“The Woman in White” (post 2) by Wilkie Collins: Count Fosco joins the title character (see post 1) in probably having multiple personality

“All the smallest characteristics of this strange man [Count Fosco] have something strikingly…and perplexingly contradictory in them” (1, pp. 266-271).

Comment: According to a textbook on multiple personality, one hallmark of new patients who later prove to have MPD is “frequent inconsistencies” (2, p. 72), because each (as yet undiagnosed) alternate personality has its own memories, interests, attitudes, and behaviors.

I won’t assume that the author intended that either the title character or Count Fosco be seen as having multiple personality unless and until he explicitly labels them as such. If he never does label them as such, then I will view these symptoms of multiple personality as unintended, and probably reflective of the author’s own “multiple personality trait.” Up to the point I’ve read, Count Fosco’s perplexing contradictions have served only to make the good-guy characters doubt that they can trust him.

Search “contradictory,” “inconsistency,” and “puzzling” in this blog to see relevant past posts on other novels.

1. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White. New York, Bantam Classic, 1860/1985

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder. New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.