{"id":797,"date":"2016-09-16T13:26:17","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T13:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=797"},"modified":"2016-10-13T12:47:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T12:47:53","slug":"fear-of-committal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2016\/09\/16\/fear-of-committal\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear of Committal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout The Woman in White<\/em>, Miss Fairlie is described as a bright figure that \u201cpasses by in the moonlight.\u201d (48) It is imperative to take notice of this moon motif because it reoccurs frequently within the text. During class discussions, many people spoke about Walter Hartright\u2019s \u201csupernatural and ghostlike\u201d descriptions of Laura Fairlie, yet no one mentioned the instant link between the moon and lunacy. If we are thinking about lunacy and its implications, single women in the Victorian Era were especially vulnerable and \u201ceasily disposable\u201d candidates for the mental institutions. (Victorian Gothic) In this post, I would like to propose a relationship between desire and implications of madness.
\nFascinatingly enough, \u201ccertificates of lunacy\u201d were easy to acquire. The Victorian Era Asylums essentially severed ties between the \u201cpatient\u201d and the outside world and the institution had full invasive power to control which letters the patients could receive from their loved ones. (Victorian Gothic) Unsurprisingly, I suspect that men who felt rejected by feme soles were eager to accuse them and to isolate them whilst chanting the mantra: \u201cIf I can\u2019t have you, nobody can.\u201d
\nSimilarly, the issue exists once men ascribe women with emotional undertones where the female \u201cinflux of sentimentality\u201d might perhaps be void. Walter focuses on \u201cthe white gleam of [Laura Fairlie\u2019s] muslin gown and head-dress in the moonlight\u201d and he is overwhelmed by a slew of \u201csensations\u201d that \u201cquicken his pulse\u201d and raise a \u201cfluttering in his heart.\u201d (49) However, Laura is simply walking around her yard in the nighttime and she most likely does not intend to arouse any of Walter\u2019s deep sensual \u201cfeelings.\u201d Thus, if the idea of lunacy is linked to feelings of desire, what other connections are implied within this relationship? How could this link be dangerous for members of Victorian society?<\/p>\n

(Victorian Gothic source) http:\/\/www.victoriangothic.org\/the-lunacy-of-english-lunacy-laws\/<\/p>\n

Note: The Woman in White<\/em> copy that I reference is different than the class edition and therefore it contains different page numbers. (Published by London Chatto & Windus)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout The Woman in White, Miss Fairlie is described as a bright figure that \u201cpasses by in the moonlight.\u201d (48) It is imperative to take notice of this moon motif because it reoccurs frequently within the text. During class discussions, many people spoke about Walter Hartright\u2019s \u201csupernatural and ghostlike\u201d descriptions of Laura Fairlie, yet no … Continue reading Fear of Committal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3046,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111380,111423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-360-victorian-sexualities","category-fall-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","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\/3046"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}