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Tentative Summary: Servants are the surveillants of the Victorian private sphere.? The status of servants as surveillants is especially critical in sensation novels, since the plot is so often driven by mystery.? Despite their importance to the plot, the servants in sensation novels often lack depth of character.? One exception to this is the character of Phoebe Marks in Lady Audley’s Secret.? While Phoebe’s knowledge of the eponymous secret does serve as a plot device that drives the narrative tension, her character is much more than an “accessory used to complicate or resolve the action” (Robbins x).? Many have argued that Lady Audley lacks depth; however this is not the case.? In reality, there are few representations of Lady Audley that we as readers can trust. Robert sees her as a one-dimensional villain, and it is through his eyes that we view her for most of the novel; however, his bias calls his perceptions into question. The narrator proves herself to be an equally untrustworthy presence, and cultivates a distance from Lady Audley for practical reasons. Braddon cannot give us direct access to Lady Audley’s interiority without spoiling the mystery (her secrets), and for moral reasons, cannot explicitly sympathize with her.? Instead, Lady Audley characterized through direct methods (appearance, action, detail, speech), which, taken together, undermine her classification as a one-dimensional villain.? Braddon further characterizes Lady Audley through the character of Phoebe, her working class double. Braddon uses Phoebe to emphasize Lady Audley’s material circumstances, illuminate the conflict that drives her madness, and underline the real danger she poses to aristocratic society.? Main PointsServants are the surveillents of the private sphereThis is emphasized throughout Lady Audley’s SecretPhoebePhoebe defies conventional servant tropes, and is characterized with great depth.She represents Lady Audley’s working class identity.Similarities in appearance.Phoebe is preoccupied with her meteoric rise in class.Whenever they are together, the narrator focuses on superficial, material differences.She is also self-interested, cunning, and knows how to “play the part.”Their “friendship” defies the typical mistress-servant relationship.Lady AudleyPeople claim that she lacks depth; however, Braddon gives her significant depth. She just sets up a narrative situation in which she cannot do it via traditional methods of characterization—at least not entirely. Braddon cannot directly reveal Lady Audley’s character through significant interiority.Sensation novels are driven by mystery.The omniscient narrator is unreliable in that she knows, but will not tell, this mystery, clumsily avoiding it at times. For the same reason, the narrator must also cultivate a distance from Lady Audley herself; obviously, she knows her own secrets. There are also moral reasons for distancing herself from Lady Audley; Braddon was being criticized just for creating her. She certainly can’t be seen sympathizing with her.At the same time, Robert, our “detective,” is biased to say the least. Just because he sees her as a one-dimensional villain doesn’t mean that she is one. The novel is character driven, but is the precisely the lack of character, not depth that drives us. James and others criticize sensation novels in general for being overly plot-driven and cite Lady Audley as a specific example. But the tension that drives the narrative is the illumination of Lady Audley’s character, so we can hardly expect Braddon to give us this info directly. Superficially, the tension is Robert filling in the portrait, but in reality, it is us. This is symbolized by the unfinished portrait, the viewing of which provides the instigating event of the novel. Comparison to The Portrait of a Lady. Henry James presents us with a fully-realized woman who takes us on a journey; the journey here is to fill in the portrait ourselves. Giving us direct access to Lady Audley would diffuse the narrative tension, and turn the book into what James claims it is – a plot enacted by stick figures.Our goal is to fill in Lady Audley’s character, but the two filters we see her through: the narrator and Robert, prove unreliable. Therefore, we are forced to construct Lady Audley for ourselves through direct methods of characterization. Based on these, there is no question that she is a villain; but a one-dimensional villain, she is not. There are a number of actions that details that undermine her villainy, creating contradictions a stock villain cannot, by definition, possess. At the same time, Braddon uses the character of Phoebe to emphasize her circumstances—the confluence of negative events that Robert is intent on ignoring. Braddon uses Phoebe to create reader sympathy, illuminate the conflict that drives her madness, and underline the real danger she poses to aristocratic society.? The real mystery is not “what has she done,” but “who is she, and why?” This is evidenced by the fact that when the George Talboys mystery is revealed, it’s actually rather disappointing—and if this were the book’s only mystery, there would be no reason to read it ever again. Lady Audley’s character, however, keeps us guessing. She is the reason why, 150 years later, we are still trying to fill in the brush strokes. ................
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