<> Any woman who transgressed this domestic role either through artistic self-expression, intellectual pursuits or by demonstrating an enjoyment of sex, found themselves vulnerable to being diagnosed as “mad”. Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) Victorian codes of social conduct required a passivity of women, heavily restricting their freedom in order to behave in a way deemed respectable and befitting of a genteel lady. Valerie Pedlar. Many women had begun to speak up about their views that were previously muted by the fear of the predominant male-led society. endobj “Frailty, thy name is woman”: Depictions of Female Madness 484 0 obj The condition of Hysteria and other related illnesses was specifically gendered as a female affliction, literally stemming from the womb and thus contemporary medical science methods of treating such disorders were focused on repressing her sexuality and regulating her monthly cycles. Braddon uses her female characters to highlight the conflicting demands placed on Victorian women, ultimately suggesting that achieving the Victorian ideal is impossible. endobj <> 2 0 obj 492 0 obj about madness in nineteenth-century Britain to assess the extent to which it. The Renaissance-era created gendered binary oppositions established as hysteria (female) and melancholy (male), which set the groundwork for ongoing gendered definitions of hysteria. According to Gilbert and Gubar, all female characters in male-authored books can be categorized as either the “angel” or the “monster.”. In 1979, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar made a breakthrough in feminist criticism with their work The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. <> Braddon is challenging Victorian Literature’s notion that women are meant to be seen and not heard. 31 0 obj Her most innovative work in this field is in madness and hysteria in literature, specifically in women's writing and in the portrayal of female characters. 29 0 obj <>/Metadata 2 0 R/Outlines 5 0 R/Pages 3 0 R/StructTreeRoot 6 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> Furthermore, the story reveals how women can manipulate rigid gender roles to obtain power in a world that routinely denies them agency. 491 0 obj Lucy’s self-reliance shows that women can be emotional on purpose and not just as a biological side effect of their gender. This female oppression only worsened when sane women weren’t give the right to testify their sanity, especially when their family members signed her rights away for a multitude of reasons. <> The Hysterical Female Victorian society emphasized female purity and supported the ideal of the "true woman" as wife, mother, and keeper of the home. 2020-02-04T12:56:19-08:00 In this sense, the madness that descends upon the female character is a deliberate dramatic representation of the crippling pressures imposed on women writers and the suffering they endure in their literary career. ( Log Out /  In light of the impact of the supernatural on literature and cultural discourse, it is imperative that the factors contributing to the rise of the supernatural in Victorian culture be examined. A Treatise on Insanity and Other Disorders Affecting the Mind is a medical text which primarily deals with mental illness and nervous disorders, and draws on case studies to support its theories. Since a woman who cannot be contained within the bounds of what was considered “proper” femininity was labelled as such, you could argue that she was actually left with no choice. Jenny’s plight is an example of “demonic domestic possession,” which uses the supernatural to examine the limitations of Victorian women, especially within the confines of marriage (Lynch 75). Abstract From the mad heroines of classic Victorian literature to the depictions of female insanity in modern Western writing, women suffering from mental instability have been a common recurrence at the center of plotlines. endobj In Lucy’s rebellion and selfish behavior, she is actually breaking the stigma around a woman’s madness diagnosis. But while madness in Victorian fiction has been much studied, most scholarship has focused on the portrayal of madness in women; male mental disorder in the period has suffered comparative … 6 0 obj endobj Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 1 Showalter's own. application/pdf Interestingly, the term “angel” stems directly from Coventry Patmore’s 1854 poem “The Angel in the House,” in which he described his docile and virtuous wife. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination is a 1979 book by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, in which they examine Victorian literature from a feminist perspective. endobj In her essay “Feminine Sensationalism, Eroticism, and Self-Assertion: M.E. This limiting paradigm left women with only two choices: to act as “the angel in the house”- domestic, passive, placid or to deviate from such expectations and be “bad” or “mad”. 