Title: "There is sex in mind" : scientific determinism and the woman question in Lady Audley's Secret
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2012, vol. 38, iss. 1, pp. [87]-102
Extent
[87]-102
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2012-1-6
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/124306
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
My contention in this paper is that in Lady Audley's Secret Elizabeth Braddon is critical of the nineteenth-century theories of cerebral and biological determinism in relation to the question of female madness. I argue in the first part that Braddon pinpoints phrenology – the study of the faculties of the mind from the conformation of the skull – as one of the institutionalized sciences that provided a materialistic underpinning and a further incentive to masculine hegemony. After I outline the basic tenets of the theory I shall argue that as a subject of phrenological analysis, the madwoman is treated in ways that reproduce Victorian gender-normative stereotypes. In the second part I shall demonstrate that marriage is denounced as an institution that bolsters the hegemonic machine.
References
[1] Braddon Elizabeth (1998) Lady Audley's Secret. Ed. David Skilton. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2] Chesler, Phyllis (2005) Women and Madness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[3] Combe, George (1819) Essays on Phrenology; or an Inquiry into the Principles and Ability of the System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim; and into the Objections Made Against It. Edinburgh.
[4] Combe, George (nd) 1819-1920 Notebooks. NLS7406, fo. 72–73.
[5] Combe, George (1974) The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints.
[6] Cooter, Roger (1976) 'Phrenology and British Alienists, c. 1825-1845'. Medical History 20, 1–21.
[7] Cooter, Roger (1984) The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[8] Daston, Lorraine (1996) 'The Naturalized Female Intellect'. In: Grauman, Carl F. and Kenneth J. Gergen (eds.) Historical Dimensions of Psychological Discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 165–192.
[9] De Giustino, David (1975) Conquest of Mind: Phrenology and Victorian Social Thought. London: Totowa.
[10] Leahey, Thomas Hardy and Grace Evans Leahey (1983) Psychology's Occult Doubles: Psychology and the Problem of Pseudoscience. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
[11] Loesberg, Jonathan (1986) 'The Ideology of Narrative Form in the Sensation Fiction'. Representations 13, 115–138. | DOI 10.1525/rep.1986.13.1.99p01136
[12] Lukasik, Christopher J (2011) Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[13] Maudsley, Henry (1873) Body and Mind: An Inquiry into Their Connection and Mutual Influence, Especially in Reference to Mental Disorders. London: Macmillan.
[14] Maudsley, Henry (1867) The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind. New York: Appleton & Company.
[15] Punter, David (1998) Gothic Pathologies: the Text, the Body, and the Law. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[16] Richards, Robert John (1987) Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[17] Schroeder, Natalie and Ronald A. Schroeder (2006) From Sensation to Society: Representations of Marriage in the Fiction of Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1862-1866. Rosemont Publishing.
[18] Showalter, Elaine (1987) The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. New York: Virago.
[19] Smart Alexander (1834) 'On the Application of phrenology in the formation of marriages.' The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. Vol II. Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington & Co.
[20] Spurzheim, Johann C (1825) A View of the Philosophical Principles of Phrenology. London: Knight.
[21] Spurzheim, Johann C (1829) Outlines of Phrenology; Being also a Manual of Reference for the Marked Busts. London: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Richter.
[22] Voskuil, Lynn M (2001) 'Acts of Madness: Lady Audley and the Meaning of Victorian Femininity'. Feminist Studies 27, 611–639. | DOI 10.2307/3178808
[2] Chesler, Phyllis (2005) Women and Madness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[3] Combe, George (1819) Essays on Phrenology; or an Inquiry into the Principles and Ability of the System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim; and into the Objections Made Against It. Edinburgh.
[4] Combe, George (nd) 1819-1920 Notebooks. NLS7406, fo. 72–73.
[5] Combe, George (1974) The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints.
[6] Cooter, Roger (1976) 'Phrenology and British Alienists, c. 1825-1845'. Medical History 20, 1–21.
[7] Cooter, Roger (1984) The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[8] Daston, Lorraine (1996) 'The Naturalized Female Intellect'. In: Grauman, Carl F. and Kenneth J. Gergen (eds.) Historical Dimensions of Psychological Discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 165–192.
[9] De Giustino, David (1975) Conquest of Mind: Phrenology and Victorian Social Thought. London: Totowa.
[10] Leahey, Thomas Hardy and Grace Evans Leahey (1983) Psychology's Occult Doubles: Psychology and the Problem of Pseudoscience. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
[11] Loesberg, Jonathan (1986) 'The Ideology of Narrative Form in the Sensation Fiction'. Representations 13, 115–138. | DOI 10.1525/rep.1986.13.1.99p01136
[12] Lukasik, Christopher J (2011) Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[13] Maudsley, Henry (1873) Body and Mind: An Inquiry into Their Connection and Mutual Influence, Especially in Reference to Mental Disorders. London: Macmillan.
[14] Maudsley, Henry (1867) The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind. New York: Appleton & Company.
[15] Punter, David (1998) Gothic Pathologies: the Text, the Body, and the Law. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[16] Richards, Robert John (1987) Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[17] Schroeder, Natalie and Ronald A. Schroeder (2006) From Sensation to Society: Representations of Marriage in the Fiction of Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1862-1866. Rosemont Publishing.
[18] Showalter, Elaine (1987) The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. New York: Virago.
[19] Smart Alexander (1834) 'On the Application of phrenology in the formation of marriages.' The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. Vol II. Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington & Co.
[20] Spurzheim, Johann C (1825) A View of the Philosophical Principles of Phrenology. London: Knight.
[21] Spurzheim, Johann C (1829) Outlines of Phrenology; Being also a Manual of Reference for the Marked Busts. London: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Richter.
[22] Voskuil, Lynn M (2001) 'Acts of Madness: Lady Audley and the Meaning of Victorian Femininity'. Feminist Studies 27, 611–639. | DOI 10.2307/3178808