The Legal Atmosphere

Throughout the novel The woman in White, the novelist Wilkie Collins makes evident the weight of British Due Process in the life of the characters and the happenings of the story. A series of civil wrongs dictate the turning points of the novel. The law and its execution are presented to the reader from the beginning, in the style of witnesses testimonies , that as been collected and brought to court by Walter Hartright in what we could call the legal arena of Glyde v. Glyde. “the events which fill these pages might have claimed their share of the public attention in a court of justice” (9).

The legal atmosphere in The Woman in White, as described before, consists of narrative lines as if they were presented in front of a jury, and that shape what and how the events are perceived by the reader. In that sense readers become judges and jury. The narrative of the novel is one rational and structured as the one used in the atmosphere of a court of justice. For instance, after the death of supposed death of Mrs. Glyde, four key witnesses certify it. Among them a doctor, Alfred Goodricke. In his statement we can appreciate the technicality that requires his profession: “I hereby certify that I attended Lady Glyde […] and that the cause of death was, Aneurism. Duration of disease, not known” (405). The jargon of a practitioner of medicine is clear, which provides credibility. He also strengthens the legal authenticity of the certificate by signing it accordingly, by leaving proof of his expertise in medicine: “Prof. Title. M.R.C.S. Eng. L.S.A. (405), first thing that is required of and expert in a tribunal. The legal veracity of The Woman in White is not only portrayed in the way the characters speak to the reader, but in the interac...

... middle of paper ...

...le. In Collins narrative the Victorian law is presented in its true form: a blind set of strict procedures in which a law-abiding attorney will not risk his own neck in a case where evidence proves to be insufficient. As stated by Mr. Kyrle “As a lawyer, and as a lawyer only, it is my duty to tell you, Mr. Hartright, that you have not the shadow of a case... The evidence of lady Glyde's death is... clear and satisfactory” (441). The reader soon suspects that there are testimonies that contain obvious lies as Fosco's or that are just simply unreliable because the memory of the “witness” is not the best or because we are told that they are insane. A lot of suspense created by this lost of objectivity. But at the same time the credibility of the story itself suffer. However, Collins is very skillful to counter this unreliability by the veracity and realism of the law.