THE WOMAN IN WHITE: THE CREATION OF A NEW REALISM? I had now arrived at that partcular point of my walk where four roads met - the road to Hampstead, along which I had returned, the road to Fichley, the road to West End, and the road back to London. I had me- chanically turned in this latter direction, and was strolling along the lonely high-road - idly wonder- ing, I remember, what the Cumberland young ladies would look like - when, in one moment, every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop by the touch of a hand laid lightly on my shoulder behind me. I turned on the instant with my fingers tighten- ing round the handle of my stick. There, in the middle of the broad, bright high- road - there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from Heaven - stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments..... (p.47) An analysis of the above passage will illustrate why The Woman in White andnovels of a similar nature have been labelled `sensational' and denied anysignificant status as realism. Most obviously, the extract shows the maincharacteristic of sensationalism: the sudden shock or surprise - every dropof Walter Hartright's blood `brought to a stop' on encountering the figure onthe highway: he grips his stick nervously in anticipation of the unknown. Theaspect of mystery and the ghostly, too, can be seen - the Woman is describedas being `out of the earth', otherworldly, her white garments, too, evoking aghostly overtone. The text, here, highlights yet subtler aspects ofsensationalism which I wish to discuss. Walter comes to a po...
