History Literature / TheWomanInWhite

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Collins is quite clear with his ButterFace description of Marian in the novel. Unsurprisingly, this is never done in adaptations. In the 1948 film she's played by Alexis Smith, in the 1997 TV adaptation by Tara Fitzgerald, in the musical by Ruthie Henshall, and in the 2018 TV adaptation by Creator/JessieBuckley — lovely women all.

* BabiesEverAfter: A common Victorian cliche, and perhaps more peculiar than most in this novel, as Laura has been the IllGirl for most of it.

Walter Hartright, a young drawing master from VictorianLondon, gets a job teaching art to two young women, half-sisters Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie, at Limmeridge House in Cumberland. While on the road to the house he encounters a mysterious woman in white. He tries to help her, but she runs away. Upon arrival, he discovers that the MysteriousWaif is an escaped mental patient named Anne Catherick, and that Anne bears a striking resemblance to Laura Fairlie. Walter and Laura fall in love, but she has been promised in an ArrangedMarriage to local nobleman Sir Percival Glyde. However, nothing is as it seems, and a dark conspiracy is being hatched.

* ScrapbookStory: The story is assembled out of accounts by a variety of narrators, some from documents like diary entries written at the time of events and others giving eyewitness testimony at a later date.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Marian the Tomboy and Laura the Girly Girl.

* {{Polyamory}}: Hinted at with Walter, Laura, and Marian at the end.

* AristocratsAreEvil: The two antagonists are a Count and a Baronet.

* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: Count Fosco, by 1850s standards. He is openly sentimental, very affectionate towards cute animals, and has [[SweetTooth a taste for tarts]], which at the time were considered a treat for women and children. [[FoIl It's interesting]] that his WorthyOpponent and VillainousCrush, Marian, is as close to being a {{Tomboy}} as Victorian writing will allow.
* InNameOnly: The late-1990s BBC television version. A letter to the ''Magazine/RadioTimes'' wondered why the writer had bothered to keep the same title, so great were the differences in the plot.
* IOweYouMyLife: Walter rescues Pesca from drowning and Pesca insists on finding some service to do him in return, which is initially played for laughs but becomes very important later.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: the novel was originally released in serial form starting in 1859 and ending in 1860, while the story takes place ten years earlier in 1849-1850.

* BigFun: Discussed by Laura in reference to Count Fosco. She says that she's never understood why fat people are automatically assumed to be jolly, since she's known plenty of cheerful thin people and plenty of mean fat people, and there's no reason why extra weight should automatically result in extra cheer.

** Sir Percival Glyde [[spoiler:dies while trying to destroy the evidence of the forgery he committed to secure his position, after his lantern starts an accidental fire and the poorly-maintained door traps him in the rrom. For bonus irony points, his forgery was in a church registry, so it's in a church that he dies]].

* CerebusRetcon: At Count Fosco's first appearance he is sitting at the table with his white mice crawling all over him. His last appearance is exactly the same... except that this time [[NightmareFuel he is dead]].

Walter Hartright, a young drawing master from VictorianLondon, gets a job teaching art to two young women, half-sisters Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie, at Limmeridge house in Cumberland. While on the road to the house he encounters a mysterious woman in white. He tries to help her, but she runs away. Upon arrival, he discovers that the MysteriousWaif is an escaped mental patient named Anne Catherick, and that Anne bears a striking resemblance to Laura Fairlie. Walter and Laura fall in love, but she has been promised in an ArrangedMarriage to local nobleman Sir Percival Glyde. However, nothing is as it seems, and a dark conspiracy is being hatched.

* ArrangedMarriage: Percival Glyde to Laura Fairlie.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Isidor Ottavio Baldassare Fosco.

* {{Butterface}}: Marian. Her gorgeous and perfect body is described in great detailed while she stands at the window. Then she turns around and... but her face. Walter didn't expect her to be ugly.

