The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black is Susan Hill's 1983 gothic ghost story, told as the written memoir of Arthur Kipps, an elderly solicitor who recounts a terrifying experience from his youth. Sent by his employer, Mr Bentley, to attend the funeral of the reclusive Mrs Alice Drablow and sort her papers at the isolated Eel Marsh House, young Arthur encounters the ghostly figure of a wasted, pale woman dressed entirely in black. Over several harrowing days and nights, he witnesses spectral re-enactments of a pony and trap drowning in the marshes, hears a child's screams, and discovers a locked nursery whose rocking chair moves of its own accord.

The story behind the haunting

Through letters and documents, Arthur uncovers the tragedy: Jennet Humfrye, Mrs Drablow's sister, was forced to give up her illegitimate son Nathaniel to the Drablows. When Nathaniel, his nursemaid Rose Judd, and the driver Keckwick's father drowned in the marshes after their pony trap lost the causeway in a sea-fret, Jennet - who watched from an upper window - went mad with grief. She died twelve years later, wasted by disease and consumed by hatred. Her ghost haunts the marshes and the house, and the people of Crythin Gifford know a terrible pattern: whenever the woman in black is seen, a child dies.

How the novel ends

Arthur escapes Eel Marsh House with the help of the bluff landowner Samuel Daily, recovers from a severe breakdown, marries his fiancee Stella, and has a son, Joseph. But on a sunny afternoon in a London park, Arthur sees the woman in black standing by a tree. She steps into the path of a pony trap carrying Stella and the baby. The pony bolts, the cart crashes: Joseph is killed instantly, and Stella dies of her injuries ten months later. Jennet Humfrye has had her revenge.

Why it matters for the exam

For OxfordAQA Paper 2, Section A (Prose), you will write about character, theme, language and structure. This guide provides the detailed knowledge of plot, characters, themes, key passages and Hill's techniques that you need to write a strong analytical response. The novel rewards close attention to its use of the frame narrative, atmospheric description, pathetic fallacy, and the way Arthur's retrospective voice creates dramatic irony throughout.