The Woman In White, character is subordinated to plot. Theformer is dictated by the latter. It is Anne Catherick's initial confrontationwith Hatright on the road to Limmeridge House that sets the whole chain ofevents in motion. In fact it could be traced back to Hatright's associationwith Pesca; it is the Italian - returning a favour to Hartright for saving himfrom drowning - who secures his position as Drawing Master employed byFrederick Fairlie. The first narrator observes: If I had not dived for Professor Pesca when he lay under water on his shingle bed, I should...never have been connected with the story which these pages will relate. (p.37) Contemporary critics tended to link - wrongly I believe - novels of incident such as The Woman In White to sensationalism and novels of character torealism. I will illustrate later how I feel this judgement is flawed but I ammerely pointing out here that the supremacy of plot breached the realisticfaith. As an adjunct to this, it must be admitted that depth of character(with the possible exception of Count Fosco) and plausibility of motive iswanting to a certain extent within The Woman In White. Frederick Fairlie isjust a hyperchondriac; Marian Halcombe's characteristics are seen to bethose of strength and bravery; Laura is weak-willed and sensitive whileHartright is a combination of the latter two. It would be a mistake to saythat the figures which populate the novel are colourless - they are not - butthey do lack the complexity of, say, a Dorothea Brooke. In addition, traditional realism demands that the actions of a character and motivesbehind them be plausible, be `believable'. Plausibility does seem lacking insections of the novel. Walter Hartright's sudden move to Honduras is a primeexample of this. He becomes timid, frail and effete, deciding to go to `anothercountry to...
