{"id":2008,"date":"2025-02-07T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=2008"},"modified":"2025-02-07T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:10:08","slug":"walter-hartright-tries-to-sigmund-freud-his-way-into-solving-a-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2025\/02\/07\/walter-hartright-tries-to-sigmund-freud-his-way-into-solving-a-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter Hartright Tries to Sigmund Freud His Way into Solving a Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first narrator in the novel, Walter Hartright, is completely obsessed with solving the mystery of the Woman in White. <\/span>Both scenes in which <\/span>he <\/span>encounters<\/span> her <\/span>involve some level of psychoanalysis on the part of Walter. <\/span>The <\/span>motivati<\/span>ng factor<\/span> in his conversations with<\/span> the woman in white (revealed to be <\/span>Anne<\/span> Catherick<\/span>)<\/span> involve<\/span> understanding<\/span> her past- wh<\/span>o she is, where she came from, and what has happened to her to make her act <\/span>the way she does<\/span>. <\/span>In \u201cRemembering, Repeating, and Working Through<\/span>\u201d,<\/span> Sigmund Freud outlines the phases of psychoanaly<\/span>tic treatment <\/span>which lead to the discovery of<\/span> the point of origin for a patient\u2019s <\/span>symptoms. This begins by<\/span> encouraging the patient to <\/span><\/span>remember<\/span><\/span> forgotten memories, which leads to the patient’s <\/span><\/span>repetition<\/span><\/span> of <\/span>past events or erratic <\/span>behaviors and<\/span> finally allowing them time to<\/span><\/span> work through<\/span><\/span> and process these sensations<\/span>, <\/span>overcoming the symptoms<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(Freud). <\/span>In a way, <\/span>Walter Hartright <\/span>practices psychoanalysis<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in his<\/span> observations of all characters, but most predominantly in<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>conversations with Anne<\/span>. <\/span>By <\/span>pressing her with questions meant to unlock her memory, <\/span>leading<\/span> her<\/span> to produce<\/span> repetitive<\/span> and erratic behaviors<\/span>, Walter <\/span>is able to <\/span>piece together parts of her story.<\/span> <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walter’s\u00a0<\/span>interest in discovering the mystery of<\/span>\u00a0Anne <\/span>Catherick<\/span> begins <\/span>upon their first meeting on the road to London in the middle of the night. <\/span>Walter <\/span>immediately<\/span> wants to know more about her, automatically acting under the assumption that there is a truth beneath the surface that is hidden. <\/span>He<\/span> comes to this conclusion by analyzing the way she answers his questions; when he<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>inquires<\/span> about her<\/span> destination, she repeatedly asks him \u201cnot to interfere with me<\/span>\u201d,<\/span> asking five times\u00a0<\/span>very quickly<\/span>\u00a0\u201cwill you promise?<\/span>\u201d,<\/span> until <\/span>he responds with <\/span>\u201cyes\u201d<\/span> (26)<\/span>.<\/span> Walter reads t<\/span>his behavior\u00a0<\/span>as<\/span>\u00a0mysterious because of its rapid repetition<\/span> and<\/span> panicked <\/span>nature, leading\u00a0<\/span>him to dig further into<\/span> psychoanalysis of Anne’s character<\/span> as he <\/span>attempts<\/span> to discover the source of her panic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>W<\/span>hen he meets Anne for the second time in the graveyard, <\/span>Walter<\/span>\u00a0further pushes <\/span>his psychoanalytic investigation, asking <\/span>more and more<\/span> pressing questions until Anne <\/span>begins to <\/span>exhibit<\/span> behaviors<\/span>\u00a0triggered by memories<\/span>. <\/span>When he questions her about Sir Percival Glyde, he reads her reaction to the name\u00a0<\/span>as a <\/span>symptom-<\/span> \u201cthe shriek at the name, the reiterated look of hatred an<\/span>d fear that instantly followed, told all\u201d<\/span> (105)<\/span>. <\/span>H<\/span>e<\/span> believe<\/span>s that his question has triggered some repressed memory of Anne’s,<\/span> her reaction to which <\/span>will be able to tell him what he needs to know<\/span> both about her character and abou<\/span>t Sir Percival\u2019s. <\/span>Walter’s tendency towards psychoanalysis is reflected in his interactions with several other characters, but most prominently towards Anne, emphasizing the intrigue and mystery of her character that creates the sensation of th<\/span>e novel. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first narrator in the novel, Walter Hartright, is completely obsessed with solving the mystery of the Woman in White. Both scenes in which he encounters her involve some level of psychoanalysis on the part of Walter. The motivating factor in his conversations with the woman in white (revealed to be Anne Catherick) involve understanding … Continue reading Walter Hartright Tries to Sigmund Freud His Way into Solving a Mystery<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380],"tags":[135914,135989,135995,111388],"class_list":["post-2008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities","tag-anne-catherick","tag-freud","tag-psychoanalysis","tag-walter-hartright"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}