‘Privileged spies’: The Criminal Servant in Lady Audley’s Secret

Abstract

Some sensation novels, such as Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, adhere to the conventions established in Gothic novels and feature a male villain who plots against a virtuous woman in peril.1 Quite often, however, sensation fiction ‘toy[s] with the Gothic mode’ by making the primary villain, sinner, or criminal of the text a woman (Rance 110). Probably the most well-known female criminal in a sensation novel is the eponymous character of Lady Audley’s Secret, whom the North British Review described as a ‘beautiful demoness,’ a descriptor that seems to suit the murderess she is initially believed to be (‘Novels’ 188). However, from a legal standpoint, the only crimes Lucy Audley successfully commits are bigamy and arson.2 From a social standpoint, however, she commits an unforgivable crime: although she is only the daughter of ‘a tipsy old half-pay lieutenant,’ she poses as a gentlewoman governess then rises to become the mistress of Audley Court (18). As Winifred Hughes notes, ‘Lady Audley embodies an internal threat to the respectable classes because she identifies with them; she wants what they value and brilliantly parodies their ideal’ (127). Her successes at climbing the rungs of the social ladder and impersonating a lady suggest that a woman’s class rank is merely a matter of perception; with the right costuming, makeup and acting talent, a lady’s maid can become a lady.3