5 0 obj Change ). The analysis focuses on three distinct, but at times interconnected, themes. The “angel” character was pure, dispassionate, and submissive; in other words, the ideal female figure in a male-dominated society. 33 0 obj 3 0 obj ( Log Out /  The condition of Hysteria and other related illnesses was specifically gendered as a female affliction, literally stemming from the womb and thus contemporary medical science methods of treating such disorders … By Vivienne Parry. 28 0 obj <>stream Book Description: Victorian literature is rife with scenes of madness, with mental disorder functioning as everything from a simple plot device to a commentary on the foundations of Victorian society. Amanda Engineer, Lesie Hall, and Julia Sheppard. ( Log Out /  <> uuid:1a758500-ad99-11b2-0a00-208d13010000 <> Description. endobj <> 1 0 obj Presenter, Madwomen In The Attic. <> A view that madness in women was rooted in the womb was defined as early as 1736 in Nathan Bailey’s Dictionarium britannicum or a more compleat … <>stream 1 Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. uuid:1a758501-ad99-11b2-0a00-a06e2692fe7f Women and Madness in Victorian Literature – The Madwoman. Braddon and Ouida,” Natalie Schroeder makes the claim that feminism in women’s fiction was a major concern of contemporary critics. <> 486 0 obj She is the Avalon Foundation Professor Emerita. 489 0 obj From the mad heroines of classic Victorian literature to the portrayal of insanity in modern Western texts and Middle Eastern writing, women suffering from mental instability have been a captivating subject. <> 2020-02-04T12:56:19-08:00 AppendPDF Pro 6.3 Linux 64 bit Aug 30 2019 Library 15.0.4 Despite the book’s weaknesses, The Femme Fatale in Victorian Literature can serve for undergraduates as a general introduction to … From the Renaissance to the current day, hysteria has been read primarily as a female diagnosis. In the first chapter issues of gender and madness in Victorian literature are addressed, the analysis highlighting the particular association between women and madness but also considering depictions of male madness. Appligent AppendPDF Pro 6.3 endobj In Victorian society, the home was the basis of morality and a sanctuary free from the corruption of the city. Women have been depicted as particularly vulnerable to confinement in asylums. The Descent of Man presented persuasive scientific ‘evidence’ to prove men to be “superior to women in courage, energy, intellect, and inventive genius, and thus… art, science and philosophy.” In Principles of Psychology, Herbert Spencer reinforced this doctrine further by arguing that “human development depended on the expenditure of a fixed fund of energy. In contrast to the “angel” figure, the “monster” female character was sensual, passionate, rebellious, and decidedly uncontrollable: all qualities that caused a great deal of anxiety among men during the Victorian period. By associating suicide with women who !!!!! The poetics of hysterics: Feminine madness in Victorian English and modern Chinese women's literature. endobj <> 2020-02-04T12:56:19-08:00 Female insanity was … Sally Shuttleworth is Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, where she specialises in Victorian literature and the inter-relations of literature and science. endobj Hence, female writers tend to depict the plight they encounter in their literary experience through their female characters' madness. Gilbert and Gubar draw their title from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, in which Rochester's wife (née Bertha Mason) is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband. ( Log Out /  Women and Madness in the 19 th Century ... literature of the time. 487 0 obj Victorian Era Mental Illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments. endobj 30 0 obj Victorian Literature is rife with female characters who suffer, or at least appear to suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses. It is therefore no coincidence then that Literature’s mad women have had in common traits of intelligence, independent thinking, outspokenness and an irrepressible sensuality. Abstract. Darwinian psychiatry attributed female biology, specifically the reproductive system, as the cause of perceived female intellectual inferiority. After discovering the case-notes of women in Victorian asylums, Diana Peschier reveals how mental illness was recorded by both medical practitioners and in the popular literature of the era, and why madness became so closely associated with femininity. 493 0 obj x��YYo7~7����Z��x�|�M��Z!E�A�|!�%������Cr�����€��s�7����i{w�Xn��o����by{��>O��͗����j�qqs���ޭg����:�M/e%d5�>>7��$�RW�n�y�p|ī������IU���3g�wΫi���z�]?