'East Lynne' - the Victorian Story

Murder, love, jealousy, class, elections,
money, illness and death.

All these are interwoven in Mrs Henry Wood's novel (published in the 1860s) to create a powerful story of life in middle-class England towards the end of the 19th century. There are shades of Jane Austen and of Charles Dickens.

It is a particularly fascinating story of how one woman's life is influenced not only by the social conventions of the time, and the rigidly-defined class structures, but more importantly by the behaviour of other women in this claustrophobic society.

Meet ...

Lady Isabel Vane, heroine and victim of other women's spite and jealousy, who marries beneath her - Archibald Carlyle, lawyer.
"I have been subjected to almost constant humiliation."

 

Lady Mount Severn, flirtatious to the very verge of propriety, and determined not to harbour the beautiful Lady Isabel in her home.
"She had never been known to invite a young and attractive women to her home - she would as soon have invited a leper!"

 

Cornelia Carlyle, overbearing sister to Archibald Carlyle, who runs his household with a rod of iron, and resents the presence of his expensive 'fine lady' wife.
"I will never forgive him, or tolerate her."

 

Barbara Hare, daughter to Mr Justice Hare, who would have married Archibald Carlyle if she could and still shows her 'obvious affection' for Archibald, even after his marriage.
"My grief has been greater than I know how to bear."

 

Joyce Hallijohn, head maid in the Carlyle household, devoted to Lady Isabel, who had not dared to tell her master of Isabel's misery and humiliation.
"I've been longing to tell you many a time, sir, but it's right you should know it, now that things have come to this dreadful ending."

East Lynne has often been performed as a melodrama. However, it is certainly good enough to stand on its own merits, and we tell it as a story, portraying the various characters and scenes. Follow, with us, Lady Isabel's story from her father's death to her humiliation and downfall.

 

'Mrs Wood depicts characters with a fidelity to life - a faithful delineator of the habits and ideas of the middle class.' Dictionary of National Biography

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