The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

❰

1 2

❱

THE horse was instantly pulled up, a few yards beyond the dark place where I stood.

‘Policeman!’ cried the first speaker. ‘Have you seen a woman pass this way?’

‘What sort of woman, sir?’

‘A woman in a lavender-coloured gown —— ‘

‘No, no,’ interposed the second man. ‘The clothes we gave her were found on her bed. She must have gone away in the clothes she wore when she came to us. In white, policeman. A woman in white.’

‘I haven’t seen her, sir.’

‘If you, or any of your men meet with the woman, stop her, and send her in careful keeping to that address. I’ll pay all expenses, and a fair reward into the bargain.’

The policeman looked at the card that was handed down to him. ‘Why are we to stop her, sir? What has she done?’

‘Done! She has escaped from my Asylum. Don’t forget: a woman in white. Drive on.’

by Wilkie Collins 1824-1889

From ‘The Woman in White’ (1873, 1896) by Wilkie Collins (1824-1889).

Précis

As Hartright watches on, one of the men driving the carriage asks the policeman whether he has seen a woman in a lavender dress. At once his companion corrects him: not lavender, but white. And he gives the policeman an address to which to deliver her, should he come across her, most urgently: for she has escaped from an asylum.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

A man spoke to a policeman. ‘Have you seen a woman pass this way?’ he said. ‘What sort of woman?’ replied the policeman.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IAsk. IIKnow. IIIWhether.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Jigsaws

Tags

Read Next