Line #29 Literature/TheCrimsonPetalAndTheWhite


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_crimson_petal.jpg]]
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3	''The Crimson Petal and the White'' is a novel by Michel Faber, set in Victorian London and published in 2002. What Dickens would have written if Dickens was alive today, according to a review. Made into a three episode BBC drama in 2011.
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5	!!This novel contains examples of:
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7	* AbusiveParents: Mrs Castaway, [[spoiler: to Sugar]], in spades. Mirrored in the case of Sophie, as her mother is incapable of caring about her and her father is vaguely apathetic.
8	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Averted. Henry in the novel is described as good looking and physically impressive, if a little solemn and intellectual, celibate and very religious, and in (requited) love with Mrs Fox. In the adaption, he's a good deal less attractive, and portrayed mainly as a sexually frustrated fool. Played straight with Mrs Fox, [[spoiler: whose initial looks don't change, but ends the story in a lot better shape than she does in the novel]].
9	* AllMenArePerverts: Sugar's attitude to life, understandably. Also Henry is the closest thing we get to an aversion and he seems to see himself as a pervert.
10	* AloofBigBrother: Played with, with the pious Henry and the philander William.
11	* ArcWords: "Watch your step!" and "God damn God!"
12	* AsYouKnow: Averted to the extent that a lot of backstory and relevant plot details take a while for the reader to figure out.
13	* AuthorAvatar: In-story example. Sugar the prostitute is writing a wish-fulfilment novel about, er, a prostitute called Sugar who murders lecherous abusive men in spectacularly gory fashion.
14	* BetaCouple: Henry and Mrs Fox. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well]].
15	* BrokenBird: Agnes most notably, Sugar skirts this.
16	* CharacterExaggeration: Henry in the adaptation. See above.
17	* ChristianityIsCatholic: Agnes holds this view. Averted, however, with Henry Rackham, Mrs Fox and the Rescue Society.
18	* CompressedAdaptation: The BBC series is quite faithful to the spirit of the original while missing or summarising superflous events, and the only real differences are in the [[TwoLinesNoWaiting character arcs]] of Henry Rackham and Mrs Fox
19	* DecoyProtagonist: Caroline
20	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A major element of the plot.
21	* DefinitelyJustACold: Emmeline Fox has [[IncurableCoughOfDeath tuberculosis]] but insists to Henry (and herself) at first that there's really nothing all that wrong with her.
22	* {{Doorstopper}}: At 800 pages.
23	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: A significant difference from the novel is that while all the events are the same, the novel ends ambiguously with the sense that everything will end badly, while the TV series ends ambiguously with the possibility of things turning out well.]]
24	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Agnes. Lampshaded by the author when he points out this is part of what makes her the idealised High Victorian beauty.
25	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Sugar's friend Caroline is the classic version of this. [[spoiler: Sugar herself is eventually revealed to be an example]]. Averted with Mrs Castaway.
26	* LaughingMad: Agnes, several times.
27	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: From Tennyson's poem 'Now sleeps the crimson petal'. The two main characters are a redhead, and a blonde always clad in white.
28	* LitFic
29	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Sugar deliberately plays up to this trope in order to keep men fascinated.
30	* NoodleIncident: The chain of events that leads to William meeting Sugar begins with him seeking out a prostitute who will perform some sexual practice or other that is so outlandish even most prostitutes want nothing to do with it (but, he is told, Sugar might). We never do learn just what he wanted her to do.
31	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Both averted and taken to extremes at the same time via the same character, [[spoiler: Agnes]], who has somehow [[spoiler: become an adult woman without ever learning about menstruation, and hence believes she is hemhorraging to death every month, only to recover miraculously, only to have it all happen again and again...]]
32	* OnlyOneName: Sugar
33	* PlatonicProstitution: Henry visits Caroline for 'research'. His brother (wrongly) assumes that this is as implausible as it sounds.
34	* RedheadInGreen: In the BBC series, one of Sugar's main costumes is green.
35	* SecondPersonNarration: The writing is intentionally based on ninteenth century novels. Most blatant at the beginning.
36	* SmugSnake: William Rackham. [[spoiler:Played with, as he begins as this, then eventually the reader starts thinking they see some humanity in him. By the end, he's back to being an odious worm]].
37	* SteamPunk: The direction in the adaptation seems to be quite influenced by this.
38	* ThoseTwoGuys: Bodley and Ashwell
39	* UnproblematicProstitution: Averted. Sugar pretends to love her work because that's what the clients want, but Faber makes it clear that this was a terrible, terrible job.
40	* VictorianLondon: Needless to say.
41	* VictorianNovelDisease: Played with. Emmeline Fox has actual tuberculosis. Agnes Rackham, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, beautiful wife of William who is definitely not well at all, actually has a brain tumour but, as the author points out, none of the characters actually know this.

Context Literature / TheCrimsonPetalAndTheWhite