The Mad Woman in the Attic: Her Relevance as a Mystery Produced by the Victorian

Socio-Psychological Conditions
Piali Mondal, PG I, Roll-29
A disclaimer is in order before the subject of this term paper is broached- though it
has a name similar to that of the seminal feminist text composed by Sandra Gilbert
and Susan Gubar, in no way does it attempt to critique or comment on said text. The
paper itself, however, does pertain in some ways to the feminist discourse, but its
main objective is to determine the place of the madwoman in the attic as a literary
device of the Victorian era and how and why it figures and features as such within the
Victorian narrative- for assuredly the incarcerated madwoman had been one of the
central figures of books written in and within multifarious mainstream genres of said
era, essentially culminating in the sensational fin-de-sicle novels.
On the surface level two questions must be asked from the label itself- how does a
madwoman in the attic differs from the mad man or the mad woman in the asylum?
Foucaults seminal contribution to the study of insanity and the European
civilizations reaction to it (Madness and Civilization, that is) hardly makes any notable
difference between the incarcerated sexes. The obvious difference is, of course,
isolation. A madwoman in the attic or even a private madhouse had little contact with
the other women in the house of bedlam. They came from reasonably well-to-do
families who could afford separate living faculties for their unfortunate family
members, or simply did not wish the world to know of their familys less-than-perfect
conditions (in the case of attics). She was alone in her bedlam and thus the
manifestations of insanity in her were unique and more significantly emphasized. She
also was the correct embodiment of mystery since the solitary figure of a sinister
woman was decisively more appealing to the reader than the multifarious confusing
actions perpetrated by a thousand like her- in her the mystery could concentrate and
find a center.
If one were to trace the origin of said trope to a certain point or narrative in time, one
could do worse than locating it within the late 18th- early 19th Gothic novels. It almost
always weaves the plot around a solitary figure of a woman within closed walls/
decrepit castle- bound therein by familial or marital obligations. The woman in is not
mad, but nearly driven to such a state by overwhelming paranoia that is roused
mostly by the actions of a male figure whose dark and looming presence and
ambiguous actions are directly in contrast with the womans innocence and beguiling
nature. However, the womans fears are almost always dissipated by some deus ex
machina in the end of the novel, and the suspect is revealed to be a person of honourthus imperceptibly asking the woman to always trust in the benevolence of the male
patriarch.
But lurking within the same genre are several exempla that defy this notion. Mary
Wollestonecrafts unfinished novel Maria, Or the Wrongs of Woman scarcely hints at a

happy ending, the woman in it has been cruelly deceived and it is very probable that
the man she has learnt to trust will betray her again. Louisa May Alcotts Whisper in
the Dark, though a considerably later example of the genre, portrays a not-bloodrelated-uncle who tries to first steal his nieces property by marriage ( keeping in mind
the marriage law act) and when that fails, has his niece successfully imprisoned in a
private madhouse on grounds of insanity. This fictitious narrative draws its basis from
truth- women could be simply taken as mad on the word of his male guardian if he
could swear that his charge was afflicted by any kind of sexual, moral, or
psychological deviation. Elaine Showalter in her Victorian Women and Insanity
contemplates the fact that even the unwillingness to marry or the wish to pursue an
independent vocation could be taken as valid ground for insanity and that Victorian
psychiatric labelling and incarceration was an efficient agency of socio-sexual
control.i
The social structure was contrived that way to make the female of the species
inherently dependent on the male guardian body. The heroine in Maria clung
childishly to the proverbial apron of the patriarchy, as women of her era were expected
to do - and the Victorians perhaps honestly thought that their childish treatment of
the women were justifiable by science seeing how Darwin himself proclaimed that
adult females resembled the young of both sexes. According to contemporary medical
science women were creatures who were prone to hysteria and other nerve diseases
and it was believed that males (especially male doctors) knew most about how to deal
with them. A domesticated woman was little more than a morally righteous decoration
of the house, and men were obligated to behave kindly towards her not because she as
a human being was worthy of it, but because she subjugated to the man and made
him responsible for her care.
The mystification of the madwoman was a structured progress of a social reactionary
agenda- and it proceeded through both undermining the real concerns and sensitizing
the minor ones. They first served as cautionary tales, implying the hazards of any
radical change in the tried and tested social structure- but the need for mythmaking
arose from several psycho-social conditions that were central to the existential ideas
maintaining the empirical hegemony in the Victorian mind.
The first of those could well have been their inherent desire for creating binaries- and
the reason why wrongful confinement of sane people evoked their ire. They never once
questioned the system by which the men and women were incarcerated- only the
wrong decisions, because they blurred the perimeters set up between the sane and
functional human and the dysfunctional. For one to be sane there had to be a type
that could be called and identified as insane. The social system that was obsessed
with pseudo-sciences like physiognomy and craniometry demanded visible and
tangible signs from any substantial affliction- and the burden of typification was
conveniently shifted onto those who were already being protected and placed within

