Tabitha in Coe's The Winshaw Legacy; or, What a Carve-Up

Michael's stated goal is to determine if Tabitha is 'really mad,' or if there is a 'vestige of truth in her belief' that Lawrence arranged the death of Godfrey (91). In the end, I will argue, both are true: Tabitha is, of course, correct about Lawrence, but that doesn't mean that she isn't 'mad as a hatter' (227). (My question is just how mad the average hatter is:)

The irony in Michael's statement is that Tabitha plays very little role in the book other than advancing the plot, though in this area she is a sine qua non. Other than providing the means of Michael's writing, Tabitha serves to end the book, and in doing so, link together the novel's symbolism. It could scarce be argued that a sane 84 year old would kill a pilot, disguise herself, and fly off in a plane she had never stepped foot into (other than figurativly in books.) Nor could it be put forth that someone short of insane would kill herself in such a manner. Yet this argument only establishes that Tabitha is insane in the denoumet. Is this a prophesy of Lawrence that fulfills itself?

No evidence suggests that Tabitha has even a hint of insanity when she is committed to an institution, other than Michael's uninformed assertion of her insanity as the book opens. Later, of course, he learns that the 'celery,' note, the note on which he bases his assertion of her insanity, really establishes the correctness of her statements about Lawrence. I suggest that it is thus possible that the confinement suffered by Tabitha may have at least contributed to her insanity. Nonetheless, and despite Mortimer's statement otherwise (209), Tabitha still acts as a Winshaw. To this end, she conspires with Farrington to kill her brother Lawrence in much the same way Lawrence conspires to kill Godfrey: by using intermediaries who come to the home (Findlay and Germans, respectivly) and enlist others (Farringdon and the Luftwaffe) to kill the brother. Tabitha's behavior is no more excusable than Lawrence's in that both have the requisite mea culpa to be considered murderers.

Though certainly a dubious act, Tabitha also helps Michael live out his 3d dream (and in the process adds to the list of people she's killed). As Tabitha screams for joy at the freedom she has found, Michael finds that his third dream is being lived out, and that his statement in French at the end of his 3d dream and the beginning of the section comes tragically true. ('If you sleep, if you dream, you must accept your dreams. It is the role of the dreamer.') In this way, Michael dies in the manner of his role in society, the same way each of the Winshaws dies, as Tabitha's singing 'Life is but a dream' establishes. Tabitha, too, dies in line with her role: she's doing something crazy.

Tabitha thus plays no active role in the plot until she sews up the plot (or knits it together, if you will:) by causing both her death and Michael's in ways similar to their roles in society like every other Winshaw. In the process, she raises more questions than answers about her own sanity.