Cultural Constructions of Madness in Eighteenth Century Writing
By the same author PATTERNS OF MADNESS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (ed.) VOICES OF MADNESS (ed.) THE MADHOUSE OF LANGUAGE THE LANGUAGE OF DH LAWRENCE JOSEPH CONRAD: SELECTED LITERARY CRITICISM AND THE SHADOW-LINE (ed.) INTRICATE LAUGHTER IN THE SATIRE OF SWIFT AND POPE BOSWELL S CREATIVE GLOOM
Cultural Constructions of Madness in Eighteenth Century Writing Representing the Insane Allan Ingram with Michelle Faubert
Allan Ingram 2005 Chapter 6 Michelle Faubert, 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-4595-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-52332-0 ISBN 978-0-230-51089-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230510890 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ingram, Allan Cultural constructions of madness in eighteenth century writing : representing the insane / by Allan Ingram with Michelle Faubert. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English literature 18th century History and criticism. 2. Literature and mental illness Great Britain History 18th century. 3. Mental illness in literature. 4. Mentally ill in literature. I. Faubert, Michelle. II. Title. PR448.M45144 2005 820.9 3561 dc22 2004054656 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
To Ruth and Steve
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Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements viii x 1 Speaking It Like a Horse: Gulliver s Travels and the Contexts of Insanity 1 2 Reconstructing the Classical Model: Pope s Homer and Its Influence 25 3 Th unbalanc d Mind : Poetry, Satire and the Assimilation of Madness 53 4 The Madness of a Multitude : Insanity, People and Prose 78 5 Acting the Part of a Madman: Insanity and the Stage 106 6 A Gendered Affliction: Women, Writing, Madness 136 7 The Image of Our Mind : Seeing and Being Seen 170 8 Madness Itself: the Real Story 202 Bibliography 231 Index 240 Note: Chapter 6 is by Michelle Faubert. vii
List of Illustrations Fig. 1 Richard Newton, A Visit to Bedlam (1794). By permission of the Wellcome Library, London 171 Fig. 2 Bethlem Hospital, Moorfields, after 1733 (c.1735). By permission of Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust 173 Fig. 3a Caius Gabriel Cibber, Melancholy Madness (c.1676). By permission of Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust 174 Fig. 3b Caius Gabriel Cibber, Raving Madness (c.1676). By permission of Bethlem Art and History Collections Trust 174 Fig. 4a William Hogarth, The Rake s Progress 8 (1735). Copyright The British Museum 177 Fig. 4b William Hogarth, The Rake s Progress 8 (1763). By permission of The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester 178 Fig. 5a Thomas Rowlandson, Doctor Willis at Home (c.1788) 183 Fig. 5b Thomas Rowlandson, Doctor Willis Abroad (c.1788) 183 Fig. 6 Thomas Rowlandson, The Hypochondriac (1788). Copyright The British Museum 186 Fig. 7 George Woodward, John Bull Troubled with the Blue Devils (1799). Copyright The British Museum 188 Fig. 8 Benjamin Wilson, engraved by James McArdell, Mr Garrick in the Character of King Lear (1761). Copyright The British Museum 190 Fig. 9 Henry Fuseli, engraved by R. Earlom, King Lear (1789, engraved 1803) 194 Fig. 10 Henry Fuseli, Mad Kate (1806 7). Photograph by Ursula Edelmann, Frankfurt. By permission 195 Fig. 11 James Gillray, Pray Pity the Sorrows of a Poor Blind Man (c.1812). Reproduction by permission of Phaidon Press; last known ownership the Collection of Mr L. G. Duke, London 199 viii
List of Illustrations ix Every effort has been made to trace and contact third party or original rights holders. If any have inadvertently been overlooked, the author/publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Acknowledgements Our warmest thanks to those friends and colleagues who have so generously given their time and trouble in the preparation of this book, either through invited comment or through offering opportunities to present in public what is now given in print. Specifically, we should like to express our appreciation to Alan Bewell, Conrad DeBold, Heather Kelly, Clark Lawlor, Pat Maher, Pierre Morère, Hermann Real, Richard Terry and, above all, to Hélène Dachez for her painstaking and positive reading of the manuscript. Any things of darkness that remain we acknowledge our own. Chapter 1 is partly based on an essay published in Gulliver s Travels: Jonathan Swift, ed. Pierre Morère, Paris: Ellipses, 2001, and partly on a paper presented at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster in 2002. Allan Ingram Michelle Faubert x