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Literary theories for isolation
Literary theories for isolation
Annotated bibliography on mental illness in literature
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“There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line” (“Oscar Levant Quotes”).
Doctor William Chester Minor, a protagonist in The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, was an unquestionable psychopath. His insanity has been confirmed by his deranged delusions and actions such as him murdering an innocent man and mutilating himself. Yet he still succeeded at being a highly praised surgeon and an intelligent scholar. These three facets of Minor’s life are strongly motivated by his personality. Minor’s story begins on the island of Ceylon, where he received an exceptional primary education, learned several indigenous languages, and became infatuated with the enticing local girls. For this reason, he was steered away from temptation and sent to America, by his parents. In the United States, Minor studied medicine at the prestigious Yale University and eventually joined the Union Army as a surgeon. Dr. Minor witnessed, while fighting in the Civil War, terrible events; the most traumatic occurrence being when he was forced to brand an Irish deserter. This experience sent Minor on a downward spiral. He began to illegally carry a gun, visit brothels, and show signs of paranoia; therefore, the doctor was discharged from the army and discreetly sent to an asylum. After his release, Minor traveled to London where he shot a man dead due to his paranoid delusions. Minor was sentenced an insane asylum and he spent the majority of the next thirty-eight years reading and secretly volunteering for the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray, editor of the dictionary, eventually discovered Minor’s identity and they soon became close friends. Although Minor religiously read and acquired new knowledge, his mental condi...
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... the Madman, I have learned that redemption is possible, even given the most hopeless circumstances. After Minor committed a horrible crime, he fell from grace and lost his integrity. The once highly esteemed surgeon was reduced to being referred to as, “Poor Dr. Minor” (Winchester 161). Yet he was able to find restitution in contributing to the Oxford English Dictionary. He discovered a sense of purpose, in helping create the work, while he was locked away, isolated, and disheartened. Doctor Minor’s story is not solely a tale of murder and insanity, but also a message about hope and redemption.
Work Cited
"Oscar Levant Quotes." Oscar Levant Quotes (Author of Memoirs of an Amnesiac). Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Print.
Within every being exists temptations, whether it be quiescent or dynamic, which fluctuates from one individual to another. Commonly negative, temptations ascend from lesser qualities of man and expose an individual to develop even more reprehensible ambitions. The story of a one man’s dark wishes is explored in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. Properly termed, Stevenson perused the unnerving case of a respectable, proletariat-class doctor, who becomes associated and obsessed with Mr Hyde. It is this presence of the “duality of human nature that is created consistently throughout the Gothic Literature”.
Even in the medical field, male doctors were dominate to the hundreds of well educated midwives. “Male physicians are easily identified in town records and even in Martha’s diary, by the title “Doctor.” No local woman can be discovered that way” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.61). Martha was a part of this demoralized group of laborers. Unfortunately for her, “in twentieth-century terms, the ability to prescribe and dispense medicine made Martha a physician, while practical knowledge of gargles, bandages, poultices and clisters, as well as willingness to give extended care, defined her as a nurse” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.58). In her diary she even portrays doctors, not midwives, as inconsequential in a few medical
Sinclair Lewis uses the education of Martin Arrowsmith as a means of examining whether medical universities should be dedicated primarily to teaching or to research. This specific argument is exemplified by the fictional University of Winnemac, where there is an atmosphere that is relatively hostile towards the research Gottlieb and Martin wish to pursue. Gottlieb is generally dismissed as “unconscious of the world,” “an old laboratory plug,” “a ‘crapehanger’ who wasted time destroying the theories of others instead of making new ones of his own” (Lewis 10, 35, 9). He is forced to waste his time teaching elementary bacteriology to students who are not interested, while Arrowsmith is forced to waste his time taking classes unrelated to the research he loves. Martin’s lack of interest in his classes seems to say that rather than take a wide variety of science classes medical students who wish to pursue research should be allowed only to take classes needed for research. Lewis’ portrayal of Gottlieb’s l...
