An Analysis of Miss Havisham’s Madness Essay

This paper will attempt to explore the maverick behavior of lam Havisham, arguably the most memorable char act up championr in Charles Dickens novel, Gr bury Expectations. The analysis shall be through in the background of the society she was part of and the events she had been through. MADNESS DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA During the eighteen hundreds, a common belief was that those who had psychical illness suffered because they had a sickness of the thought (Goldberg, 24). Their strange behavior was attrisolelyed to in here(predicate)nt malevolence and they were tough apathetically in asylums by naive cargontakers who overhear insufficient understanding of kind illness.They were treated as animals. Patients in these early asylums were kept in cages, given teeny-weeny amounts of often unclean food, had little or no clothing, wore no shoes, and slept in dirt. Because the forbearings could often live many years in such(prenominal)(prenominal) conditions, the c betakers became practically confident that these homophile bes were in actuality closer to animals and thus deserving of such abuse (Ussher, 65). Moreover, effective treat manpowerts for mental disorders were unavailable, with the precisely measures being such procedures as, drugging, bleeding, or purging, which produced few objective results (Carson et al.47). Bleeding, as well as hunchn as phlebotomy or personal line of creditletting, was utilized to release bad blood. This was usually the initial treatment. It facial expressioned same(p) a logical solution to restore health based upon the quaternion humors blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Patients were cut with a lancet or care fored blood or milk was dripped over a vein to encourage the leech to bite and suck from that vein. A doctor often bled a patient until they fainted. Bleeding was per stressed not righteous by doctors but also by barbers.This procedure did very little to help, but did a great theorise in regards to weakening the patient. (Krausse) Purging involved giving patients heavy doses of laxatives or emetics to expel poisons from the body. It was believed that diarrhea was relaxing the interior of the body part barf was thought to relieve tension on the arteries. (Krausse) Fortunately, in the mid-eighteen hundreds, beliefs about mental illness began to change and treatments improved. Moral management of asylums was encouraged. dementia was no longer viewed as punishment from God but as a disease of the brain, a biological occurrence that could be studied and eventually cured. This initiated a change in treatment of patients they were given decent food and clothing. They were released from their shackles and vicious confinements and were treated humanely. Women and mental illness. During thenineteenth century, women were deemed to have weaker intellectual faculties than men. It was believed that women were lacking in mental strength and, thus, were to a greater outcome susceptibl e to mental aberrations.It was in the prim succession that cult was called a female malady. These attitudes were reinforced by checkup science of that time which defined women in biological edges as naturally passive, dependent, sexually disinte be and born to be m an otherwise(prenominal)s and helpmeets to men. These beliefs severely trim womens freedom of expression and limited their access to education, employment and will power of property. Women who rebelled against these codes found themselves susceptible to being diagnosed as mad for exhibiting a across-the-board range of deviant, unnatural and unwomanly behaviors.(Jones) Medical writing at this time made it clear that doctors believed women uniquely vulnerable to mental unbalance protecting her involved regulating her sexuality and cycles. Mothers were advised to try and thwart menstruation in girls and doctors sought to regulate womens minds by regulating their bodies. Dr. Isaac Baker Brown pioneered the surgical practice of clitoridectomy as a cure for female insanity which he carried out at his head-to-head clinic in London.One of his patients was still 10 years old and the madness of several others consisted of their wish to take advantage of the new divorce act of 1857. Another young woman was brought to the clinic by her family because she had suffered great irregularities of temper, was likewise assertive in sending her visiting cards to men she want and spent much time in serious bear witnessing. (Jones) Anorexia, though prominent for many years prior, was officially recognized as a mental disease in 1873 (Ussher, 77). It flourished during the nineteenth century as women wished to symbolise their femininity.In denying food, a woman could truly be passive and bewilder a weightless accessory for her husband. The physical and spiritual ideal of anorexia also became a status symbol for many women. Working class women had to eat in order to have energy to work. Thus, only middle to velocity class women could afford to be anorexic. Cures included being admitted to an asylum where women rested and were excessively fed. The idea of the Wondering Womb also developed in this era, as madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause.The womb itself was thought to wander throughout the body, playing as an enormous sponge which sucked the life-energy or intellect from vulnerable women (Ussher, 74). As a result, women became synonymous with madness, as they were pronounced to be stirred and unstable. If a woman of the Victorian era were subject to an outburst, perhaps due to elicit or frustration, she would be proclaimed insane. The word Hysteria became the general term for women with mental illness and cures included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refraining from