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The Woman In Black – Susan Hill:
The main themes in this ghost story by Susan Hill are fear, isolation and the influence of the
past
...

Other ideas that are dealt with include the conflict between urban and rural life, revenge and, of
course, the theme of the supernatural
...
They often have a pestilent appearance and female fatale = sexually
attractive woman who is dangerous
...
g solicitors
and lawyers)
...
Elements of
supernatural
...
It can also include the transition from
urban to the rural (moving away from civilization)
...
In the novella, we see from the
start when Arthur’s stepfamily gather around the fire to tell Ghost stories - his inability to
participate sets him apart (he removes himself and goes outdoors)
...


Until the very last second, it
seemed that I was to be alone not
merely in my compartment but in
the entire train
...
There is a
sense that no one will be able to help him, and
this seems unsettling
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Neither could I see the causeway
path, not only because of that but
because the tide had now covered
it over completely
...
This makes the eeriness
of the house inescapable as we see when
Arthur wants to leave
...
This
is emphasised by the fact that her
funeral is barely attended
...
We later wonder what role the ghost of
Jennet Humfrye might have played in the
isolation of her sister
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Susan Hill successfully draws on many conventions of the ghost story genre to create
a compelling and frightening tale
...
Fear is presented in the novel through 3 main
aspects:
Fear of the past:
•
•
•
•

Fear causes the separation of his family
...
’
Fear leads to questioning masculine ability
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’ (This reflects with the
questioning of masculinity with Lady Macbeth in the Macbeth Play)
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Suggest harm and destructiveness
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It physically affects his
behaviour – paralyses him in his movements
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’
She looks like a ‘wasting disease’ and ‘extremely pale
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(This
reinforces a similar part when Macbeth observes the appearance of the 3 witches)
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The WIB actions around the gravestone could foreshadow death, suggest otherworldly and
perhaps even demonic
...
’

Fear of the Unknown:
•
•

When Kipps encounters the WIB
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’ Demonstrates a slight perplexity
from Kipps
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‘She was nowhere to be seen
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It is to create
that uncertainty of future occurrences – Gives a reserved idea on the WIB
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How does Hill show this?

The story of Arthur
Kipps' visit to Eel
Marsh House is a
memory
Jennet Humfrye is
driven mad by her own
past

Evidence

She introduces his story in the
present tense to show how
fear has pursued the narrator
...


Samuel Daily explains the
story of the woman in black
and how her revenge has
affected the community
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Analysis

The narrator implies from
the start that this memory
will be presented as
accurately as possible
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Setting Within The Woman In Black:
3 main Settings within the WIB: London, Crythin Gifford and Eel Marsh House
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‘Seething’, ‘sly’, ‘filthy’, ‘evil smelling fog
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‘Unhealthy atmosphere of fog and dankness
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Reference to fog presents the atmosphere of repression + claustrophobia
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Multisensory experience
...

Kipps is observant and witnesses his surroundings as no dialogue is made (he is voyeuristic)
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’ – adjectives suggest a picturesque view
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’
People are engaged in discussion and labour ----- a community
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Not engaged in the conversations – still outsider as a lack of dialogue
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Eel Marsh House (Upon Initial View):
•
•
•
•
•
•

A depopulated environment
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‘Seemed to stretch in every
direction as far as I could see
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– reveals Kipps as
introverted
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Suggests liminality as transition of natural to supernatural occurs
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’ – out of from
society – exposes him as introvert
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(‘imagined, isolated and
uncompromising but also, I thought, handsome
...
) – SYMBOLIC
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‘Bulb was very weak
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Neglected and represent dilapidation
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‘Uncanny beauty
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Arthur constantly interested in looking outside – Provokes interest in elsewhere, (Symbolises
Arthur’s lack of satisfaction/ yearning for something better)
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’
Older age as her ‘hair became threaded with grey
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’ Suggest matriarchy show her agency (power) – (highlights age and seniority)
‘in the happy company of my family
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‘Happy’ –
domesticated and peaceful to the point of idealization
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Stella: (Kipps’ Fiancée during the events- when he was younger):
•
•
•
•
•
•

Lacks seeming important through her fleeting appearance
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Motherhood brings pride – ‘as proud as any parents could be
...
’
Presented as caring and nurtures the baby when ‘Stella sitting in it and holding up the baby
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Motherhood is family orientated
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Jennet Humfreye ( Woman In Black):
•
•
•
•
•
•

Motherhood is elided (removed) from memory, as not mention of child on her gravestone
...
’
Motherhood cannot be replaced – ‘his own mother, more and more fond
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Victorian expectations of martial motherhood actually leads to breakdown in family
...
’
Jennet appears to be minatory
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Characters:
Arthur Kipps:
•

He is the main character and narrator of the novel
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•

He uses emotive and sophisticated language, suggesting he is well educated
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’ ‘Permanently morose
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He was a lawyer and remained that job his whole life (no change) and he is insecure
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Privileged background
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Social and historic context: Susan Hill explains that she set out to write a ghost story, inspired
by her love for Henry James' novel, The Turn of the Screw
...
One of the key
features of these stories, as well as the ghost itself, is a 'most unimaginative and
straightforward' person who 'most certainly did not believe in such things as ghosts'
...

Every time she is seen, a child in the village dies
...
We learn from Samuel Daily that she is the ghost of Jennet Humfrye, a young
woman who had a baby out of wedlock
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Her sister, Alice Drablow, adopts the child along with her husband, to hide Jennet’s
situation
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Every time she is seen, a
child in the village dies, either in an accident or from the sudden onset of illness
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Social and Historical context: Although Susan Hill wrote The Woman in Black in 1983, the novella
is set in the Edwardian era
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In Edwardian society, the ideal woman was one whose moral values were strong
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A woman who did
so, risked being cut-off by her family, especially if she was from the upper social class, as the
Drablows with their vast estate appear to have been
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Samuel Daily First Introduction (P34-40):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Daily likes company (sociable)
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’
‘Frets
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Sea frets
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Daily is elusive (hard to capture)
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“No”
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‘I began
to speculate about my companion
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He contrasts with Arthur’s talkativeness, showing a short + declarative verbal style
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(Daily later in the novel):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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He is presented as authoritative when Kipps feels ‘like nothing so much as a schoolboy caught
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‘Let me give you that dinner
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Daily’s presence gives an indication of Arthur’s own obliviousness to his surroundings
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Daily acts as a catalyst of change of Kipps
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’
Daily shows his generosity when he gives Arthur his dog, Spider, as company
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At the end of the novel, Arthur Kipps is impressed by Daily’s kind nature that he makes him
godfather to Arthur’s son

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