Women And Madness In Literature: An Analysis

Madness can be defined in many ways and yet no definition will be completely satisfactory. It may be a disease of the brain, a chemical instability and lack of reason or morals. At all events, it prevents the affected person from functioning in his or her world.

Their attempts, often futile, to extricate themselves from the role prescribed by patriarchal society frequently culminated in the development of mental disorders. Although society came up with a number of explanations for the prevailing numbers of madwomen, emphasizing such causes of female predisposition to madness as the weaker sex, women found their own way for expressing their opinions on their special correlation with insanity – literature (Showalter 6). Especially in

literature

The Narrator, however, experiences the same feelings of powerlessness, doubt and lack of control as the heroines in the two other works. Through an escape into wilderness and regress into madness, the Narrator confronts her past and decisions in order to overcome her feelings of helplessness and to resurface powerful and free.

2. The Relationship Between Women and Madness

Up until the end of the eighteenth century, the word lunatic would evoke in one’s mind an image of an animal-like aggressive brute incapable of assuming control over its cravings and actions.

Madness in this form was often linked to crime and treated with the employment of mechanical restraints (Showalter 10). However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, madness had assumed a more romantic and feminine form, invoking pity rather than fear. In fact, the very core of female nature had been linked to madness for years already (Showalter 21). Manhood tended to be defined with such terms as rationality, composure and wisdom. On the other hand, femininity was mostly related to irrationality and emotions, traits typically associated with