mental activities such as reading, daily massage, and sensory deprivation.Though these treatments do not seem too appalling, they were comparable to solitary confinement and would o ften drive a woman to further insanity. (Frick) young lady HAVISHAMS LIFE Miss Havisham was increase by her wealthy indulgent father later on her mother died when she was just a baby. She also came to inherit her fathers money after his death. As a young woman, Miss Havisham fell deeply in love with a crook named Compeyson, despite warnings from her cousin that the man was only after her money, they decided to get married.On their union day, Havisham received a letter from her groom-to-be and completed she had been betrayed and jilted. From that moment on she refused to remove her wedding dress and wears only one shoe because she was on the process of displace on the other when she received the letter. She also had all the clocks in Satis house stopped at twenty minutes to nine, the moment she realized Compeysons deception. After adopting Estelle, she isolated herself from society and remained wandering the mansion in her tattered wedding dress with the remnants of a reception that never came to be.MISS HAVISHAMS MADNESS Miss Havishams seclusion is indicative of hysteric insanity, which Conolly classifies. His definition reads There is a form of malady, more frequent among the wealthier classes than the poorer, in which discernible tangible ailments of a changeful or obstinate character stimulate associated with an infirmity of mind, at first slight and occasional, but afterward more fixed and confirmed. This form of disorder is chiefly seen in hysterical women the mind is agitated by every trifle, and every feeling is in excess, and seeks for sympathy with a morbid eagerness.It would seem as if to all the heterogeneous portions of the brain, some unrestrained energy were directed, producing endless caprices of the mind and dynamical bodily sensations they are affectionate, suspicious, amatory, cold, and repulsive by turns. Incapable of steady friendship or affection, or of adherence to any of the duties of common life, they usually, by degrees, co ncentrate their prudence on their own feelings and morbid sensations, and, laying claim to excessive sensibility, are really only regardful of themselves. (Conolly, 77)The fundamental characteristics of hysterical insanity are applicable to Miss Havisham. She has the status of wealth, a social group which Conolly considers vulnerable to hysteria. She is extremely whimsical. She is pleased with Estellas rapidly changing mood, a repeat of her own fickleness. Miss Havishams restless temper parallels her restive bodily reactions. Whenever trounce visits her, he is aware of impatient movement of her fingers (Dickens, 146) and her frequent impinging out with a stick in irritation is equivalent to ever-changing bodily sensations.To Pip as a child, Miss Havishams impatient finger movement is a cue of her whimsical demands to him. She apparently indulges Estella, but her love of her ward is egotistical. At the point of death, she is reconciled with Pip, but she cannot form steady friend ship or affection with Estella. Her withdrawal into the deserted Satis digest is, in other words, the renunciation of the duties of common life, which her wealth permits. Miss Havisham neatly fits Conollys classification. (Takei, 3) Havishams madness is not a choice. It is the effect of the congeries of various aspects in her life.The death of her mother robbed Havisham of a loving mien and a feminine role model, had she grown up with a mother, she could have been taught how to choose men intelligently, and she would have learned how to conduct births well. Growing up with a father that employs the Permissive-Indulgent parenting ardor, in which parents are high on estrus but low on discipline and control (Carson et al. 104) had made Miss Havisham accustomed to getting her counselling. This has her fixated on her wedding day, the event of her rejection and humiliation.Children reared with this type of parenting style are also observed to be manipulative, which is apparent in th e relationship between Estelle and Havisham. Also, children of these types of parents grow up to be individuals who readily enter into relationships without much thought, which is exhibited in the engagement between Compeyson and Miss Havisham. Following the unfortunate incident, Havisham has withdrawn herself from the world. The once magnificent rooms in Satis house has been reduced to ruins alter with dirt and rotting furniture.The air within is stagnant and rancid. The garden is desolated and clogged with weeds. Havisham has denounced even daylight this contributes to her illness even more. An surroundings rife with squalor, wicked memories and rotting reminders will inevitably take its toll on her already frayed sensibilities. Another contributing factor is the views of the society during that period. Spinsters were considered mentally unsound, during the 19th century doctors claimed that being without continued male interaction would cause irritability, anemia, fatigue an d fussing (Ussher).Havisham could have been initially affected by the opinions of society after she was jilted, the misadventure of facing a judgmental and hypercritical crowd could have helped clitoris Miss Havisham over the edge. Desertion on the wedding day in the Victorian social climate caused her an irrecoverable social stigma in addition to agony. Her decaying body exhibits social pressure on deserted women Her actors assistant had dropped, so that she stooped and her voice had dropped, so that she spoke low, and with a slain lull upon her altogether, she had the appearance of having dropped, body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow.