Illegitimacy and Laws in Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White and No Name

Year 2024, Issue: Special Issue: Wilkie Collins, 67 - 76, 28.01.2024

Sercan Öztekin

https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1418501

Abstract

Victorian sensation novels, in addition to their scandalous topics such as fraud, murder, adultery, bigamy, and madness, refer to Victorian laws and their construction by social and cultural standards. As a significant sensation novelist, one of the most important subjects Wilkie Collins calls for attention is illegitimacy, a social, political, and literary topic he recurrently employs in his fiction. In his novels The Woman in White (1860) and No Name (1862), he dwells on this issue, motivating the characters’ crimes and scandalous acts. In both novels, illegitimate characters act illegally to reconstruct their identities by challenging Victorian norms especially about illegitimacy. Concerning his life and his critique of Victorian laws and moral certitudes, this paper explores how Wilkie Collins employs and questions the theme of illegitimacy about crime, sensations, and social and legal problems that influence illegitimate children. After briefly examining illegitimacy and laws about it in Victorian England, it explores how the concept of illegitimacy is shaped and influenced by Victorian conventions and gender ideologies in the two novels.

Keywords

Wilkie Collins, illegitimacy, laws, sensation, gender inequality

Wilkie Collins’in The Woman in White ve No Name Adlı Eserlerinde Gayrimeşruluk ve Yasalar

Abstract

Viktoryen sansasyon romanları, sahtekarlık, cinayet, zina, iki eşlilik, ve delilik gibi sansasyonel konulara ek olarak Viktoryen yasalarına ve bunların toplumsal ve kültürel normlarla nasıl inşa edildiğine de değinirler. Sansasyonel roman türünün en önemli yazarlarından olan Wilkie Collins, gayrimeşruluk konusuna da romanlarında sıkça değindiği toplumsal, politik, ve edebi bir unsur olarak dikkat çeker. Bu konuyu The Woman in White (Beyazlı Kadın) (1860) ve No Name (1862) romanlarında karakterlerin suçlarını ve sansasyonel eylemlerini tetikleyen bir mesele olarak inceler. Her iki romanda da gayrimeşru karakterler, Viktorya dönemi normlarına karşı çıkarak eski kimliklerini yeniden edinmek için yasadışı yollara başvururlar. Bu çalışma, Wilkie Collins’in hayatını ve Viktorya dönemi yasaları ile ahlaki kuralları eleştirisini ele alarak, gayrimeşruluk konusunu suç, sansasyon, ve gayrimeşru çocukları etkileyen toplumsal ve hukuki sorunlar çerçevesinde nasıl işlediğini ve sorguladığını incelemektedir. Bu makale, Viktorya dönemi İngiltere’sinde gayrimeşruluk konusuna ve bununla ilgili yasalara kısaca değindikten sonra, gayrimeşruluk kavramının Viktoryen gelenekleri ve cinsiyet eşitsizliği ile nasıl şekillendiğini ve bunların söz konusu romanlarda nasıl resmedildiğini tartışmaktadır.

Keywords

Wilkie Collins, gayrimeşruluk, yasalar, sansasyon, cinsiyet eşitsizliği

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