Madness: A History, a film by the Films Media Group, is the final installment of a five part series, Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment. It presents a history of the medical science community and it’s relationship with those who suffer from mental illness. The program uses original manuscripts, photos, testimonials, and video footage from medical archives, detailing the historical progression of doctors and scientists’ understanding and treatment of mental illness. The film compares and contrasts the techniques utilized today, with the methods of the past. The film offers an often grim and disturbing recounting of the road we’ve taken from madness to illness.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. : p. 78. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The "Scarlet Letter" The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed.
Insanity is a blurred line in the eyes of Ken Kesey. He reveals a hidden microcosm of mental illness, debauchery, and tyranny in his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The remarkable account of a con man’s ill-fated journey inside a psychiatric hospital exposes the horrors of troubling malpractices and mistreatments. Through a sane man’s time within a crazy man’s definition of a madhouse, there is exploration and insight for the consequences of submission and aberration from societal norm. While some of the novel’s concerns are now anachronous, some are more vital today than before. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a compelling tale that brings a warning of the results of an overly conformist and repressive institution.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' was written in the late 19th century by an English author named R.L.Stevenson. Victorians were interested in Darwin's theory of evolution and Stevenson took advantage of this. Not all classes were educated, so Stevenson had to aim for higher-class people. Jekyll would be the same class as the readers, whereas Hyde would be unknown to such people because he was associated with the lower classes. Stevenson was influenced by Darwinism in the novella to involve Victorian Society.
The controversial topic of insanity manifests itself commonly in Romantic writing, and has been one much disputed over time. Some say that people who seem crazy are so above our own level of thought and understanding that we can’t possibly begin to identify with them and that we can find genius in the form of ordinary lunatics who connect to God and divinity in ways “normal” people don’t comprehend. Throughout works such as “The Cask of Amontillado and “The Castaway”, the authors question insanity with ideas that show the possible outcomes when one looks deep inside themselves for a divine spark or intuition. Both of these stories address madness in different forms, and madness itself is Godly experiences gone wrong; the person who receives the divine vision is unable to handle its raw truth.
May Charles E. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Ed. A.J. Sobczak. Eaglewood Cliffs: Salem Press, Inc., 1998.
...he Hospital for the Criminal Insane.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 1997-2003. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard For this unit, the play which we are studying is "The Real Inspector." Hound" written by Tom Stoppard, an English playwright famous for his clever use of language and ironic political metaphors. Stoppard was associated theatre of the absurd, and often his play referred to the meaninglessness of the human condition. He combined English tradition of the "comedy of manners" (a play that attacks the customs).
Shmoop Editorial Team, ‘Mr. Gabriel Utterson in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,’ Shmoop University, Inc., 11 (2008) < http://www.shmoop.com/jekyll-and-hyde/mr-gabriel-utterson.html> (accessed December 6, 2013).
Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of the short story, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, was strongly influenced by the great developments in medical science during the Victorian Age. He was fascinated by its impact on everyday life, and his writings explored the questions and possibilities of going beyond mankind’s current knowledge. Exploring the excitement, doubts and curiosity of the Victorian people, Stevenson chose, as the novel’s protagonist, a scientist who exploits his profound scientific understanding of nature to his own uncertain ends. The norms of late Victorian years shape the fictitious psychological story known as “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”.
Stevenson, Angus. Oxford Dictionary of English. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010.
In the second section of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, my favorite part was the fact that Santiago was realizing that he had the wrong dream in mind. This can be expressed through the quote, “ He had worked for an entire year to make a dream come true, and that dream, minute by minute, was becoming less important. Maybe that wasn’t really his dream.” Santiago got mixed up along the way and thought that he should be saving for more sheep, when he realized that what he really wanted was a trip to the pyramids. My least favorite part of this section was that the merchant had really little faith in Santiago's ideas to increase business. His religious beliefs get in the way and he keeps saying, “ Maktub” which means it is written. The merchant