Subjects on DisplaySubjects on Display explores a recurrent figure at the heart of many nineteenth century English novels: the retiring, self effacing woman who is conspicuous for her inconspicuousness. Beth Newman draws upon both psychoanalytic theory and recent work in social history as she argues that this paradoxical figure, who often triumphs over more dazzling, eye catching rivals, is a response to the forces that made personal display a vexed issue for Victorian