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“I Want to Serve Two Masters”: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Revision of the Female Consumer in The Doctor's Wife

While critics have discussed the manner in which Mary Elizabeth Braddon addresses the conflict between high and low literature in Belgravia: A London Magazine, the literary publication of which she becomes editor in 1866, none have addressed the crucial role of The Doctor's Wife (1864) in Braddon's personal quest to revise these delimiting categories. This essay discusses the manner in which Braddon's The Doctor's Wife simultaneously enables her to create a more “literary” novel and to revise and negotiate the demeaning stereotypes that define the consumer—particularly the woman reader. In particular, this essay examines the relationship between Isabel (Sleaford) Gilbert, the stereotypical lowbrow female consumer, and Roland Lansdell, the alleged highbrow male producer. Although Braddon appears to undermine Isabel's character throughout the novel by highlighting the dangers of the misguided female consumer, this essay focuses on the ways in which Braddon utilizes Isabel's text-obsessed character to subtly place blame upon the cultural constraints that prevent naive female consumers from actualizing their potential as independent and capable readers.