Lady Audley's Secret - Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835- 1915)

                               A  Classic Sensation Novel                                

                ' Lady Audley's Secret'  (first installments in 1861- completed in 1862) is both a Victorian 'bigamy' and 'sensation' novel. Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' ( 1847) is the prime example of the former, with poor Jane in church all set to become Mrs Rochester, only to discover that husband to be already has an insane wife shut up in the attic.  In 'Lady Audley's Secret'  and the next Braddon novel 'Aurora Floyd' (1864), it is in fact the leading female characters that have committed bigamy, both deceiving second husbands. Braddon accepted that these two books were ' bigamy novels' . EDWARDS

As for a definition of 'sensation' novels, there seem to be several key themes. Firstly melodrama such as murder, attempted murder, arson, has to occur. There has to be a villain. There is a lingering over human despair and  suffering. Secondly, a seemingly unlikely figure steps up to be the 'unexpected detective' to resolve such an outrage. Thirdly, location is significant, the novel should involve an isolated country house, where a Gothic element can be introduced,with action taking place at night and/or in isolated surroundings. Fourthly, the scandal and outrage take place in the present or recent present as opposed to being historical novels. KENNEDY  

Also helps to have extremely unlikely or even far fetched coincidences. 'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins ( 1860) is sometimes heralded as the first of the genre. Sensation novels don't tend to be 'ghost stories' or 'horror tales' as such, but may hint at such themes. Ultimately shocking and depraved human behaviour is the focus rather than the supernatural. 

The appeal of sensation novels is that the author is not some daring truth teller exposing social ills, or trying to improve human morality. Braddon herself that at least some of her ninety novels could be read " for the amusement they afford, and not for the philosophical truths which they may contain." (Introduction to 'Run To Earth' 1868) .EDWARDS As an aside, I think that one of the reasons that  'Bleak House' (1852) is Dickens's masterpiece is because it can be read as a 'social reform ' novel but also has sensational elements such as murder and scandal, and manages to take in a detective story featuring Inspector Bucket. 

 An interesting defence of sensation novel genre came from the critic George Augustus Sala writing in 'Belgravia' magazine in 1867. " In the opinion of dolts and dullards and envious backbiters, everything is "sensational" that is vivid,and nervous and forcible,and graphic and true." BOURNE-TAYLOR & CROFTS

The strength of 'Lady Audley's Secret' lies in how brazen and frightful the lead character is. One Helen Talboys gets tired of living in poverty, whilst her husband George leaves her and their young son to go prospecting for gold in Australia. She manages to fake her death, and ensures a suitable obituary is published. She is re-invented as a governess under a new name-Lucy Graham, then manages to marry Lord Audley a rich landed gentleman with a country house, her son is left in the care of his grandfather ( who has  co-operated with her scheming) . Unfortunately for Lady Lucy  Audley, as she is now known, her secret is discovered by her maid and her fiance, so they need paying off. Meanwhile her first husband has returned from Australia, a rich man after finding gold, and Lord Audley's nephew Robert, a trained barrister who never seems to get round to any work, happens to be an old friend of her first husband. 

Battle lines are drawn. Lady Audley manages to get first husband George alone in the grounds of the large country house and thinks that she has successfully murdered him, and disposed of the body. Robert desperately tries to find his lost friend George and gradually unravels the fake identity of Lady Audley and exposes who she really is. Her ladyship tries to kill Robert and also her blackmailer using arson. Robert survives and finally demolishes the fake personae that her ladyship has created. She confesses all in front of the distraught Lord Audley, but then pretends to be mad, citing this condition as something that she has inherited from her late mama. Lady Audley now reverts to yet another identity, Helen Maldon, her maiden name, a  supposed victim of hereditary madness.The doctor disagrees, and proclaims that she is 'dangerous'. 

It transpires that George has not really been killed after all but has just decided to take time out and go abroad to recover from the shock of how depraved and wicked his wife had become. Lady Audley goes meekly into exile in Belgium where she is locked up in a high class asylum, which is one of the novel's weakest parts. 

