Winnie Verloc: A Case of "Female Malady" in The Secret Agent

Abstract

"Despite the tendency to analyze The Secret Agent within the context of its depictions of anarchy, and by extension terrorism, especially in light of the prevailing Zeitgeist, discussions of Winnie Verloc’s seemingly atavistic act of revenge... have also garnered some currency as of late. An investigation of Winnie Verloc, however, deserves more attention than it has previously received, especially since in his notes on the novel, Conrad termed it the “story of Winnie Verloc.” This paper seeks to unveil the mysterious character of Winnie Verloc in light of the multiplicity of readings that the complexity of Conrad’s characters invites, including the examination of elements within Winnie’s character that mark her as an embodiment of what Elaine Showalter has called the “female malady.” Winnie Verloc displays characteristics that align her with a “document of madness” that comes to the fore in the masculinist web of power/knowledge dominating the story and, along with it, the desire to label her in negative ways, including the use of terms such as “she-devil” and “raving mad”, instead of reading into her “mysteriousness”. Madness serves as Winnie’s sole means of staging a rebellion, a means to which many women in similar circumstances
have found themselves bound to resort, particularly in the constraining Victorian Age. One could question, however, how far we have actually moved away from the gender-specific strictures moulding that era."