(Dickens, 107) These factors that were part of her upbringing, social and physical environment, may have contributed to the emotional imbalance of Miss Havisham. Another proof of Havishams madness not being a choice is the fact that she had sought to find a way to regain a sort of meaning and purpose to her life when she asked for a daughter she could adopt and care for. I had been shut up in these rooms a long time (I dont know how long you know what time the clocks keep here), when I told him that I wanted a little girl to rear and love, and save from my fate.I had first seen him when I sent for him to lay this place waste for me having read of him in the newspapers, before I and the world parted. He told me that he would look about him for such an orphan child. One night he brought her here asleep, and I called her Estella (Dickens, 713). This was Miss Havishams original goal, before her mental instability nudged her to manipulate Estelle into becoming a ticker-breaker that would wreck havoc on the lives of men as a kind of revenge for what happened to her. Towards the end when Estelle leaves to marry Bentley Drummle.Havisham realizes the extent of damage she had caused with Pips heartbreak. To see her with her white hair and her wear face kneeling at my feet, gave me shock through all my frame. I entreated her to rise, and got my arms about her to help her up but she only press that hand of mine which was nearest to her grasp, and hung her head over it and wept (Dickens, 709) Until you spoke to her the other day, and until I see in you a looking-glass that showed me what I once mat myself, I did not know what I had do. What have I through with(p) What have I done And so again, twenty, fifty times over, What had she done (Dickens, 710) Havishams press out remorse and guilt when she realizes that Pip has been through the same heartache she has experienced is proof that the perverse influence she provided Estelle was not done because she deliberately chose it, rather, she had reached emotional instability because of the events in her life that enabled her to do such actions. As soon as she realized the effect it had on Pip, she was scare and begged forgiveness. She recognizes that she has tormented Pip, whose heart is as vulnerable as her own.Havisham says, I am not all stone (Dickens, 705), her sympathy and the kindness of a human heart still remains. By her ethical awakening, she recovers her sanity for a utterly while. Havishams madness was not a choice the events in her life, the environment she lived in, the social interactions she subjected herself too, and her personal flaws, all of these played a part in her mental fragility. Miss Havisham had truly loved Compeyson. This is apparent in one of her conversations with Pip, Havisham exclaims, Ill tell you, what real love is.It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter as I did (Dickens, 426). The intense passion and complete loyalty she had mat up for Compeyson corresponds to the utter heartbreak she went through and the unbearable torment she felt over his betrayal. This was the principal event that led to her insanity, unable to cope sh e manages to operate only by retreating into her own mind and withdrawing from the difficulty of moving on with a normal life.She believed her mental illness was necessary for her existence. Works Cited Carson, C. , Butcher, J. , Mineka, S. kinky Psychology and Modern life 11th edition (Needham Heights, MA), 2000. release Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations, Planet PDF format (online publication Planet PDF). Web Ussher, Jane M. Womens Madness Misogyny or Mental Illness? (Ameherst, Ma University of mamma Press), 1991. scar Takei, Akiko. Miss Havisham and Victorian Psychiatry, (PDF format) . Web Conolly, John.On Some of the Forms of Insanity (London), 1850. Print. Jones, Claire. Women and madness, Herstoria magazine (Jones5 Publishing Limited) . Web Goldberg, Ann. Sex, Religion, and the Making of Modern Madness (New York Oxford University Press), 1999. Print Summary Mental illness during the 19th century had initially been attributed to built-in malevolence or punishment from G od it was during the mid-eighteen hundreds that doctors have begun to view it as a disease of the brain, a biological occurrence that could be treated.During the Victorian Era it was believed that females were more susceptible to mental imbalance because of their weaker minds. Society situated that the roles of women should be strictly confined to household and they must all be under the support of men. Miss Havishams madness was not a choice. It was a result of the conglomeration of various aspects of her life the environment she lived in, the family she grew up with, the events she had been through, the society she is part of and the personal flaws she had.All of these have played a role in her madness. The breaking point had been the abandonment and betrayal of her fiance Compeyson, whom she loved deeply. In her devastation she proceeds to let her life swan around the wedding day she never had. Havisham wanders the ruined halls of her Satis home wearable the yellowed wedding d ress she refuses to take off and using only one shoe because she was in the process of putting on the other pair when she received the letter from Compeyson.She also had all the clocks in her home stopped twenty minutes to nine- the moment she realized she was betrayed. She adopt a girl named Estelle and proceeded to influence her to become a cold and merciless girl to wreak havoc in mens lives. She saw this as a type of revenge to all men for the pain shes been through. Towards the end of the book Havisham regains sanity for a short while after realizing the pain of heartbreak Pip has been through because of her machinations. Guilty and remorseful, she begs Pip for forgiveness and realizes her mistake.