Charlotte Brontë and Victorian mental sciences

Corso di Laurea in

Mediazione Linguistica e Comunicazione Letteraria

Elaborato scritto di prova finale

Charlotte Brontë and Victorian mental sciences

supervisione laureando/a

prof./a Greta Perletti Soso Linda

co - supervisione

prof./a Francesca Di Blasio

Anno Accademico 2017/2018

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Table of contents

Introduction 3

Chapter 1: The mental sciences in Victorian Age 4

Chapter 2: 2.1. Presentation 7

2.2. Mental disease in Jane Eyre 12

2.3. Phrenology in Jane Eyre 19

Chapter 3: 3.1. Presentation 22

3.2. Phrenology in Villette 33

3.3. The importance of hallucinations in Villette 38

Conclusions 41

Bibliography 42

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Introduction analysis of Charlotte Brontë’s

With the thesis I am presenting, I wish to demonstrate, through the

two novels “Jane and “Villette”, how the concept of mental sciences was an important topic in

Eyre”

Victorian Age.

The thesis consists of three chapters in which I will analyse the concept of mental disease in the

current society and that of physiognomy and phrenology, the pseudo-sciences, to understand the traits

of a person.

Charlotte Brontë was so fascinated by phrenology that she put it in her novels, making it become

their interpretative key.

I will explain how Jane Eyre and Villette are the stories of two women who try to control their

emotions. At that time, in fact, women had to be calm and the passionate woman was considered

“unnatural” and “mad”. Everyone, men and women, (especially women and children) had to suppress

their emotions to be accepted by society. Jane and Lucy are women who feel the same restlessness

and discontent as men when life does not give them a reason to fight.

Finally, I will focus on the “clinical gaze” of phrenology and how this will protect the two

protagonists, Jane and Lucy, when they show their feelings.

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Chapter 1

1.1. The mental sciences in Victorian Age

In the eighteenth century, in England, scientists dedicated particular attention to the study of

psychopathology, a field in which different new theories were born that caught the attention of the

people. In fact, it is important to stress how not only doctors and academics but even common people,

such as writers, followed every theorical and practical development of psychiatry with extreme

attention. This, together with the new science of phrenology, was object of constant interesting

diffusion.

The Victorian society, proud of its successes, satisfied with itself and convinced that respectability

was the only important virtue, was ready to accept anyone who managed to control by channelling

positive energies and by following the current code of conduct (even tighter, especially for women),

while it was implacable with those who disobeyed its rules. All this contributed to create an

atmosphere of anxiety and suspicion, reinforced by the complaints and exhortations of alarmist

doctors who in numerous writings analysed every behaviour from the clinical point of view. The

theories on mental disease and its excesses were object of passionate interest, as the border between

health and mental disease was considered too uncertain and tenuous. No one could really feel safe,

the germs of madness could hide in everyone (especially in women, whose greater animality

compared to men was “scientifically” demonstrated). Madness, defined as “moral insanity”, “a

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morbid perversion of natural feelings”, was no longer identified with the loss of reason but with that

of self-control, necessary to avoid dangerous breakdowns. From here the anxious, often tormented

surveillance and self-surveillance of many Victorians (for example Patrick Brontë and Charlotte

Brontë, who were experts both in phrenology and in current psychiatric theories) in order to catch in

time any sign of deviance in those who were around and in themselves.

“moral insanity” with its terrors was not a specialized topic, but well-known

Therefore, by people,

and the large popular literature as well as nourishing individual fears and anxieties, strengthened old

prejudices, giving them the unquestioned authority of science. Among these was the misogyny vein,

typical of the current patriarchal vision: women (but also children) were considered subjects

particularly at risk of mental disease or madness and they were to be severely kept under surveillance

and controlled. In fact, they frequently abandoned themselves to kinds of “unbecoming behaviour”

1 Sally Shuttleworth, Charlotte Brontë and Victorian Psychology, Cambridge University Press, 1996, chapter 1.

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as it was called, any kind of behaviour that diverged from the dominant code constituted definitive

evidence of unsociability, of “unnaturalness”, that was considered “moral insanity”. Everyone,

especially women and children, had to demonstrate every day, at every moment, that they were able

to control their emotion and those destructive, anarchistic energies that everyone of us hides inside.

That was the only way to be sure, and to demonstrate to others, that one was sane and, therefore,

socially acceptable, worthy of being part of society.

Brontë’s fiction shared, with Victorian psychiatry, a preoccupation with the realms of

Charlotte 2

excess: the workings of insanity and nervous disease, and the unstable constitution of female identity.

