Griffith Gaunt, or Jealousy is an 1866 sensation novel by Charles Reade. It was a best-selling book in its day and thought by Reade to be his best novel, although critics and posterity have generally preferred The Cloister and the Hearth.
Background
Reade's Hearth, set in the 15th century, was not especially successful when released in 1861. Reade decided the public "don't care about the dead," and so endeavoured to focus on more contemporary topics of scandal, while still trying to convey a social purpose in his work. First serialized in the new British Argosy magazine, and in the AmericanThe Atlantic, Gaunt delivered "a highly colored story of bigamy, murder, and mistaken identity among eighteenth-century gentry" with "almost pathological sensationalism." Attacks on the book's morality were primarily from the American press, not the English. The New YorkRound Table said the novel was "indecent" and that even the "lowest sensational weekly papers" would not publish it. Excerpts of the negative review were republished in other papers including the London Review. Reade penned letters of rebuke to newspaper editors, including one titled "The Prurient Prude" which was republished widely. As the New York Herald commented, the attacks on the morality of the book and Reade's responses gave the book great popularity, and they "fear to injure the popularity of Griffith Gaunt by stating that it is not a whit immoral nor dangerous." Reade sued for defamation, and had actor and well-known elocutionist George Vandenhoff read much of the novel to the jury. Reade was awarded six cents and additional popularity and publicity for his book. Reade's friend and fellow novelist Wilkie Collins sought to have Charles Dickens testify in Reade's behalf at the trial, but Dickens declined, finding the book "the work of a highly accomplished writer and a good man", yet containing passages he would not have published himself. In a much-followed American scandal and 1875 trial, Henry Ward Beecher was sued by Theodore Tilton for committing adultery with his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth claimed in part that her actions were influenced by reading Gaunt, and the novel was dissected in depth during the trial. Malcolm Elwin's 1931 biography of Reade called Gaunt "one of the most important novels of its generation," and Henry James also wrote favourably of "the much abused" novel.
Plot summary
Here is a plot summary taken from a 1917 anthology of literature:
Griffith Gaunt, a gentleman without fortune, marries Catharine Peyton, a Cumberland heiress, who is a devout Roman Catholic. After living happily together for eight years, the couple—each of whom has a violent temper, in the husband combined with insane jealousy—are gradually estranged by Catharine's spiritual adviser, Father Leonard, an eloquent young priest. Griffith discovers his wife and Leonard under apparently suspicious circumstances; and after a violent scene he rides away, with the intention of never returning. He reaches an inn in an adjoining county, where he is nursed through a fever by the innkeeper's daughter, Mercy Vint. Assuming the name of his illegitimate brother, Thomas Leicester, to whom he bears a superficial resemblance, he marries Mercy. Returning to his old home to obtain a sum of money belonging to him, he is reconciled to Catharine by her earlier adviser, Father Francis. Under a false pretext he goes back to the inn to break with Mercy; but finding it more difficult than he had anticipated, he defers final action, and returns to Cumberland. Here he is received by Catharine with furious reproaches and threats against his life; his crime having been disclosed to her through the real Leicester, and her maid Caroline Ryder. Griffith disappears; a few days after, a body that is discovered in the mere near the house is identified as his. Mrs. Gaunt is indicted for his murder, and pleads her own cause. The trial is going against her, when Mercy appears and proves that Griffith is alive, and that the body is that of Leicester. Griffith and Catharine are again reconciled, and Mercy marries Catharine's former lover, Sir George Neville. The scene is laid in the middle of the 18th century.
Adaptations
The novel was quickly adapted for the stage by Augustin Daly to capitalize on the book's success. The book form of the novel was released in October 1866 – Daly wrote the play in four days, and it received its first performance on 7 November 1866 at the New York Theatre with John K. Mortimer and Rose Eytinge in the lead roles. It ran for six weeks. A second adaptation also quickly appeared. The novel was also later adapted by Reade as a play the under the name Kate Peyton's Lovers by the early 1870s, later revised and performed under the title Jealousy in 1878. American humorist Charles Henry Webb also released a parody titled Liffith Lank, or Lunacy.
