Uncanny Stories for Canny Readers: The Explained Supernatural, the Villainous Doctor and Reader Expectations in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Short Gothic Fiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses how the short stories “Dr. Carrick” (1878) and “Good Lady Ducayne” (1896), by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, intervene in cultural debates about the role and reputation of the Victorian doctor. By playing with reader expectations in relation to the Gothic genre and the figure of the quack doctor, Braddon warns her readers not to unthinkingly trust their physicians. Through an analysis of how Braddon approaches this topic, the article also explores how she perceives and caters for her readership. In both stories, Braddon employs a recurrent narrative strategy – the raising and then dismissing of possibilities – in order to demonise the doctor. This contributes to an agenda of encouraging perceptive reading and a resistance to taking things at face value, and shows that Braddon is writing for readers who are experienced in terms of the popular fiction that they consume. To fully appreciate these stories and their message about medical men, readers must have the capacity to pick up on, and imaginatively follow, the potential plotlines that Braddon creates, even as she shuts them down again.