There are those who admire this novel for having a such a rebellious lead character who is part heroine- part monster. The reader can ponder who this person really is, Miss Maldon, Mrs Talboys,Miss Graham, or Lady Audley . Which is the actual host person who switches into another identities?  Is she perhaps insane, or knowingly waging some sort of battle against male dominance, and taking no prisoners?  BOURNE-TAYLOR & CROFTS .Of course another quite valid  interpretation  is that a woman who defies society's conventions is portrayed as being essentially wicked and suitably punished. Perhaps the novel is reinforcing existing convention rather than subverting them.

Both 'Lady Audley's Secret' and Braddon's next novel' Aurora Floyd' were commercial successes. 'Aurora Floyd' is jolly good fun, but less entertaining. Aurora discloses the fact that she has a secret, so it is easier to guess what it must be. The plot is fairly predictable.  Another novel by Braddon,'The Doctor's Wife' (1864), has a wonderful parody of a typical sensation novel writer by the name of ' Sigismund Smith' who churns out potboilers with title such as 'The Smuggler's Bride' and 'Count Mountefiasco,or The Brand Upon The Shoulder Blade'. The former contains a number of suicides including a count who walls himself up in a cellar and a ballet dancer who throws herself out of a hot air balloon. It's almost if Braddon was defying her critics.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was a very prolific author  of both novels and short stories, magazine editor and had also been an actress. Braddon was not afraid to defy convention nor to risk scandal. She lived as the unmarried partner of publisher John Maxwell and his five children. Maxwell's wife had been committed to an asylum. Braddon and Maxwell had children of their own and finally were able to marry in 1873 after Maxwell's wife died. The 1860's were her most successful era,but carried on writing until her death in 1915. Her final novel was published posthumously in 1916.

As ever, any mistakes or schoolboy howlers are for me to own and are not the responsibility of any source that I have cited in this post. 

Thank you to all visitors from so many different countries who have visited this blog. Your interest is much appreciated. Still longing for the end of these horrific wars which are causing so much misery around the world. . 

Michael Bully aka Mr Bleak 

Brighton

19th March 2024. 

Picture Credit 

'Maenad'  (1885)  Witold Pruzkowski, (1846- 1896) , Lviv National Art Gallery, 

Books

'Aurora Floyd' , Mary Elizabeth Braddon, introduction by P.D.EDWARDS ,Oxford World's Classics, 1996 

'Lady Audley's Secret' Mary Elizabeth Braddon, introduction by Jenny BOURNE-TAYLOR & Russell CROFTS, Penguin Classics 1998  

'The Doctor's Wife' Mary Elizabeth Braddon, introduction by Lyn PYKETT, Oxford World's Classics, 1998

'The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction' , John Sutherland, Longman Group, 1988  

Youtube 

Victorians Exposed video 'Lady Audley's Secret- Madness & Postpartum Depression' ( accessed 25th February 2024. ) 

Channel of a Disappointed Man 'A Classic Sensation Novel-Lady Audley's Secret',  presented by Jason KENNEDY (Last accessed 18th March 2024) 

Further Post 

Good Lady Ducayne  Post from this blog  about short story written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 

Further Reading/viewing from the Web 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association  Literary society looking at the author's work. 

Victorian Web 'Mary Elizabeth Braddon  (1835- 1915), the "Queen of Sensation " Life and Works' by Phillip Allingham, Lakehead University, Ontario. 

Literary Lives of Mary Elizabeth Braddon   Superb biographical article by Jennifer Carnell, from 'Sensation Press' website. 

The Cold Embrace A Ghost story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon  from Bite Sized Audio Channel

The Shadow in the Corner A further Ghost story from Braddon from Bite Sized Audio Channel 

OTHER BLOGS BY THIS WRITER 

A Burnt Ship  17th century war & literature 

World War 2 poetry 

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