In the year of the publication of Villette, a writer in The Times offered the following observations

on insanity: “Nothing can be more slightly defined than the line of demarcation between sanity and

insanity… Make the definition too narrow, it becomes meaningless; make it too wide, the whole

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human race is involved in the drag-net.” The sentiments expressed tell us that the insane was

regarded as an outcast, a sub-human species to be locked away with paupers and criminals.

th

While the distinction between nature and culture, so centred in the 18 century, persists in the

th

narrative and poetry of the 19 century, the current ideology of the Victorian period, heavily

influenced by the new scientific theories, changes the traditional terms. “Natural” and “unnatural”

from the usual one, and now they mean “in accordance with

have a new meaning completely different

the social rules” and “deviant by social rules”. 4

During the Victorian Age, along with religion with its repressive function, psychiatry and

phrenology are scientific instruments to be accepted without discussion to exert on society a form of

surveillance.

Victorian society becomes increasingly concerned with appearances as a way of distinguishing

one person from another. This desire to use appearances to discern a person’s inner character gives

rise of the study of physiognomy, which claims that a person can read another’s character by studying

his or her face, and of phrenology that affirms that strengths, weaknesses, and potential can be

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discovered by reading bumps on the skull . These methods of reading become quite popular, and

nearly all Victorians were familiar with the idea of using a person’s appearance to judge his or her

character.

2 Sally Shuttleworth, Charlotte Brontë and Victorian psychology, The Art of surveillance, page 11, Cambridge University

Press 1996

3 Sally Shuttleworth, Charlotte Brontë and Victorian psychology, Insanity and selfhood, page 34, Cambridge University

Press 1996

4 Mirella Billi, Il gotico inglese, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1986, p. 33

5 Sally Shuttleworth, Charlotte Brontë and Victorian Psychology, “Reading the mind: physiognomy and phrenology”,

Cambridge University Press, 1966, p. 59 5

The renewed interest in physiognomy in the last decades of the eighteenth century was due in

large part to the work of the Swiss pastor, John Caspar Lavater, Physiognomical Fragments, for the

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Promotion of the knowledge and Love of Mankind .

The science of phrenology which evolved from the work of Franz Joseph Gall shares with

In Combe’s opinion

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physiognomy an interest in deciphering external signs, but it was materialist.

one of the great advantage of phrenology is the light which it throws on the natural constitution of

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the mind.

Gall affirms that there are twenty-seven zones of the skull to which correspond the mind regions

that correspond to the characteristics of people’s personalities. Gall showed how people with great

faculties had big and bulging eyes. For him one’s mind

memory was no more considered separated

from one’s body, but as part of the organism.

6 Jenny Bourne Taylor & Sally Shuttleworth, An Anthology of Psychological Texts 1830-1890, Oxford University Press,

1998, p. 3

7 Jenny Bourne Taylor & Sally Shuttleworth, An Anthology of Psychological Texts 1830-1890, Oxford University Press,

1998, p. 3

8 Jenny Bourne Taylor & Sally Shuttleworth, An Anthology of Psychological Texts 1830-1890, Oxford University Press,

1998, p. 31 6

Chapter 2

2.1 Presentation

Jane Eyre is a novel that was originally published under the title of Jane Eyre: An Autobiography.

It is a kind of autobiography of the author who published the book under the pseudonym Currer Bell.

As it happened for Pamela by Samuel Richardson, Jane Eyre has the ability to involve the reader

not only because it is written in the first person, but also for the style that presents particular

descriptions of environments and characters. The protagonist is not a static character and, in the story,

one can notice how she evolves emotionally, romantically and morally. This is considered Charlotte

Brontë’s masterpiece and during that period was received with enormous resonance.

The novel covers the following themes: the class-consciousness, the relationship between male

and female, religion and feminism. The English author, Elizabeth Rigby, said that Jane was “the

personification of an unsubordinated and not regenerated spirit” and that the novel was

“Antichristian”. 9

Nowadays, the book is still relevant thanks to the many factors that make it unique: the wonderful

characters’ psychology and the analysis of their feelings.

descriptions that are lively and realistic, the

The best creation is without any doubt Jane with her great sense of morality, her independence, her

inner strength and overwhelming passion tempered by her cleverness. Throughout the novel, it seems

that Jane Eyre is near you, that she is telling you her story, as if she was in front of you. Although the

book does not respect the social code of the time, it has its own morality and its own ethic. We must

bear in mind that Charlotte was the daughter of a reverend and was raised following strict rules.

is a timeless novel that attracts the reader thanks to its storytelling. It’s a coming-of-

Jane Eyre

age novel, a love story with elements that classify the book among the gothic genre. The language

used by the author is poetic, soaring and fancy, and Jane tells us about her misadventures using quite

a high narrative tone.

