian the postbag—to intimidate her—and why Madame Fosco made the tea in a hurry and looked flushed when Marian returned to the library later that evening; she was tired from her run back from the village. It is implied that Madame Fosco drugged Fanny and read her letters.
Themes
Mr. Fairlie takes Fanny’s letter and unsympathetically dismisses the crying girl. After she leaves, he has a nap to recover. When he wakes up and reads Marian’s letter, he becomes deeply indignant about the favors that married people expect from single ones. He feels that Marian has threatened him by suggesting terrible things will happen if he does not take his nieces back into his care and is deeply resentful of this. He requests that Marian come to Limmeridge to talk about the issue with him before he agrees to take his nieces back.
Rather than sympathizing with his niece or perceiving the danger that Marian and Laura are in, Mr. Fairlie relates the whole situation back to himself and the inconvenience it will cause him if he has to get involved. This furthers the portrayal of Mr. Fairlie as a useless member of the nobility who does nothing but live in comfort and ignore the suffering of others.
Themes
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A few days later, Mr. Fairlie receives a concerned note from his lawyer, Mr. Kyrle, which says that the lawyer received an envelope addressed in Marian’s hand-writing but which only had a blank sheet of paper in it. He believes the note has been tampered with. Mr. Fairlie ignores this and hopes that he will be left in peace. Five days after this he receives another visitor—this time, Count Fosco.
Madame Fosco has not only read Fanny’s letters but has stolen them and replaced the notes inside them with blank sheets of paper.
Themes
Mr. Fairlie immediately assumes that Count Fosco has come to borrow money from him. Instead, Count Fosco has come to inform him that Marian is gravely ill. Mr. Fairlie takes a liking to the Count at first because the Count admires his artworks and is sympathetic towards his suffering. When Count Fosco tells Mr. Fairlie that Marian is ill with fever—after being out in the rain—Mr. Fairlie becomes utterly panicked at the possibility that he will be infected by it, and this distracts him from the interview.
Mr. Fairlie is greedy and obsessed with his own comfort and, therefore, thinks that everyone is trying to take this from him by trying to access his money. He is also slightly suspicious of Count Fosco because he is a foreigner. However, Mr. Fairlie and Count Fosco get along because they are both superficial and affect the false delicacy and refinement of aristocrats. Mr. Fairlie’s aristocratic pretense masks his total selfishness while Count Fosco’s masks his brutality.
Themes
Literary Devices
Count Fosco goes on to say that Sir Percival Glyde and Laura do not get along and that he advises they separate for a short time. He asks Mr. Fairlie if Laura can stay at Limmeridge. Count Fosco is so insistent and Mr. Fairlie so desperate to get rid of him that, after some persuasion by the Count, he writes to Laura inviting her back to Limmeridge just to get rid of him. After the Count has gone, Mr. Fairlie bathes himself and orders everything in the room cleaned to protect himself from illness.
Count Fosco knows how to manipulate Mr. Fairlie, as he succeeds in manipulating everyone, and gets his own way. He now has a letter of proof that states that Laura will separate from her husband and return to Limmeridge.
Themes
