Lady Audley’s Sphinxian Mystery?

The present study is based on the analysis of the themes of madness and monstrosity, depicted through the female character, in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s well-known Lady Audley’s Secret. It discusses the elusive nature of madness and monstrosity that may be perceived as attributes of reader, writer and characters alike; it also considers the possibility of ‘madness’ as subversive survival strategy and/or escape from narrow patriarchal, political, social and cultural confines