barriers and further confinement of whom would not restrict the way in which the
prevalent mode of society functioned.
And thus women of all ages were thought to be susceptible to fits of hysteria and
insanity- and earlier gynecologists ( the very men who formulated the theory that
female productivity was inversely proportionate to the measure of female intellect) and
this predominant ideology which had the approval of contemporary physiological
assumptions in a society obsessed with empirical rationality justified the male desire
to socially and physically confine such a fragile species, and the code of chivalry also
demanded that they look after a creature who is incapable of protecting her own
sanity. The men became so obsessed with this binary that even psychiatry became
orchestrated to the demands of the patients-Clearly male doctors carefully diagnosed
mens neuroses to preserve acceptable masculine standards for male patients rather
than examining the possibility that masculine standards themselves might cause
neuroses.ii
For this very reason extreme romanticization of insanity was another cause of popular
interest in the figure of the madwoman. It was believed and often desired that a
woman was afflicted with madness from a deprivation of romance (Old Maids Mania),
because it allowed the male reader to feel secure in the role of providence, assured of
his authority in directing a womans mental health. The intense personalization of
early psychoanalysis demanded a fictitious construction of the patients narrative- and
thus fiction became truth and truth became fiction where female insanity was
concerned.
Hence the barrier within which the woman was to be confined was erected by a sort of
inverted male insecurity (in which a suppressed feeling of inferiority or lack of proper
knowledge is projected into a chivalrous desire for saving the object that instigates
such feelings of inferiority by removing its presence from the contention for power)
and thus Victorian males also played their part in mystifying the madwoman in the
part and for all their claims to subjective rationality became prey to the inherent
human desire for mythmaking. Mr.Rochester (in Jane Eyre) rushes into the fire to save
his insane wife, and this seemingly elevates him into the position of a hero- his
success in his venture is not required.
Said male insecurity perhaps also harboured complex emotions towards the ambiguity
of gender a psychological disease often tended to create. Insane women were not
often mindful of their gender and the activities that were perceived to be suited to it,
and there is a clinical record of an insane woman who thought herself to be halfwoman, half-boy and half-nymph.iii Catherine in Wuthering Heights also proclaims
that I am Heathcliff.iv Perhaps de-feminization was seen as a threat to the
patriarchal hegemony since that could as well have meant a social un-manning of men
by destruction of socially constructed gender-binaries, and the mad woman needed to
be projected as the other in order to preserve the superior rights of the male genderedpopulation.

