The Grey Woman

The Grey Woman

Thus far, I am only familiar with Cranford from all of Elizabeth Gaskell's works and was initially wary of reading her Gothic horror tale, The Grey Woman. Sure, it would be brilliantly written but would it be scary? As it turns out, I was fretting for nothing; I enjoyed this book far more because of its different take on the horror genre as well as its specific style of writing.

The story itself is neither a ghost story nor one about spooky happenings of any kind. Rather, it tells the tale of a middle-class German woman, Anna, whose life changes drastically when she marries a mysterious French man. He's from the upper-class, well-bred and brimming over with money, and therefore readers might expect this to start out as a fairy-tale beginning. Far from it. You are wary of the good husband, Monsieur de la Tourelle, from the very start and as you dive further into the book, he becomes quite a frightening figure. His wife, the main protagonist and narrator of this tale, discovers horrid secrets about him. And before you know it, it is a scary run to save herself from him and his dodgy friends.

There's quite a bit I loved about the book. Gaskell uses the background (both the foreign land as well as the château) as a means of creating a frightening atmosphere. The main character is far from her family, she is placed amongst hostile servants and furthermore, she lives in a part of the house that is far from the rest of the folk. The sense of helplessness created by this setting certainly added to the sense of apprehension you feel when the poor woman makes her startling discovery.

Another aspect that added to the horror element was the role of women. As is typical of Gaskell's writings, she makes a lot of social comment about the status and role of women in society. What is interesting in this respect is how she uses them in enhancing her horror story. Thereby, Anna can't really say no to the marriage proposal from the freaky Frenchman; according to her family, there was no valid reason for refusal and simply not loving him was not a good enough excuse. Ouch. That rules out her chances of coming back home in case of a domestic disturbance. Then there are the reactions of folks when Anna tries to hide from her husband later on. Almost everyone sides with the poor man whose 'evil' wife has ran off. This again added to the character's helplessness; no one would really aid them as her place was with him, no matter what.

To be fair, Gaskell does throw in a strong female character, Amante, one who is the pillar of strength for Anna. She is a servant who stands up to her employer (and incredible concept when you think of the class boundaries evident in those times) and later on, she helps Anna deal with the frightening discovery. The author's use of realistic characters, especially female ones who don't fit in with the expected norms, make this story all the more likable.