'I am not very well I feel nearly mad when I think of you': Male Jealousy, Murder and Broadmoor in Late-Victorian Britain.

Jade Shepherd

doi:10.1093/shm/hkw045

Abstract

This article compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture, medical and legal literature, and in the trials and diagnoses of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900. It is shown that jealousy was entrenched in Victorian culture, but marginalised in medical and legal discourse and in the courtroom until the end of the period, and was seemingly cast aside at Broadmoor. As well as providing a detailed examination of varied representations of male jealousy in late-Victorian Britain, the article contributes to understandings of the emotional lives of the working-class, and the causes and representations of working-class male madness.

Highlights

The cases of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor between 1864 and 1900 are the foundation of this article. They underpin an examination of male jealousy in lateVictorian Britain, which compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture and medical literature, and in these men’s trials and diagnoses at Broadmoor
An examination of Victorian medical texts and articles published in The Lancet and the Journal of Mental Science demonstrates that in comparison to authors of fiction and journalists, alienists and moral philosophers had little to say about jealousy until the late nineteenth century, and even some physicians perceived a lack of discussion of the emotion
Male jealousy was often discussed in the popular press and in fiction, and by laymen and, to a lesser extent, within the courtroom and medical literature in Victorian Britain

Summary

Jade Shepherd*

This article compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture, medical and legal literature, and in the trials and diagnoses of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900. The cases of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor between 1864 and 1900 are the foundation of this article They underpin an examination of male jealousy in lateVictorian Britain, which compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture and medical literature, and in these men’s trials and diagnoses at Broadmoor.

Jealousy in Literature and the Press

Jealousy in Medical and Scientific Literature

Conclusion