Sexual degeneracy or sexual avoidance was another cause of the terror or paranoia
(especially on the male patriarchs part) surrounding female lunacy. The doctors
argued that sexual immorality was one of the causes of insanity, or, alternatively,
unrestrained license was a symptom or even a type of madness.v At a time which saw
the accusations of marital rape as ridiculous on grounds of female obligation to the
marriage, any and every kind of sexual deviation was seen as a threat to the Victorian
social structure. Insanity was connected unavoidably to the fear of impotency- and
many reputable physicians opined that female impotency was one of the many
symptoms and aftereffects of madness in a woman. The idea of persuading a mad
woman to have intercourse was ridiculous and only said negative things about a
mans moral character- a creature who was saddled with a mad wife was to be pitied,
and earlier reviews of Jane Eyre raved about Miss Brontes sensitive portrayal of
Mr.Rochesters plight.
Connected to this was the mans lack of social control over his insane wife. Mystifying
the mad woman as the source of impending horrors could be a patriarchal mode of
illustrating the very reasons for which a rigorous regime was imposed upon womenshe was the nightmare of every Victorian, she represented the antithesis of the human
rationale- she refused to be restrained and is hysteric. Contrarily, a mad woman also
celebrates the ultimate failure of a patriarchy. Even a feminist who defied the
established binary of male-female in the Victorian world was forced by social decorum
and firmly instilled socio-psychological instincts to operate within the social spaces
that were generously allowed them by the benevolent male tyrant, but a mad woman
was hardly controllable by such inhibitions. She had, for all practical purposes, little
control over her own will and therefore could not be ridiculed or criticized for her
action.
Furthermore, leading experts of Victorian asylums dedicated specially to the cause of
correcting psychologically degenerate women ( morally degenerate in the case of
nymphomania which also fell under the blanket term of insanity in those days)
firmly held the belief that insanity was often a precursor to impotency. On the other
hand, hysteria and neuroses were diseases that were believed to be transmitted
through the female line of the family. The proprietors of the female body lived in
constant fear of having the rights over the legitimate population taken away from them
by unprecedented fluctuation in the social paradigms- and they wished to avoid this
by going beyond what was permitted them by the roles the social dictum had them
assigned to. One might as well recall the apprehension of a doctor on releasing one
patient as she seemed lacking in social propriety (though the family members had
assured him repeatedly that this was how she normally behaved.vi
And if we are so presumptuous as to connect this hypothesis to another popular
theory of women reproductivity being adversely influenced by excessive knowledge, we
may well have determined another root cause of the Victorian paranoia and intrigue
surrounding the figure of a mad woman. Insanity could remove the senses which

covered the area between perceptible knowledge and female eyes, and over
civilization or excessive knowledge in a woman was believed to cause insanity. The
insane women perceived more and without proper restraints in place could reveal
more. One woman was put in an asylum simply because she had said that all faces
were masks.vii The narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper
discovers another woman imprisoned behind the yellow wallpaper in her room and
perceives her own imprisoned state. The young woman in The Whisper in the Dark
finds the dead body of her mother while in a near-hysteric state. The carcasses of
Victorian secrets in a similar way are visible to the lunatic eyes and lead a
supernatural and prophetic quality to the figure of the madwoman.
Mystification also stemmed from the peculiar obsession of Victorians with blood, gore
and criminal details. A woman was specifically a horrendous criminal suspect since
the popular belief was that the intent to commit crimes was not compatible with
female disposition in general. Also, until 1830 it was believed that a man or woman
could not commit murder without motives- but that notion was put to rest after the
discovery that murder-lust could be evoked by moments of insanity, such as the one
inspired in a certain Mr. Edward Oxford who tried to kill Queen Victoria in 1840 ADviii.
Such incidents blurred the defining lines between presence and absence of free will in
a criminal offense, but nevertheless provided an excellent trope for the Victorian
writers who wished to incriminate women villainesses in fiction, but not to the point of
disturbing the Victorian existential ideas and sensibilities. This fascination with
women criminals culminated in the fin-de-sicle sensational novels which often
featured and figured an isolated madwoman as the center of its mystery. There were
further reasons behind this interest- psychological diseases in general were associated
with blood, and women were likely to come within close distance of blood than men of
any status- since they had to witness and experience major blood loss during the
menstruation periods and child birth. As a result, the sight and smell of blood were
thought to be more likely to affect them in an adverse way. Blanche in The White
maniac: A Doctors Tale succumbs to a blood-lust evoked by a similar state. This
conviction was often used for defending women who pleaded post-partum psychosis as
their principal defense in court.
Freudian theories about human subconscious were confusing and extremely
frightening to people who made maintaining proper decorum the chief-most aim in
their life. Combined with that knowledge was the newly-developing Darwinian
perception that man is closer to the animals than he was ever to God. The fact that
one could be only layers of outward manners away from the beasts they thought
inferior was affirmed by the presence of men and women who had already resorted to
the most primal state. The vision of the madwoman held up a mirror to their collective
faces and forced them to confront the truth within themselves. The woman in The
Yellow Wallpaper literally climbs out of her confinement. The depiction of the helpless
figure of Bertha Rochester (in Jane Eyre) setting fire to the house and burning her own
self is not as horrific as it is pathetic- and the author is perhaps well aware while

