Hysteria and the demeaning nature of female ‘madness’.

The concept of female 'madness' is a common yet undeniably demeaning way of defining illness in women. It both ignores the serious health issues a women could have and undercuts the improtance of mental health.

The term ‘hysterical’ is a common term in the present day, most often used when someone is being over-emotional and irrational. However, the etymology of the word and even the context in which it is used is altogether demeaning to women and is undeniably misogynistic. It comes from the term “ὑστερά” (husterá) meaning womb, the Ancient Greeks had a belief that madness in females was literally caused by having a womb, in Timaeus, Plato describes how the womb would wander about the body causing disease. In Britain and America, this medical diagnosis began to grow popular in the 19^th century and women who had symptoms such as irritability, nervousness or insomnia were diagnosed with hysteria. The claim that having a womb in itself causes illness or disease is troubling as it shows the misogyny that dominated even medicine; women would not be taken seriously and even their basic anatomy was discriminated against. In severe cases, women were admitted to mental asylums or underwent hysterectomies which further highlights the severity of the issue; identifying as a female meant you would be denied access to proper medical care and were left to suffer just for being born a certain way. While this is no longer a medical diagnosis and is an outdated concept, even the term ‘hysterical’ usually applies to women and is used to demean and shame showing emotions. The way in which we treat emotions in itself is an issue but ‘hysteria’ especially is a term that has etymological roots in a tradition that chastened and humiliated women for having a womb.

Another interesting way in which female ‘madness’ is demeaned is the portrayal of women in literature. Dido, Ophelia and Blanche DuBois are three characters from three pieces of literature that were written at completely different times: AD19, 1600 and 1947. The three tales vary greatly in topics and themes; however, a topic they all share in common is that they are driven mad by love. The madness manifests itself in different ways but it is fascinating to note the similarities in the three tales that span such a great time frame.  In the Aenied, Dido, the queen of Carthage, is visited by Aeneas, the mythical founder of Rome, and they then fall in love. However, because Aeneas has to follow his destiny to found Rome after fleeing Troy, he leaves which drives Dido to commit suicide, she stabs herself with Aeneas’ sword on a burning pyre. While initially Dido is portrayed as a strong and gracious ruler, her characterisation does change after this event, and it is clear that after Dido loses her virtue, the only option left to her would be to commit suicide. To the Roman reader, this portrayal of a foreign queen would be entirely accurate and she would not be able to live after this.

In Hamlet, Ophelia appears to be in love with Hamlet, however his pretence of madness and the murder of her father drives to madness and then to commit suicide.  This particular depiction of madness is constantly referenced in popular culture; she has become a symbol of madness in women. Her madness differs greatly to Hamlet; the latter would have been viewed as intellectual melancholy while Ophelia was caused due to her delusion love with the death of her father pushing her into madness. There was a constant and almost obsessive trend of portraying her suicide, typically she appears to be beautiful and serene, further romanticising mental illness while dismissing the true issue.

Lastly, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is depicted as mentally unstable due to her husband’s suicide, this is further exacerbated by Stanley’s raping her which prompts her mental breakdown. At the end of the play, she is placed in a mental asylum as she was rejected by the cold, aggressive society around her and could not cope with the shifting times. Blanche is certainly not a flawless protagonist but it is undeniable that the death of Allan destroyed her irreparably, again highlighting how men are consistently responsible for the state of a woman’s mental health.

These three stories contribute to the concept that a woman’s mental health is both more fragile (and more reliant on men) yet should be disregarded as it is just the typical of females. Similarly, ‘hysteria’ as medical diagnosis demonstrates how the cultural perception of women has been that they are almost destined to go mad; it is fundamentally their body that makes them weaker mentally and so madness is to be expected. The idea that love was what drove women to these mental illnesses emphasises how women’s emotions are too strong, this is due to their anatomy, and they cannot cope with these intense emotions, further degrading women. This topic is undeniably of importance as literature both reflects the culture at the time and influences it, thus the portrayal of women in literature how public opinion is still centred around these outdated ideas. Furthermore, women being demeaned even in medicine, something which is meant to be progressive, is worrying; no-one should be discriminated against based on the anatomy they have. The concept of female ‘madness’ based on baseless facts and conjuncture is problematic at its heart.