The Woman in Black Madness Quotes
How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Behind me, in the house, I knew that I must have left the family in a state of consternation and bewilderment… (1.60)
All the kids want to do is spook each other a little bit, and dad goes rushing off into the night. Way to spoil everyone's fun, dad. (Only Arthur knows that there's nothing fun about ghost stories.)
Quote #2
Her face, in its extreme pallor, her eyes, sunken but unnaturally bright, were burning with the concentration of passionate emotion which was within her and which streamed from her. (5.24)
Crazy eyes, Shmoopers. Stay away from the people with crazy eyes.
Quote #3
But what was "real"? At that moment I began to doubt my own reality. (10.10)
Even the so proudly rational Arthur has trouble keeping track of what's what when he's wandering around Eel Marsh House. We get the feeling that he's never going to look at a ghost story the same way again.
Quote #4
It was in a state of disarray as might have been caused by a gang of robbers, bent on mad, senseless destruction. (11.51)
The woman in black doesn't just wreak psychological damage; she'll also mess up all your stuff.
Quote #5
… From that day Jennet Humfrye began to go mad. (11.111)
And it's no wonder—she had to watch her kid drown from the window. That's got to be rough stuff on that old psyche. But—we just have to point out—Arthur watched his child die in a horrible accident and managed not to go crazy. So what's the difference?
Quote #6
… Mad with grief and mad with anger and a desire for revenge. (11.113)
Okay, Sam is really laying it on here. Jennet is mad. Not mad-angry, but mad-crazy. Get it? She's bonkers. Cuckoo. Nutso. Insane in the membrane. And she's going to make sure everyone knows it.
Quote #7
Whether because of her loss and her madness or what, she also contracted a disease which caused her to begin to waste away. (11.115)
Wow, things don't really turn around for this lady at all. They just get more and more miserable. And she's about to make sure they get really miserable for the village, too.
Quote #8
She had been a poor, crazed, troubled woman, dead of grief and distress, filled with hatred and desire for revenge. (12.13)
That's a pretty succinct description of Jennet Humfrye. Not exactly flattering, but accurate.
Quote #9
I have sat here at my desk… a blank sheet of paper before me, unable to lift my pen, trembling and weeping too. (12.16)
Arthur feels grief, too, but he doesn't go crazy. Is it because he's finally able to write the story down? Or because he decides to build a new life? Or because he wasn't a mid-nineteenth century woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child?
Quote #10
This time, there was no merciful loss of consciousness, I was forced to live through it all, every minute and then every day thereafter for ten long months, until Stella too, died from her terrible injuries. (12.28)
Gee, it's almost as if Jennet wants everyone else to go crazy with grief, too. Because that's totally going to make her feel better, right?