* ChekhovsGun: Pesca, who ends up being responsible for Fosco's death.
** Also the tricky lock of the church vestry at Welmingham, which is carefully yet casually mentioned a few chapters before [[spoiler: Sir Percival gets himself stuck in the burning vestry and dies]].

* DastardlyWhiplash: Sir Percival Glyde is this, involved in the standard financial scheming and wife imprisonment.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Marian dreams of Walter on his travels abroad. The last sequence in the dream has him standing beside a grave, which turns out to be where she'll next meet him.

* IOweYouMyLife: Walter rescues Pesca from drowning, which is initially played for laughs but becomes very important later.

* KarmicDeath: Yes. You can probably guess who.

* TheMafia: Walter's buddy Pesca is a member. [[spoiler: So was Fosco. They're not happy with him.]]

* PersonWithTheClothing

* SlippingAMickey: Countess Fosco drugs Laura's maid to search her for the letters she's carrying.

* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Two half-sisters (not Marian and Laura).

* EpistolaryNovel: Though it's more in the form of diary entries rather than letters.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: Laura replacing Anne in the Asylum toward the end of the book.

* AffablyEvil: Count Fosco, charming and courteous even when his plans involve kidnapping, MindRape, and murder. In the 1948 film he has Laura locked in an asylum and is driving her mad, but he still makes the help there be nice to her.

* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Two half-sisters (not Marian and Laura), except in the 1948 film in which they are not sisters but cousins.

* VillainousGlutton: The very evil and hugely fat Fosco. Appropriate casting with Sydney Greenstreet in the 1948 film.

** GirlsWithMoustaches: Marian Halcombe has one. It's part of her being more than simply plain.
** WhenSheSmiles: But for all that she's mannish and unfashionably dark-complexioned.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Collins is quite clear with his ButterFace description of Marian in the novel. Unsurprisingly, this is never done in adaptations. In the 1948 film she's played by Alexis Smith, in the 1997 TV adaptation by Tara Fitzgerald, in the musical by Ruthie Henshall, and in the 2018 TV adaptation by Jessie Buckley — lovely women all.

* NamesToTrustImmediately: Walter Hartright ("heart-right").

The book is often considered the first Victorian sensation novel. It has been adapted many times: a play, several films (at least five films just in the silent era, as well as a 1948 film from Creator/WarnerBros), two different BBC television adaptations, an Creator/AndrewLloydWebber musical, and a much LighterAndSofter [[http://www.bigfishgames.com/games/6544/victorian-mysteries-woman-in-white/?pc PC game]]..

** WhenSheSmiles: But for all that she's mannish and unfashionably dark-complected...

* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Italian Professor]]: Pesca, who ends up being responsible for Fosco's death.

* WomanInWhite: Arguably, the TropeNamer.

* IcyGreyEyes: Count Fosco has the cold, steely grey eyes, and he's a very cold, calculating villain who is eerily able to manipulate and control people.

* IdenticalStranger: Anne and Laura are eerily similar. They're both [[spoiler:Explained when Walter discovers that Anne was Laura's half-sister.]]

* GreyEyes: Count Fosco has the cold, steely sort.
* {{Hypochondriac}}: Frederick Fairlie.
* IdenticalStranger: Anne and Laura, apparently. [[spoiler:Explained when Walter discovers that Anne was Laura's half-sister.]]

* AdaptationDistillation

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Collins is quite clear with his ButterFace description of Marian in the novel. Unsurprisingly, this is never done in adaptations. In the 1948 film she's played by Alexis Smith, in the 1997 TV adaptation by Tara Fitzgerald, in the musical by Ruthie Henshall, and in the 2018 TV adaptation by Jessie Buckley—lovely women all. In the 1981 Soviet adaptation, Akveliīna Līvmane is plainer-looking but in no way near to the shockingly ugly Marian of the book.

* AllGirlsLikePonies: Laura has a horse and loves riding.

** At Blackwater Park, Sir Percival, Laura, Count and Countess Fosco, and Marian have a dinner in the open air on the estate's grounds, discussing [[{{Foreshadowing}} unsolved crimes]].