Fingersmith - question about the plot (spoiler)

[vincettenoir]

In Fingersmith by Sarah Waters why do Gentleman and Mrs Suckby scheme to place Sue in a madhouse as part of their plot? This seems to me to be an unnecessary as they only need for Maud to be freed and married. I know that they want to cheat Sue from her half of the money but surely Sue would have shared it with Mrs Sucksby in any case.

It's been a fair few years since I read Fingersmith, but I think they wanted Sue in the asylum so that Mrs Sucksby could take all the inheritance (split between Sue and Maud) and not some of it. Secondary to this she would have been inconvenient to have around as a witness and as the real lady by birthright - I guess they didn't know what she would do when she discovered that she had been played by everybody. Mrs Sucksby had been planning this all of the girls' lives and was probably just wanting to get one of the chess pieces off the table.

I loved Fingersmith. May now reread after this thread.

There's a good Korean film based on the book called The Handmaiden which came out in the last 10 years.

Thank you @Mothership4two . And yes I’d like to see that Korean film. I’ll watch out for if it comes on Sky.