'Shades Of Meaning': The Significance Of Hair Colour In Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret (1862) And Rossetti's Lady Lilith (1866–68, Altered 1872–73), Jessica Lenihan

In a culture obsessed with physiognomy, where the Victorian female body was a canvas of symbols to be read, the portrayal of hair – and particularly hair colour – was a powerful means of characterising women in both literature and art. The 'fair-haired paragon' Lucy Audley in Braddon's novel Lady Audley's Secret (1862) would thus appear to be the antithesis of the subject of Rossetti's painting Lady Lilith (1866-68, altered 1872-73), whose locks are the typically vivid red colour of the Pre-Raphaelite woman. However, the characters of Lady Audley and Lady Lilith are not as simple as their tropes. There are shades of meaning between these apogees and ultimately, the hair colour of both women can be described as 'red-gold'. The fusion of these two seemingly conflicting symbolic shades and the murky area between them brings to the fore questions about the nature of the Victorian woman.