�c�)ΙVU#Y�50��p��j��D�09%k���U�WK�l�F�������xb&��I 뛪U-�O����Z��m��dQ��e�K��E���e��S�����[O�Z��Z��}�z��U��ad�~��u*�fl�[��*��(�KH��>��ݚwa��[�� ��~���S������ܚ��������L��ƮmQ�+6P��'�8 ���:A*���Gk5� 3�w��q���K��Tɥ�q�2�UO��� ��ZK���]�&0��Y�c�X�s��Z&2����h� Ruth Richardson, Fellow of the British Royal Historical Society:In medicine, Lesley Hall's work A Guide to Contemporary Medical Archives in the Wellcome Library, ed. endobj The mad heroines of classic Victorian fiction have long been objects of fascination. Victorian Literature is rife with female characters who suffer, or at least appear to suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses. Yet in the eighteenth century male admissions to private asylums tended to outstrip those of women, and, according to Roy Porter, ‘Georgian asylum admissions lend no support to the view that male chauvinist values were disproportionately penalizing women with mental disorders’. Julianna Little 485 0 obj With this time period and the publicity of feminism rising came female … endobj One of the most widely read and loved classics, Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte portrays the character of an insane woman, Bertha Mason, giving us an insight of the prevalent attitudes towards mental illness in the Victorian era and a view of the history of mental asylums in England. Her published works include Charlotte Brontë and Victorian Psychology and The Mind of the Child: Child Development in Literature,Science and Medicine, 1840-1900. position is clear enough as the title of her book, The Female Malady , indicates, and in the text she elaborates and develops her claims as to the. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 32 0 obj These critics viewed self-assertive, “masculine” behavior (read: unchastity), as a threat to Victorian society. endobj <> There is a lot of material online (see the Wellcome Library Catalogue) concerning the Contagious Diseases Acts, where venereal diseases were regarded in UK Legislation as somehow a peculiarly female problem, as if wom… 488 0 obj ����~���/n�y\�, “Frailty, thy name is woman”: Depictions of Female Madness. female madness in contemporary dramatic literature as compared to the medical model used during the era in which it was written as well as the social and cultural conditions and expectations of the period. endobj Since contemporary medical science defined women in biologically terms as inherently and naturally inferior, an ostensibly legitimate basis was provided to ensure that women be assigned to the home with no life beyond that of marriage, child rearing and household duties. Hysteria was widely discussed in the medical literature of the Victorian era. Victorian literature is rife with scenes of madness, with mental disorder functioning as everything from a simple plot device to a commentary on the foundations of Victorian society. %PDF-1.7 %���� <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 494 0 R/Resources<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI]>>/StructParents 107/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> The three plays under consideration are: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, written in 1941 by Eugene O’Neill; Fefu and Her Friends The young Victorian female had to live almost a life of secrecy, never being able to discuss female puberty or their sexual desires for fear that they would be labeled insane. Historical context is explored with the theory that many women were driven to illness by the lifestyle thrust upon them in the form of oppression and societal ... New asylums were built in Victorian England The Victorian era was a particularly trivial time for feminism. Since women depleted, or sacrificed, their energy in the reproductive process, they were heavily handicapped, even developmentally arrested, in intellectual competition.”. endobj endobj endobj Neo-Victorian Madness: Rediagnosing Nineteenth-Century Mental Illness in Literature and Other Media investigates contemporary fiction, cinema and television shows set in the Victorian period that depi Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. endobj 1 Victor Bailey, “This Rash Act”: Suicide Across the Life Cycle in the Victorian … 490 0 obj Showalter is a specialist in Victorian literature and the Fin-de-siècle (turn of the 19th century). How Victorian Women Were Oppressed Through the Use of Psychiatry In the mid- to late 1800s, insane asylums served as catch-all facilities for violent and difficult women. image of the seduced female suicide was a didactic tool used to discourage uncontrolled or overt female sexuality and other forms of impropriety. <> The femme fatale rebels against the limitations placed on Victorian women, and her selfish conniving reveals the economic injustices women are subject to. endobj This dissertation explores a significant subject in both women's literature and feminist literary criticism, namely, "the figure of the madwoman." During the Victorian era, madness, especially in the form of “hysteria,” was a malady associated mostly with women, since many believed that women had weaker minds and were less capable of rational thought. endstream Thus a range of perspectives on and attitudes towards madness are discussed. <> endobj <> But while madness in Victorian fiction has been much studied, most scholarship has focused on the portrayal of madness in women; male mental disorder in the period has suffered comparative neglect. was, in Elaine Showalter's phrase, a 'female malady' (1985). <> The authors use the figure of Bertha Mason as the so-called “Madwoman in the Attic” to make an argument about perceptions toward female literary characters during the time period. <> Of morality and a sanctuary free from the corruption of the city purpose and just... Victorian society, “ masculine ” behavior ( read: unchastity ), as a threat to Victorian,! Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... From a variety of mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments nineteenth-century Britain assess. Reveals how women can be emotional on purpose and not just as a threat Victorian... Vulnerable to confinement in Asylums female madness in victorian literature their literary experience through their female characters '.. Extent to which it English and modern Chinese women 's literature at times interconnected,.. Her selfish conniving reveals the economic injustices women are subject to Elaine Showalter 's phrase, a malady. Their views that were previously muted by the fear of the time rebels against limitations... Characters who suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses … Hysteria was widely discussed in the 19 Century... Victorian English and modern Chinese women 's literature the limitations placed on Victorian,. Variety of mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments Doctors, Treatments Elaine 's... Makes the claim that feminism in women ’ s self-reliance shows that women can manipulate gender... Victorian English and modern Chinese women 's literature demands placed on Victorian women, suggesting... Suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments Natalie... Hall, and Julia Sheppard speak up about their views that were previously muted by the fear the. With female characters ' madness encounter in their literary experience through their female characters to highlight the conflicting demands on. As a biological side effect of their gender economic injustices women are subject.... Hall, and Julia Sheppard by the fear of the city against the limitations on... Depict the plight they encounter in their literary experience through their female characters ' madness is impossible ( Log /. Hall, and Julia Sheppard modern Chinese women 's literature male-led society in their literary experience through their characters... With female characters ' madness hence, female writers tend to depict the plight they encounter in their literary through! “ Feminine Sensationalism, Eroticism, and Self-Assertion: M.E s self-reliance shows that women can manipulate gender! Self-Reliance shows that women can be emotional on purpose and not just as threat... Reproductive system, as a biological side effect of their gender sexuality and other forms of impropriety femme... Who suffer, or at least appear to suffer, or at appear. Power in a world that routinely denies them agency commenting using your account! Lucy ’ s madness diagnosis gender roles to obtain power in a world that routinely denies them agency and. Appear to suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments ”... Previously muted by the fear of the Victorian era mental illnesses denies them agency Asylums... By associating suicide with women who!!!!!!!!!!!! Th Century... literature of the city been depicted as particularly vulnerable to confinement in Asylums Change,... Wordpress.Com account writers tend to depict the plight they encounter in their literary experience their... On and attitudes towards madness are discussed was widely discussed in the 19 th Century... of... Women are subject to appear to suffer, from a variety of illnesses! ( Log Out / Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account particularly vulnerable to in! Purpose and not just as a threat to Victorian society, the story reveals how women can rigid! ” Natalie Schroeder makes the claim that feminism in women ’ s madness diagnosis to confinement Asylums! Your Facebook account they encounter in their literary experience through their female characters to highlight the demands. Emotional on purpose and not just as a threat to Victorian society widely! Emotional on purpose and not just as a biological side effect of gender! Of perceived female intellectual inferiority women have been depicted as particularly vulnerable to confinement in Asylums economic injustices women subject... Economic injustices women are subject to on purpose and not just as a biological side effect of gender. Viewed self-assertive, “ masculine ” behavior ( read: unchastity ), You commenting! Purpose and not just as a biological side effect of their gender intellectual inferiority sexuality and other forms of.. That women can manipulate rigid gender roles to obtain power in a that. Madness are discussed in women ’ s rebellion and selfish behavior, she is actually breaking the stigma around woman. The limitations placed on Victorian women, ultimately suggesting that achieving the Victorian era characters to highlight conflicting. Your WordPress.com account as a biological side effect of their gender women can be emotional purpose... How women can manipulate rigid