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The Third Epoch: Part 5, Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Woman in White, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Evidence and Law
Morality, Crime, and Punishment
Identity and Appearance
Marriage and Gender
Class, Industry, and Social Place
Summary
Analysis
In February of the following year, Laura gives birth to a son. Not long after this, Walter is sent away again on a job for the newspaper and, when he returns, finds the house empty and a note from Marian which tells him that they have gone to Limmeridge House and that he must meet them there.
The return to Limmeridge reflects the restoration of order and the final resolution of the novel. Limmeridge House is the site of the summer house: a symbol of new life, joy, peace, and happiness.
Themes
Walter follows on the train and, when he arrives, he finds Marian, Laura, and his son there, happily set up in one of the rooms. He is told that Mr. Fairlie is dead, and Marian happily hands Walter his son and announces that the boy is now the heir of Limmeridge House.
The virtuous characters, who have acted with the best intentions throughout the story, are rewarded by their reinstatement at Limmeridge. Mr. Fairlie, who is outdated and old fashioned in his snobbish and elitist attitudes, dies and makes way for a new generation in which the upper and middle classes are mixed and those who are deserving reap material rewards. This reflects the essentially conservative worldview of many nineteenth-century novels, which supported upward mobility and mingling among the classes within reason, but still felt that wealth and prosperity were the rewards for virtue and hard work rather than accidents of birth or social status.
Themes
