Review – Wilkie Collins The Dead Secret
A Classic Victorian Novel of Melodrama, Hidden Identity and Secrets.
The Dead Secret first appeared in 1857, written specifically for serialization before being published in two volumes in the same year. Wilkie Collins' most well known novels, The Moonstone and The Woman in White were both published in the 1860s, the decade in which it is considered Wilkie Collins produced his finest work. Although it may not have the instant appeal of The Moonstone or The Woman in White, The Dead Secret has many of the ingredients that would combine to make Wilkie Collins novels into the thrilling stories they are.
Plot of The Dead Secret
Although the plot of The Dead Secret turns on the somewhat creaking device of the deathbed confession, it is an exciting story that certainly has the ability to keep the reader hooked. The Dead Secret of the title is revealed to one Sarah Leeson, a servant who is responsible for retaining the secret and keeping it from Rosamond Franklin, nee Treverton who stands to lose most from its revelation.
Wilkie Collins' Heroine Turns Detective
It is the character of Rosamond who becomes the driving force behind the momentum of the plot. Like so many of Collins' heroines after her, she turns detective in her quest to unearth the secret held by Sarah Leeson whose true identity remains secret until the end of the novel. The reader is quick to warm to Rosamond's engaging, impulsive character. Unlike the heroines of Collins' big four novels (The Moonstone, The Woman in White, Armadale, No Name), Rosamond is already enjoying life as a young wife and mother before the main action of the story takes place. However, although she often demures to her husband's authority, partly in due to her sympathy for his blindness, Rosamond appears to enjoy a marriage of equals - a theme that was to be of considerable interest to Collins.
Collins' Literary Experiment
The shadowy character of Sarah Leeson/Mrs Jazeph is, on the whole, a less sympathetic character. She is the guardian of the secret that was entrusted to her by the later Mrs Treverton on her deathbed. Although Collins states that he specifically drew Sarah almost as an experiment to see how the character of a nervous woman, with a secret history of her own, would manage under the weight of such a burden, it is hard to feel much sympathy for this timid, weak woman.
Colourful Characters
As Collins himself notes in his 1861 preface to the novel, Uncle Joseph, along with Rosamond, 'had the good fortune to find friends everwhere'. Uncle Joseph, the German cabinet maker with a penchant for Mozart, is a delightful, well-rounded character who takes his tragic niece Sarah under his wing in her hour of need. There is some comedy from Collins' portrayal of the relationship between the butler at Porthgenna and the Housekeeper who are both in residence when Uncle Joseph bursts onto the scene. Collins' astute observations perfectly convey the butler, although only a minor character, with all his posturing and assumed air of wisdom and authority.
The Dead Secret is, perhaps, best enjoyed by readers who have already sampled the delight of Wilkie Collins 'big four' novels. It is certainly an exciting story which impels the reader to keep turning the pages but can in parts seem rather melodramatic and drawn out for some modern tastes. The qualities of this novel may be better appreciated when taken in context with Collins' later works, It is interesting, for example, to compare Sarah Leeson with Rosanna Spearman in The Moonstone and Rosamond Treverton with Rachel Verinder, the heroine of The Moonstone or Magdalen Vanstone, No Name, to see how Collins' portrayal of women develops.
Sources and acknowledgements:
The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins in Pocket Classics, ISBN 0-780862-992521
For information on the Wilkie Collins Society, follow the links from Andrew Gasson's Wilkie Collins Information Pages.
Wilkie Collins, The Dead Secret
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