The passive Laura Fairlie reflects the prevailing expectation that women should be submissive and obedient. All rights reserved. (Collins 291) Whilst he talks in admiring terms about her he says about Laura that she is a "poor, flimsy, pretty blonde." Dissertation Samples (Written by Students), Please click this link to view samples of our professional work witten by our professional essay writers. Later on in the novel Laura is confined in an asylum under the identity of the mad Anne Catherick, who resembles her very much, by her husband that was after her money all along and declared dead. The first to be introduced to the reader, through means of a physical description made by Walter Hartright, is Marian Halcombe, The instant my eyes rested on her, I was struck by the rare beauty of her form and by the unaffected grace of her attitude. Hartright judges Marian by the standards of the ideal of Victorian femininity and affirms she is ugly but this ugliness is just a physical one and not one that reflects her inner self and according to Kenneth Friedenreich the description “shows the grace of Marian Halcombe, a grace that overcomes her lack of physical beauty in conventional senses and points to her indefatigable intelligence and loyalty so crucial to future events in the novel.”(Notable British novelists 192-193) Hartright supposed that if her body is attractive her face is too and “the oddity of Marian’s physical appearance involves in Hartright a feeling of “helpless discomfort” because he cannot articulate nor comprehend the apparent contradictions of her appearance.” (Erickson 98), The same Walter Hartright is the one that describes Laura Farlie but this time he is not amazed by the beauty of her body only as it was the case with Marian but by her whole being, she possesses traits that from the start qualify her as the Victorian ideal of femininity, as the “angel in the house” a light, youthful figure,clothed in a simple muslin dress, the pattern of it formed by broad alternate stripes of delicate blue and white(…)Her hair is of so faint and pale a brown– not flaxen, and yet almost as light; not golden, and yet almost as glossy–that it nearly melts, here and there, into the shadow of the hat (..) the eyes are of that soft, limpid, turquoise blue, so often sung by the poets, so seldom seen in real life.

My father was a poor man, and Miss Fairlie's father was a rich man. Meanwhile Laura is confined in the asylum and loses her identity since her sister's condition prevented her to protect her from the two villains. On the other hand, the active and energetic men like Percival, Fosco and Walter embody the masculine energy and resoluteness. She senses that the two treat her like a child because of the fact she is helpless and this makes her unhappy “”I am so useless–I am such a burden on both of you (…)! Later on in the novel Laura is confined in an asylum under the identity of the mad Anne Catherick, who resembles her very much, by her husband that was after her money all along and declared dead. In the end of the novel Sir Percival Glyde and Count Fosco, his Italian friend that helped him with his villainous scheme of incarcerating Laura and taking her money, die as well as Ms. Fairlie who is the uncle of the two half-sisters. (…)The easy elegance of every movement of her limbs and body as soon as she began to advance from the far end of the room, set me in a flutter of expectation to see her face clearly. The “angel in the house” besides the fact that she had to limit her activity to her home, had to do certain activities within the private sphere, activities that were compulsory but recreational and that emphasized her artistic side, such as playing the piano and singing, drawing, and even if she was not good at doing one of these things she had to respect the convention and take private lessons. Walter... GradeSaver provides access to 1480 study This seems to make Laura very sad, and one day, Marian takes Walter aside and tells him that Laura is engaged to marry a Baronet named Sir Percival Glyde .

Percival and Fosco use their evil energy and resolution to shape destiny to their advantages. The fair and delicate Laura who exudes feminine weakness exemplifies the passivity of the Victorian femininity in the uttermost, while the plain and energetic Marian Halcombe poses a serious defiance to the prevailing Victorian womanhood by scorning feminine passivity and embracing masculine energy and resoluteness, though with ultimate failure.