Mrs Musgrave’s stain of madness: Marsh and the female offender

Abstract

This chapter ties Richard Marsh’s Mrs Musgrave – And Her Husband (1895) to the anxiety surrounding the degeneration debate. Simultaneously crime novel, detective novel and Gothic fiction, Mrs Musgrave – And Her Husband mobilises the discourses of eugenics and criminal anthropology as they were articulated by figures such as Francis Galton and Cesare Lombroso. The chapter argues that the novel provides a unique contribution to the debate surrounding hereditary criminality by simultaneously and deliberately validating and critiquing the racist and sexist matrix that arguably informed late-nineteenth-century British culture and society. Unlike much other late-nineteenth-century fiction, the novel employs a pattern where racial and sexual discourses are repeatedly set on course only to be derailed, and derailed only to be brought back on track again.

Richard Marsh's Redundant Crime Narratives: Defining Gender through Crime at the Fin-de-Siècle

“…However, recent research into the novel suggests that Ethel can be interpreted as a transgressive and seductive female criminal. For instance, Johan Höglund (2018) In regards to the plot structure of these two novels, both Bessie and Ethel are positioned as heroines 29 . With the emergence of the 'New Woman' figure at the fin de siècle, literary heroines were becoming 'unconventional', 'daring' and un-interested in the home and marriage (Pykett, 1992: p. 17).…”

“…Once Hereward learns of Ethel's transgression, rather than informing the police, Hereward seeks to guard her from the punishments of the justice system and defend her reputation as the innocent domestic Victorian woman. As Johan Höglund (2018) states, 'Hereward is deeply disturbed by the discovery, but never seems to assume that it is his duty to bring his wife to justice ' (p. 52). Hereward shields her from the condemning newspaper reports that highlight the police advancements upon Ethel and disposes of her murder weapon 'while crossing the Channel ' (p. 7).…”

“…For instance, this can be seen through the character of Dr Byam in Mrs Musgrave. As Johan Höglund (2018) points out, Byam's position in the text is slightly ambiguous. On the one hand, the text suggests that Byam and Ethel engaged in a consensual relationship.…”