Abstract
If the sensational heroines shocked the critical establishment because of their passionate character or of their murderous drives, they were also criticized for the way they fashioned their bodies, using artificial aids to appear seamless beauties. This paper aims to study the way the sensation novels play upon images—from paintings to fashion plates—which display the extent to which modern femininity is artificial. In Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret (1861-1862), the detective must learn to read pictures, from a Pre-Raphaelite portrait to books of beauties, so as to unveil the identity of the eponymous heroine, discovering in the process the way consumer society breeds female duplicity.
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