describing this incident that Jane also had the potential for becoming such a
creature. If we are in doubt we need only look back at those passages in which there is
a description of Jane locked up for hours in the red room:
["Unjust! -- unjust!" said my reason, forced by the agonising stimulus into
precocious though transitory power: and Resolve, equally wrought up, instigated
some strange expedient to achieve escape from insupportable oppression -- as
running away, or, if that could not be effected, never eating or drinking more,
and letting myself die.
What a consternation of soul was mine that dreary afternoon! How all my brain
was in tumult, and all my heart in insurrection! Yet in what darkness, what
dense ignorance, was the mental battle fought! I could not answer the ceaseless
inward question -- WHY I thus suffered; now, at the distance of -- I will not say
how many years, I see it clearly.]ix
How the women in attic reacted to this sort of situation and mystification is unclear,
and only a few first-hand accounts like that of Charlotte Perkins Gilman exist. But it
is very possible that this mystification was used to subvert the very reasons for which
they were erected. The women reportedly did better in asylums than they had at their
homes, perhaps because those places maintained the same oppressive atmosphere
which they were familiar with, and perhaps without the stimuli which were provoking
them to unnatural actions. In this respect one would like to bring a few lines from
Christina Georgina Rossettis Goblin Market to notice- specially Lizzies caution to stay
away from the goblins: 'No,' said Lizzie, 'No, no, no; Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.'x The sisters land is seemingly without men, and
Lauras distress and lunatic state are caused by pollutants that are brought forth into
their world from without. There ran often a narrative parallel to the mysterious
accounts of womens actions, and although they were not revolutionary they enforced
upon others the importance of enclosures including the attics- the fence serves dual
purposes in both prolonging the mystery and keeping the truthful elements inside.
Interestingly, in most narratives about mad women the daughter survives. Laura and
Lizzie live on to raise their next generation, and specifically daughters, and Jane
Rochester brings up her husbands ex-wifes daughter. Their survival perhaps mock
the preconceived notions of female madness, ensuring that the tradition of the mystery
of the lone mad-woman survives and continues to trap the hapless prejudiced mind
within its self-made cage.

Elaine Showalter, Victorian Women and Insanity, Victorian Studies 23:2(Winter, 1980), p175.
Lori Jirousek, Haunting Hysteria: Wharton, Freeman and the Ghost of Masculinity, American Literary Realism
32:1 (Fall, 1999), p53.
ii

iii
iv

Clouston, p531. Elaine Showalter, Victorian Women and Insanity, Victorian Studies 23:2(Winter, 1980), p172.
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847, repr. Gutenberg Project,1999[etext#768]), p.49.

Peter McCandless, Liberty and Lunacy: The Victorians and Wrongful Confinement, Elaine Showalter, Victorian
Women and Insanity, Victorian Studies 23:2(Winter, 1980), 11:3 (Spring, 1978), p378.
vi
Clouston, pp189-190. Elaine Showalter, Victorian Women and Insanity, Victorian Studies 23:2(Winter, 1980),pp
172-173.
vii
Brown, pp-32, 72-73. Elaine Showalter, Victorian Women and Insanity, Victorian Studies 23:2(Winter, 1980),
p177.
viii
Joel Peter Eigen, Medical Resolve and Criminal Responsibility in Victorian Insanity Trials, Law and Society
Review 33:2(1999), p434.
ix
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre ( 1847, repr. Gutenberg project, 1999), p11,
th
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=11&fk_files=1445105, accessed on 20 August 2012.
x
th
http://www.loudlit.org/audio/goblin/pages/01_01_goblin.htm, accessed on 12 September 2012.
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