Anyone remotely interested in Victorian fiction has, at some point, to read a Wilkie Collins novel. The books are standalone, ingenious and make use of innovations of the time (railways, telegraphic communication and the increasing scale and speed of the postal system).
Characters are often quirky (who can forget Miserrimus Dexter of The Law and the Lady?) or have dark secrets, or both. Stories are narrated from different standpoints through the use of letters or diary entries, for example. The Moonstone, is often thought of as the first detective novel.
Armadale presents the reader with a fascinating tale, which has three core characters who are connected as a result of events committed in the past. In the present day of the story, the characters have been thrown together (by chance in one case and deliberately in another) and a battle of good versus evil begins.
A large part of the plot is focussed on a dream that is described by Allan Armadale to his friend Ozias Midwinter and the extent to which the events of the novel go on to prove to the superstitious Midwinter that the dream is a premonition of future events. Different characters interact with Midwinter and Armadale regarding the rationality of this point of view.
The three main characters present opposing characteristics. Armadale is headstrong, emotional and unthinking. Midwinter is neurotic, conflicted, deeply affected by his hard upbringing and haunted by the knowledge of a crime that his father had committed in the past. Contrastingly, the author hands all calculating, unemotional, villainy to two female characters: Lydia Gwilt and her abominable accomplice, Mrs Maria Oldershaw. Miss Gwilt is a beautiful, vicious, money hunter with a murderous, bigamous past and a laudanum habit.
Overall, a good read.
Editor’s Note
The Victorians were interested in dreams which probably explains the prominence of Allan’s vision in text. The British Library holds a copy of The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams, about which it notes:
‘… Published in 1865, Frank Seafield’s The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams is a major 19th century contribution to dream theory. Drawing on anecdotal evidence, or ‘case studies’, classical sources and some contemporary scientific research, Seafield presents a history of dreams that attempts to explain their causes, effects and meanings…’
Real life, ‘sensational’ cases of female poisoners of the time almost certainly had an influence on the development of ‘Miss Gwilt’.
Dystonia Girl 