SPECTACULAR DECEPTIONS: CLOSETS, SECRETS, AND IDENTITY IN WILKIE COLLINS'SPOOR MISS FINCH

Abstract

LARGELY OVERLOOKEDin Collins scholarship, the 1872 novelPoor Miss Finch: A Domestic Storydescribes the complicated relationships between a young blind woman, Lucilla Finch, and twin brothers, Oscar and Nugent Dubourg. Lucilla's blindness results in her aversion to dark colors, and as she and Oscar fall in love, he must deploy a series of elaborate deceptions in a desperate attempt to keep from her his own dark secret–that his skin has been turned blue by medication prescribed for his epileptic condition. Following an extraordinary operation, Lucilla's eyesight begins to return, and Oscar's carefully guarded secret of blueness threatens to destroy their relationship. The plot ofPoor Miss Finchexplores the ways in which Oscar hides his blueness from Lucilla as well as the duplicitous function of his twin, Nugent, who stands in for Oscar as Lucilla begins to regain her sight. At every turn,Poor Miss Finchmines issues of identity and investigates the ways in which identity becomes withheld and disclosed–closeted and uncloseted–through a series of spectacular deceptions that enable the keeping of secrets.