The novel has a very modern point of view because the author complains about the unacceptable

behaviours of Victorian Age mainly through Jane’s doppelgänger, Bertha Mason.

Jane’s moral rectitude doesn’t allow her to make compromises and she will find herself getting

rid of her lover, whom she has always desired. Despite her extreme sacrifice, she will manage to get

9 Rigby, Elizabeth, “Vanity Fair–and Jane Eyre.” Quarterly Review. (December 1848): 153-185.

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on with her life, following her convictions without being diverted. In the end, it will be that way that

she will manage to conquer her happiness. Her morality is founded on love (tempered by reason), on

independence and on forgiveness. Here is the best example of her morality:

[…] Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such

moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate

they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They

have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--

[…] Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to

quite insane stand

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by: there I plant my foot

Religion is another important element of the novel and among the many characters, it is proposed

in different ways. Jane finally manages to find a balance between the duties of morality and the

happiness of her heart. She despises Mr. Blocklehurst’s hypocritical faith and she is disgusted by St.

John Rivers’ search of the only religious duty because in her opinion he doesn’t behave like a human

being, therefore, he doesn’t show his feelings. When she was a child, she admired Helen Burns’

philosophy and her faith, which influenced, which will cause her as an adult to forgive her aunt Reed

and her children’s cruelty. These words help understand Helen’s faith.

– 11

It is not violence that best overwhelms hate nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury

No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget

her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent

in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults

in this world… 12

However, Jane, passing through all these facets of religion, reaches a very miscellaneous mix that

does not resemble any of the standard forms of Christianity. As I already said, she respects moral

traditions, she sincerely believes, she is not a hypocrite in her faith nor a bigot, therefore, she holds

something pagan in her thoughts.

10 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 344

11 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 90

12 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 90-91

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Moreover, Jane is in a very ambiguous social position. She has no money but she is a very polite

orphan educated by a good family, although the family is not happy that she is part of it. What I

personally find amusing is that she is a really undesirable match but she also has a fervid intelligence

– something that was not liked in the society of that time because it was believed that men had to be

in command and it was impossible to have a clever person behind them, a stupid woman was

–

preferable. Her position between two classes although she is poor she has the opportunity to know

wealthy people’s habits, admitting that wealth is something far from her and that makes her

–

uncomfortable allows her to criticize class discrimination. Although she is polite, she has good

manners and is sophisticated, but after all she is still a governess, an employee, so of the middle-class

She is different from her aunt Reed’s guests in the beginning and

and without any decisional power.

later from those of Rochester, who are aristocrats and rich. But it is important to note that she will

ask Leah, the servant, (lower class, therefore, beneath her) to bring her a candle instead of getting it

herself and she will also have a servant.

Despite the fact that she knows what she can and cannot do in her social position, (Rochester is

the master and she is his employee), in daily problems, when she has affairs of the heart, she will

declare that she is like him, as it is clear from her words:

I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of moral

flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we

stood at God’s feet, equal – 13

as we are!

Another particular and important theme in the novel is the description of the patriarchal society.

Jane tries to have her identity recognised in a society dominated by a male spirit. Three of the most

important characters Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers try to control Jane and

suffocate her feelings and thoughts. Jane runs from Mr. Brocklehurst and his hypocrisy, she

repudiates St. John and marries Rochester only when she is sure that the wedding will happen in a

situation of equality on both sides. Through Jane, Charlotte Brontë opposes Victorian female

stereotypes, articulating her thought:

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need

exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from

too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded

in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making

13 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 281

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puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to

condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced

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necessary for their sex.

Another central theme is the contrast between reason and passion. Jane, who has a passionate

character, has a constant relationship with God, fighting between the two extremes (reason and

passion) for most part of the novel. An example of her fight between reason and passion can be seen

when she is to become a mistress. Before that moment, Jane had replaced the man she loved with

God. When she realizes her feelings, she does her best to refuse what she most loves and desires. She

runs away from temptation, following her principles.

The writer then expresses her thoughts about the role of the woman in the Victorian Age and

especially Jane’s independence and skilfulness to make her own decisions. She doesn’t like to be

indebted to others and she will not have others be indebted to her. She will also be torn between

marrying and becoming dependent on a man or remaining free. Even when she accepts to marry, she

will refuse any single gift that can embarrass her and indebt her. Moreover, Jane will want to continue

teaching after she is married, as if to repay whatever Rochester can offer her. For this reason, when

she finds out that she has a distant relative who wants to leave her a fortune, she will not hesitate,