Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations Graduate Capstone Projects 2008 Poisoners, larcenists, and the mad chambermaid: Villainy in late Victorian detective fiction Jennifer Filion Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Filion, Jennifer, "Poisoners, larcenists, and the mad chambermaid: Villainy in late Victorian detective fiction" (2008). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 194. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/194 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Graduate Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Poisoners, Larcenists, and the Mad Chambermaid: Villainy in Late Victorian Detective Fiction by Jennifer Filion Thesis Submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature Eastern Michigan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in English with a concentration in Literature Thesis Committee: Andrea Kaston-Tange, PhD, Chair Laura George, PhD July 15, 2008 Ypsilanti, MI ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to identify patterns of villainy in late nineteenth-century detective fiction in order to examine middle class conceptions of criminality and the way those models reflect the values of Victorian society. Through a study of more than sixty pieces of short detective fiction, this study identifies and focuses on six primary categories: the visual depiction of the criminal, the criminal class, the jewelry heist, the colonial subject, the violent female offender, and the domestic villain. The creation of each criminal category and the reinforcement of that “type” in popular literature functions to establish order and to support beliefs crucial to Victorian middle class identity and authority. Yet as each story attempts to validate and reproduce this identity, each criminal simultaneously expresses anxiety about defects in that culture and about a denial of responsibility in growing social problems and Imperial practices. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………..…………..……………………………...………………..……...ii Chapter One: Introduction and Background……………………………..……………..……....1 Chapter Two: The Suspicious Hair and the Tell-Tale Hat: Reading the Visual Villain……………..………………….……………..……..………………...….12 Chapter Three: The Murderous Cook and the Confidence Man: Class and Criminality…………………………………………………………………………….30 Chapter Four: The Missing Diamonds and the Obnoxious Heiress: The Jewelry Heist……………………………………………………………………...…...51 Chapter Five: The Ghost of Napoleon and the Snake Charmer: Nationalist and Colonialist Perspectives in Villainy.......................................................................................................…....66 Chapter Six: The Mad Chambermaid and the Vengeful Wife: Lethal Women and the Domestic Space……………………………….………...………………...…93 Chapter Seven: The Scheming Husband and the Poison Prescription: Household Crime, Sensation Fiction, and the Domestic Villain……………………...……..……………116 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..…….135 Works Cited………………………………………………………………...………..………139 Works Consulted…………………………………………………………………….………145 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Names, Numbering, and Definitions of the Faculties………………..16 2 Portraits……………………………………………………………..18 3 Imperial Federation “Map of the World”………………………….... 69 Filion 1 Chapter One: Introduction and Background Two gentlemen from Worcestershire board a train; the first is a Squire named Todhetley, the other is his traveling companion, Mr. Johnny Ludlow. After purchasing his ticket, the wealthy Squire stores the remainder of his traveling cash in a pocketbook inside his jacket. When the two men enter their train carriage they find it already occupied by three other passengers. Kitty-corner from the Squire's window seat is a “dark gentleman” with a lavender glove and a signet ring. To the Squire's right is Johnny, and to the right of Johnny is an ordinary-looking man “with fresh color and gold spectacles,” who is calmly reading a book. Next to the bespectacled reader is a man who can only be described by Johnny as “a lunatic,” and That's to mention him politely. Of all of the restless, fidgety, worrying, hot-tempered passengers that ever put themselves in a carriage to travel with people in their senses, he was the worst...calling the guards and the porters to ask senseless questions about his luggage; now treading on our toes, and trying the corner seat opposite the Squire, and then darting back to his own. He wore a wig of a decided green tinge, the effect of keeping, perhaps, and his skin was dry and shrivelled as an Egyptian mummy's (Wood, “Going Through” 175). Johnny is barely finished grumbling about the lunatic when a final passenger joins the carriage: a veiled woman with large hair and a small Scottish terrier that she carries in her coat. The veiled lady sits in the seat opposite Johnny, and the train begins the move. Problems arise almost immediately in the small carriage. The lunatic is horrified by the terrier and demands its Filion 2 removal. The dark gentleman, whom his servants refer to as “my Lord,” demands a copy of the Times, does not receive it, and becomes increasingly angry. The veiled woman snaps at the lunatic and requests to exchange seats with Johnny, which he does gladly. The man in the gold spectacles continues to read his book. Amidst the arguing, barking, and continued demands for a newspaper, the lunatic makes an abrupt and troubling observation. The lamp in the carriage is not lit. This problem may not seem very worrisome, as the passengers are traveling during the day; however, the lunatic also observes that their route will take the train through a long tunnel. As soon as the train reaches the next station the dark gentleman orders his servant Wilkins to have the lamp lit. Unfortunately the stop is too short, nobody comes to light the lamp, and the train begins to speed once again. After cursing Wilkins, the passengers debate about the possible dangers of the dark and the train reaches the passageway: “'Here's the tunnel!' [the lunatic] cried out resentfully, as we dashed with a shriek into pitch darkness” (178). Immediately the veiled woman's terrier springs from her arms and attacks the other passengers. The Squire wrestles with the dog and the passengers help to subdue the animal. The lunatic screams “Pitch him out the window!” to which the lady replies, “Pitch yourself out!” (178). The dark gentleman hands the dog back to his owner as the train exits the tunnel, and the carriage settles down. Wilkins is reprimanded, the lamp is lit, and the train reaches the next station. It is only after most of the carriage's occupants have departed that the Squire notices that his pocketbook, and the fifty pounds it contained, is missing. Considering the passengers and the circumstances of the crime given by the author - Mrs. Henry Wood - who is the thief? “Going Through the Tunnel,” published first in 1874 and later in 1895, was written for a Victorian audience during a time period that saw a tremendous Filion 3 increase in the popularity of detective fiction. The modern reader must consider not only who they think the guilty party is, but who Mrs. Henry's Wood's readers would assume the villain to be. Is it the mysterious woman in the veil, whose manners, as Johnny observes, are not completely proper? Is it the Lord, whose servant Wilkins failed to light the lamps and is the first to exit the carriage at the station? We should also consider the servant himself, who had access to and knowledge of the passengers in the car. We cannot forget the lunatic, whose appearance and behavior is described by Johnny as eccentric, foreign, and distracting. Or, perhaps overlooked, is the culprit the unremarkable and bespectacled man who goes almost unnoticed by his fellow passengers? I argue that Mrs. Henry Wood's audience would have suspicions about each of these characters because each passenger is a construction that reflects the Victorian idea of criminality; each character is a “type” that the audience would recognize, a villain possessing stereotypical features created by and dependent upon the culture in which the story occurs. What is most notable about “Going Through the Tunnel” is that it contains a veritable lineup of Victorian usual suspects. Problem Statement It is important to note that the stories examined in this research project, of which “Going Through the Tunnel” is only one example, are a small fraction of the larger and more varied genre of detective fiction. The primary fiction chosen for this thesis is in short story form, published in Britain in either periodicals or anthologies during the time period of 1870- 19051, with two exceptions, Le Fanu's “The Murdered Cousin” and Dickens' “Hunted Down,” 1The majority were published between 1892-190; however, there are several stories that were reprinted in different Filion 4 published in 1851 and 1859, respectively. And because these stories are some of the earliest of the genre, they contain several unique conventions that have been at the center of much research and scholarship. Naturally, the focus of the Victorian detective story is the figure of the detective, the process