How do we know a character in Gothic fiction is mad?
Is what the person says, does, doesn't do?
If the writer puts us into the character's head, is it feelings, thoughts, perceptions?
If the writer keeps us outside the character's head,...
is it what others reports about the person's appearance?
Is it what others report about the person's behavior?
Is it something that others can't see, but infer, such as the person's beliefs, fears, emotions, rationale?
In the following posts, we explore the question of how we know a particular character is mad by comparing what the writer tells us to what two early Mad Experts would say. We rely on the expertise of Sir Richard Blackmore (1726) writing in Treatise of the Spleen and Vapours and Dr. William Battie (1758) writing in A Treatise on Madness. The characters are The Narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's (1892) The Yellow Wallpaper, Dr. Jekyll in Robert Louis Stevenson's (1886) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Laura in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's (1871-1872) Carmilla.
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