“Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house, and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather’s case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics” (Conan Doyle, 134).
In this passage, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, “The Speckled Band”, we see the character of Helen Stoner indulging Watson and Holmes in the background of her stepfather, which is relevant in understanding the unfortunate events that led to her sister’s untimely demise. Similarly, to the story that we find in, Lady Audley’s secret, we see an explicit reference to a potential, “hereditary madness”; for Dr. Roylott found in the men of his line, and for Lady Audley through her mother. In my fascination with binaries in gothic literature, it is interesting to see another example of the binary of wealthy, upstanding professionals/citizens juxtaposed with the concept of “madness”. Lady Audley is a credit to her profession before she is proposed to by Lord Michael, and therefore, her eventual downfall and “alternative side”, is emphasized as all the worse. The same could be said for Dr. Roylott as his stepdaughters wanted for nothing, and he was generally proficient at his job, in conjunction with having lineage of noble standing, that his fits of anger were all the more terrifying to the reader. We can then ask ourselves, what does this mean to the text as whole? I would assert that the authors of both of these works are making claims about the hidden elements of higher society, even the “God-like” standards that we may impart on noble and wealthy individuals, compared to our expectations of madness in those that may come from lower-class backgrounds or of certain undesirable professions. Do we expect those in lower positions to be driven mad by their unsavory conditions and therefore it is all the more shocking when they appear more sane than their privileged and protected counterparts? I think that is a question that emerges throughout gothic literature when characters of different class standing are introduced. Furthermore, we see that Dr. Roylott’s illness is hypothesized to be heightened largely due to his time in India. We can then extend our expectations and reactions from merely class discussions to those of race and place. This “foreign” world is a synonym for danger and madness and the authors expectations of people who fit in these class and race categories defy the behavioral expectations set by Victorian societal standards.
I really enjoyed your view on how the wealthy and the poor are depicted in gothic fiction. During the Victorian era most people were not in the wealthy class. This makes them more intriguing to people because it is a life style they have not experienced. This is something that books today harp on as well by telling stories of the hidden flaws of rich families. We enjoy this type of fiction because we view these people as perfect with perfect lives and the idea that they have problems possibly even worse than our own make us feel better about ourselves which is why we like reading it.
I to am fascinated by the theme of rich people being mad. There is a common misconception that rich people can not go crazy, or are less likely to. The problem with this is that madness is not situational. While many unfortunate situations can cause someone to go mad, at the end of the day mental illness is mental illness. Mental illness is more hereditary than situational. This is not to say that a bad situation can not cause a severe mental illness. It is important to point out that an illness, of any kind, can come from many places. To go off of this point, while rich people do not have as many, and often as severe problems as those less privileged, there are other situations that can cause someone to develop a mental illness unrelated to being born poor. In Lady Audley’s case, she had no control over her life, and her one source of money left her. For nearly everyone, this would induce rash actions.