Madness: noun; the quality or condition of being insane
Madness seemed to be a real issue in this time period as
demonstrated throughout the literature. Some of the different stories that come
to mind are Castle of Otranto, Romance of the Forest, Lenora, Confessions of
and English Opium Eater, Expedition to Hell, The Sailor Who Served in the Slave
Trade, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, The Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and of
course Alice in Wonderland. All of these titles have issues of madness
ingrained into them and one might even argue that madness is what holds these
pieces of immortal literature together. But why is this important?
Madness is a very curious thing. It’s one of the few
diseases where the victim has no idea that there is anything wrong with them in
most cases. The act of being mad is virtually to be insane and the gothic genre
of literature as well as that of nonsense is by far the best at portraying
this. The gothic genre illustrates the horrors of such a disease while the
nonsense genre brings to light the silliness that can ensue from the disease
while also smacking you across the face with reality and criticisms of society.
Individuality is Madness
Another thing about madness is that it is defined
technically as being “insane.” But what is insanity? As Tiffanee mentions in
both her presentation and her post titled Psychological Obsession, “The gothic
period is so interested in the psychological state, and understanding more than
what we can readily see that this is the beginning of a very difficult time for
female protagonists, and for women living in this era. Female sexuality is seen
as madness, and many women were "medicated" by barbaric means of
hospitalization and were often locked up in asylums for having sexual needs of
desires.” This brings to question that madness can only be defined based on the
culture that it is trying to be defined in. Another example of this type of
madness is also seen in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. “And how do you
know that you're mad?” “To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad.
You grant that?" I suppose so, said Alice. "Well then," the Cat
went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tale when
it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.
Therefore I'm mad.”
This is an example that just because things are not the
norm, it means that it must be madness. This was a very common thing during the
time period because the concept of thinking for your-self and being unique was
not widely accepted. You were meant to fall in line and to do and believe what
you are told. The introduction of nonsense literature and the Gothic helped
challenge these paradigms.
The Horrors of Madness
Another version of madness that appears throughout our study
of 18th and 19th century literature is the horror which can come from madness.
This is evident in The Bloody Chamber with the Marquis having a room full of
dead girls and Manfred in The Castle of Otranto. Madness can make people do
some pretty nasty things and it’s no surprise that it can be pretty gruesome.
It reveals the evil in the world and can harm those around as well as the
individual experiencing the madness. “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”
also demonstrates this, only it is self-inflicted through the opium. He becomes
locked in his own head along with hallucinations and going days without sleep.
If anyone has experienced that it is not fun in the least. Sleep deprivation
alone could drive you to madness. I could not imagine adding opium to the mix.
This is
the image used for DeQuincey’s book and it truly shows just how maddening it
can be when you are operating under heavy drug use and sleep deprivation and
hallucinations. You can tell by the wrinkles in his face along with the
emotions that he is deeply disturbed.
Madness is
Bliss
In the case of Alice in Wonderland, it uses the concept that
madness is bliss. It does this through a number of different ways. “But I don’t
want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat:
"we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have
come here.”
Lewis Carroll was a master at making light of madness and making it
seem fun. That is where madness becomes bliss. It is no longer terrible or
something of horror but something of “Oh bless their heart” type of scenarios.
The reason that I chose this image is becuase I feel that it illustrates the madness as bliss analogy. I also find it ironic that she is talking to a giant Do-do bird while she thinks that she is normal.
Driven to Madness
One way that a person could become mad is through a tragic
event taking place. This is demonstrated very well in “Lenora” as her love has
dies but returns from the dead to take her on a ride on his horse and she in
turn dies from her madness through her grief. There is also the idea of
escapism that is so beautifully captured in the Importance of Being Earnest.
While this would also apply to the Madness as Bliss section, it also belongs
here as without the event to escape from, there would be no need to escape.
In conclusion, madness can be defined through many different
aspects. The layout and wording of this post was entirely intentional to
provide a sense of irony as well as demonstrate the point of madness. If
anything does not make sense than that is the reason why. Madness throughout
the semester as a recurring theme was a very interesting topic and it was a
very interesting one to research as well.
My apologies for the text being weird. I accidentally highlighted it at one point and couldn't figure out how to reverse it.
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