Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
In the nineteenth century, hysteria emerged as a significant subject of cultural and medical discourse, reflecting the era's social, economic, and political upheavals which challenged traditional gender norms. Initially described by Hippocrates as a condition linked to the female anatomy, hysteria was historically seen as a "female malady," associated with irrationality and emotional excess. However, the period's intellectual climate expanded its interpretation from a purely medical condition to a broader cultural phenomenon.
The literary exploration of hysteria during this time revealed tensions between conservative gender norms and emerging ideas about gender and identity. As discussed by Claire Kahane, this era's literature often mirrored societal conflicts, portraying hysteria as both a disruptive force and a means of self-expression. Writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy used hysterical characters to examine the intersection of creativity and illness, suggesting that hysteria was not merely a matter of female biology but a broader crisis of consciousness tied to repressed desires.
Nineteenth-century authors often depicted hysteria in ways that both challenged and reinforced gender norms. For instance, Evelyne Ender notes that George Eliot's Daniel Deronda connects hysteria with issues of identity and interpretation. This literary interest paralleled a medical discourse, as highlighted by Ender's examination of how femininity was often framed as a predisposition for hysteria.
Hysteria's portrayal in literature often intersected with themes of feminist empowerment and repression. In works like Henry James's The Bostonians and Florence Nightingale's Cassandra, hysteria is associated with the feminist movement, while novels like Madame Bovary and Jane Eyre explore sexual repression. As Colleen Hobbs contends, even male characters in literature, such as those in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, display hysteria as a "female malady" linked to the repression of feminine traits.
Overall, hysteria in nineteenth-century literature became a lens through which authors questioned and redefined cultural understandings of gender, identity, and creativity, illustrating the complex dynamics between personal expression and societal constraints.
Contents
- Representative Works
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The History Of Hysteria
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History/Hysteria: A Glance Backward
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Kahane contends that the second half of the nineteenth century was dominated by cultural, political, and economic upheaval, accompanied by a conservative reaction to this upheaval; this tension between radical change and static order, Kahane maintains, is reflected in the structure of the internal conflict expressed in hysteria.
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Nineteenth-Century Hysteria: The Medical Context
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Ender examines the ultimate convergence between differing explanations of hysteria—emotional/moral and physiological—and concludes that femininity is a predisposition for all of them.
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History/Hysteria: A Glance Backward
(summary)
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The Gender Of Hysteria
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The Uses of Male Hysteria: Medical and Literary Discourse in Nineteenth-Century France
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Goldstein argues that during the nineteenth century the phenomenon of male hysteria was developed through opposing interpretations: the medical community used it to reinscribe conventional gender definitions, while writers subverted such norms by associating hysteria with the desire for androgyny.
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Reading the Symptoms: An Exploration of Repression and Hysteria in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Hobbs contends that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a character afflicted with a "female malady" brought on by his repression of stereotypically feminine traits.
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The Uses of Male Hysteria: Medical and Literary Discourse in Nineteenth-Century France
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Hysteria And Women's Narratives
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Alice James: Neither Dead nor Recovered
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Cappello analyzes the relationship between femininity and self articulation within the context of hysterical illness, using Alice James's Diary as an example.
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Invalids and Nurses: The Sisterhood of Rage
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In the excerpt that follows, Kahane examines several major works of literature to reveal the structure of hysteria as an aggressive act of self-expression.
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'Girls and Their Blind Visions': George Eliot, Hysteria, and History
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In the following excerpt, Ender contends that George Eliot's Daniel Deronda exemplifies the problematic manner in which hysteria—as an illness that simultaneously resists and demands interpretation—informs both the content and the structure of literary representation.
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Alice James: Neither Dead nor Recovered
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Hysteria In Nineteenth-Century Poetry
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'Christabel': The Wandering Mother and the Enigma of Form
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In the following excerpt, Swann asserts that in 'Christabel' Coleridge explores the complex and multifaceted relations between hysteria—as a socially disruptive moment—and the Law—as masculine, rational control through social conventionality.
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A 'Word Scarce Said': Hysteria and Witchcraft in Wordsworth's 'Experimental' Poetry of 1797-1798
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In the excerpt that follows, Bewell discusses Wordsworth's use of the hysteric and her roots in the figure of the witch to examine the connection between language and the creative imagination.
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'Christabel': The Wandering Mother and the Enigma of Form
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- Further Reading