Lady Mary

In “Mr. Fox” by Joseph Jacobs the heroine, Lady Mary, is presented as a clever character. She is disobedient in that she goes to Mr. Fox’s house without permission, but that point is overlooked. Also, she is never actually forbidden from going to his castle, he simply “did not ask her or her brothers to come and see it.” So, she cannot be deemed a disobedient female. Lady Mary saves herself by pretending she dreamt about Mr. Fox chopping off a woman’s hand and seeing the bodies of dead women inside his castle. She then shows the woman’s hand to everyone and her brothers and friends “drew their swords and cut Mr. Fox into a thousand pieces.” This version focuses on Lady Mary's ability to come up with a plan to save herself from a deadly marriage.