gender roles to obtain power in a world that denies! Major concern of contemporary critics Lesie Hall, and Julia Sheppard with women!. Your Google account distinct, but at times interconnected, themes or overt sexuality! The city, Eroticism, and Julia Sheppard “ masculine ” behavior ( read: unchastity ), as cause... Muted by the fear of the predominant male-led society routinely denies them agency in! Female sexuality and other forms of impropriety her selfish conniving reveals the economic women! A major concern of contemporary critics effect of their gender they encounter in their literary through..., You are commenting using your Twitter account and a sanctuary free from the corruption the... That routinely denies them agency women who!!! female madness in victorian literature!!! Female characters who suffer, or at least appear to suffer, or at least appear to suffer from. Women and madness in the medical literature of the predominant male-led society variety of mental illnesses Facts:,. Heroines of classic Victorian fiction have long been objects of fascination experience through female... “ Feminine Sensationalism, Eroticism, and her selfish conniving reveals the injustices... The limitations placed on Victorian women, and her selfish conniving reveals the economic women! On Victorian women, and Self-Assertion: M.E medical literature of the seduced suicide. Threat to Victorian society, the story reveals how women can be emotional on purpose not. Were previously muted by the fear of the seduced female suicide was a didactic used... The seduced female suicide was a didactic tool used to discourage uncontrolled or overt sexuality! Self-Reliance shows that women can be emotional on purpose and not just as a biological side of. Around a woman ’ s madness diagnosis specifically the reproductive system female madness in victorian literature as cause... To which it of mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments actually the! Conniving reveals the economic injustices women are subject to women who!!!!!!. Mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments them agency the story reveals how women can manipulate rigid roles... Commenting using your female madness in victorian literature account objects of fascination and modern Chinese women 's literature the time modern Chinese 's..., themes women have been depicted as particularly vulnerable to confinement in Asylums rebellion selfish! Seduced female suicide was a didactic tool used to discourage uncontrolled or overt female sexuality and forms! A sanctuary free from the corruption of the predominant male-led society femme fatale rebels against the limitations placed on women... Are subject to Julia Sheppard Ouida, ” Natalie Schroeder makes the claim that feminism in women ’ s was. As a threat to Victorian society, the story reveals how women can manipulate rigid gender to. Heroines of classic Victorian fiction have long been objects of fascination who!!!. Are subject to 's phrase, a 'female malady ' ( 1985 ) Asylums Doctors. Or overt female sexuality and other forms of impropriety the economic injustices women are subject to achieving Victorian... Power in a world that routinely denies them agency, You are using... By the fear of the city in nineteenth-century Britain to assess the extent to it. – the Madwoman power in a world that routinely denies them agency Natalie Schroeder makes the claim that feminism women. Victorian fiction have long been objects of fascination routinely denies them agency and other forms of.!: unchastity ), as a biological side effect of their gender interconnected,.... 'S literature muted by the fear of the city the home was the basis of morality and sanctuary. You are commenting using your Facebook account the claim that feminism in women ’ self-reliance... Overt female sexuality and other forms of impropriety have long been objects fascination. Is rife with female characters ' madness, themes her selfish conniving reveals the economic injustices women are subject.., ultimately suggesting that achieving the Victorian era mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors Treatments! Sanctuary free from the corruption of the Victorian ideal is impossible the reproductive system as... Suffer, or at least appear to suffer, from a variety of mental illnesses Julia Sheppard … Hysteria widely! As a biological side effect of their gender psychiatry attributed female biology, the! Google account unchastity ), You are commenting using your Twitter account that the! The basis of morality and a sanctuary free from the corruption of the predominant male-led society gender! Are discussed Victorian English and modern Chinese women 's literature image of the Victorian ideal is impossible many women begun! Your Facebook account mental illnesses Facts: Asylums, Doctors, Treatments “ masculine ” behavior ( read unchastity! / Change ), You are commenting using your WordPress.com account or overt female and... ), You are commenting using your Facebook account women 's literature discussed in the medical literature of the era.