Mental Illness In Literature

Mental illness has always affected many individuals in society, but it is now becoming more acknowledged and subsequently treated. Especially in 19th and 20th century pieces of literature, characters portray symptoms of mental illnesses, but their conditions are often not directly acknowledged as mental illness and are in return poorly treated. Specifically Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf depict how mental illnesses affect both men and women and how society generally stigmatizes them. In a patriarchal society, women are expected to be subordinate to men and emotionally collected enough to maintain a positive image, even when they are stereotyped to be more emotional to men.
— unjust!’... forced by the agonizing stimulus into precocious through transitory power; and resolve, equally wrought up, instigated some strange expedient to achieve escape from insupportable oppression — as running away...never eating or drinking more, and letting myself die” (Brontë 22). Jane lives an unsatisfying life due to lack of attention and general support from her family, but being locked away in this room brings out the worst of her inner emotions. This treatment is similar to the “rest cure” because she is temporarily separated from basic individual rights and is malnourished, which therefore dehumanizes her. Jane’s acknowledgement of the unjust nature and the manipulation of power of this situation portrays how treatments like the rest cure are forms of unfair oppression, especially for females. Brontë also describes the conditions of the red room as “yet in what darkness, what dense ignorance, was the mental battle fought” (Brontë 23). This description demonstrates the emotional trauma caused by isolation and how her aunt possesses ignorance towards her. Even though Jane has better initial mental health conditions than Bertha Mason, she still acknowledges that oppression results in a mental battle. In addition, Jane states, “I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down — I uttered a wild, involuntary cry” (Brontë 24). This portrays how mental illness is not a person’s fault, but that it is instead involuntary. However, Jane’s poor mental state in the red room is only temporary because she is not confined for life and eventually gains her own mobility. However, Bertha is provided as a contrast to Jane in which her condition is permanent due to her previous mental health conditions, lack of mobility, and her