The woman in white Essay Example
Identity can be defined as the condition or character a person or thing. Behaviour can be manipulated to mask identity so that people appear to have characteristics and conditions which in reality they do not possess. In this essay, I will present a comparative analysis of two extracts in which the characters have modified their behaviour so that they portray a false identity of themselves. The two characters that I will compare are Sir Percival Glyde from The Woman in White, and Murial from The Lady in the Lake.
The selected extract from The Woman in White is the scenario in which Sir PercivalGlyde is attempting to convince Marian and Mr Gilmore of his innocence. In this scene, Laura has received Anne Catherick’s letter warning her against marrying Sir Percival. Collins portrays Sir Percival as a well-mannered Baronet who wants to avoid misfortune and embarrassment on others; ‘may I beg that you will write at once… ’. Sir Percival’s use of the auxiliary verb ‘may’ here makes him appear to be considerate and submissive. The verb choice of ‘beg’ makes him seem as though he is at the mercy of Marian. He depicts a gentlemanly manner, which to some extent successfully cloaks his true motives and identity.
In this extract of The Woman In White, Mr Gilmore – the family esquire – is narrating.Thus providing an objective outlook of the events taking place. Mr Gilmore is emotionally and personally involved in the situation as he cares for Miss Fairlie as he has known her from childhood. Even so he the attempts to keep his professional opinion objective and irrelevates his own emotional opinion, observes and deduces a judgement from the facts presented in front of him as he narrates ‘my function was of the purely judicial kind. I was to weigh the explanation we had just heard…’ to which he comes to a fair and unbiased verdict ‘that his explanation was, to my mind, unquestionably a satisfactory one.’ However we still question the reliability of Sir Percival’s
The selected extract from The Woman in White is the scenario in which Sir PercivalGlyde is attempting to convince Marian and Mr Gilmore of his innocence. In this scene, Laura has received Anne Catherick’s letter warning her against marrying Sir Percival. Collins portrays Sir Percival as a well-mannered Baronet who wants to avoid misfortune and embarrassment on others; ‘may I beg that you will write at once… ’. Sir Percival’s use of the auxiliary verb ‘may’ here makes him appear to be considerate and submissive. The verb choice of ‘beg’ makes him seem as though he is at the mercy of Marian. He depicts a gentlemanly manner, which to some extent successfully cloaks his true motives and identity.
In this extract of The Woman In White, Mr Gilmore – the family esquire – is narrating.Thus providing an objective outlook of the events taking place. Mr Gilmore is emotionally and personally involved in the situation as he cares for Miss Fairlie as he has known her from childhood. Even so he the attempts to keep his professional opinion objective and irrelevates his own emotional opinion, observes and deduces a judgement from the facts presented in front of him as he narrates ‘my function was of the purely judicial kind. I was to weigh the explanation we had just heard…’ to which he comes to a fair and unbiased verdict ‘that his explanation was, to my mind, unquestionably a satisfactory one.’ However we still question the reliability of Sir Percival’s