Lady Audley’s Secret and the Portrayal of a Criminal Mind

Giuseppe Giordano

doi:10.4236/als.2021.93014

Abstract

Lady Audley’s Secret is a novel first published in 1862 by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, a Victorian writer. It is the story of a young lady who, in her attempt to climb the social ladder, commits several crimes. Her behaviour was considered abnormal and improper in a society in which women had to be obedient and docile. The originality of this work is the representation of a woman whose behaviour was not considered as insane rather intentional and calculated but, despite this, she was confined to an asylum. Psychiatry was an emerging medical specialty during the Victorian period and the diagnosis of psychiatric conditions was not sophisticated and precise as today. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that Lady Audley was likely affected by antisocial personality disorder according to the medical assessment criteria of the present time.

Highlights

Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret is a Victorian novel that describes the story of a young lady who tries to escape poverty and a miserable life by performing criminal activities such as bigamy, child abandonment and attempted murders
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that Lady Audley was likely affected by antisocial personality disorder according to the medical assessment criteria of the present time
The aim of this article is to demonstrate that Lady Audley (LA) was presumably affected by antisocial personality disorder since her behaviour was against social norms and obligations and more alike the conduct and disposition of a psychopath or a criminal

Summary

Introduction

Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret is a Victorian novel that describes the story of a young lady who tries to escape poverty and a miserable life by performing criminal activities such as bigamy, child abandonment and attempted murders All these illegal deeds were obviously considered at the time as dangerous, indecent and against social norms when they were accomplished by women. In the case of Lady Audley, Braddon describes her heroine as a person who was not affected by any kind of mental problem according to the advice of a medical expert Even though she had been confined to an asylum to avoid either imprisonment or a family scandal, her behaviour was explained as a strong desire to improve her social position. The relationship between criminal behaviour and this type of disorder has been well demonstrated in forensic and clinical settings (Davison, 2012), and the rationale of this investigation is to demonstrate that Braddon provides, on several occasions, clues and hints concerning the abnormality of her heroine’s behaviour and of its antisocial disposition

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Conclusion