The Women in White by Wilkie Collins begins in the perspective of Walter Hartright, a master draftsman who has recently taken a job and is on a journey. During the journey he helps a woman dressed in white named Anne Catherick. Hartright thinks nothing of the meeting except that he found it strange that she was dressed all in white. But he later discovers that she has escaped from a mental asylum and is on the run. After finally arriving and thriving in his new job, Hartright takes a liking to Miss Laura Fairlie and befriends Marian Halcombe, her half-sister. The two women each share a relationship with the owner of the house. However, since Laura is due to get married, Marian finds it best to send Walter away, but not before telling him that Laura was marrying the man who was pursuing the woman in the white dress named Sir Percival Glyde. This is one of the first signs of secrecy in the book because Laura Fairlie ends up hiding information about her first love from her husband. Inevitably he finds himself alone and gets angry. Hartright finds this strange but leaves the country trying to forget his first love. After the wedding takes place, Glyde attempts to convince Laura to sign over her fortune to him due to his debt. After Laura and Miss Halcombe refuse to find out too much information, Glyde and his friend Count Fosco decide it is best to swap Laura with her doppelganger Anne, either in their roles or in their respective lives. They do this because to gain access to Laura's money, Glyde and Fosco have to fake Laura's death. At this point Hartright has returned to the village and after being alerted to what was happening by Miss Halcombe, he decides to find out all about the Baronet. and the Count seems to be hiding. To regain Laura's identity, Hartright mu...... middle of paper... that Laura had been wronged. No matter how determined Glyde is to keep all his secrets a secret, it will ultimately cost him his life. This is another reason why some claim to have defeated themselves. But if it hadn't been for Walter and Marian getting closer to the truth, Glyde wouldn't have been so worried about the truth coming out. So in the end Glyde's obsessive desire for money is what ruins his plan. There are several ways he could have approached the situation. If Glyde had simply been honest with his Laura and told her about his debts, she might have been able to help him. Instead he chose to be deceitful and keep all his secrets hidden. Money can do dangerous things to a person and cause them to act irrationally. Money truly is the root of all evil. Works Cited Collins, Wilkie. The woman in white. Radford: Wilder Publications, LLC. 2008. Print.