Body of Truth: Intuition and Truth in Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White

Abstract

The analysis of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White
provided here indicates Coll ins's privileging of nervous systembased
body wisdom and intuition over that of logic and reason.
Through research and analysis of the text, I claim that Collins
uses the nervous aesthetic of sensationalism to reveal the truthvalue
of intuition. Body wisdom is employed both within and
outside of the novel, whereby the characters in the novel, as well
as the reader, experience a physiological nervous system response
that ultimately guides them to truth and justice. Furthermore, the
failure of the law and the success of intuition throughout the novel
suggest a critique of the nineteenth-century epistemology of truth
in regard to the legal system method of acquiring the truth.
Moreover, I conclude that Collins is attempting to communicate
with the reader's sensations and solve the mystery of the novel
with intuition to show that the body is the ultimate bringer of
truth.