The periodic depression of Charlotte Brontë.

Abstract

THE PERIODIC DEPRESSION OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE JOHN TODD, M.B., D.P.M.* and KENNETH DEWHURST, D.PHIL., D.P.M.t Introduction The maladies of authors and poets are of enduring interest. The pale, feverish, consumptive, love-stricken poet doubtless reaches his apotheosis in Keats; but Schiller, Chekhov, Stevenson, Novalis, Marie Bashkirtseff, and the Brontë sisters also died from pulmonary tuberculosis. Syphilis, drugs, or alcohol have ravaged the lives ofsuch French writers and poets as de Musset, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, de Maupassant, Daudet, and the de Goncourt brothers. Coleridge, De Quincey and Crabbe were opium eaters, Poe was an alcoholic, and Rossetti was addicted to chloral hydrate. Manic-depressive fluctuations of mood—in some instances of psychotic intensity—were exhibited by Smart, Cowper, Goethe, Clare, and, we venture to suggest, Charlotte Brontë. As a rule, organic or functional disorders of the brain tend first to dampen, and finally to extinguish, the flames ofliterary genius. There are, however, some notable exceptions to this general trend. A light dose of opium enabled Coleridge to dream his dreams and compose KuUa Kahn; a bout of depression so imbued Cowper with ideas ofsinfulness that he was inspired to write The Castaway; and Smart scrawled on the wainscot ofa madhouse the words of A Song to David—his finest poem—when in the throes ofan attack of religious mania. Ben Jonson described how, before working on Catiline, he had drunk well and "had brave notions." Addison composed while walking up and down a long gallery with a bottle ofwine at either end; and A. E. Housman imbibed a more plebeian pint of beer before beginning his poems [i]. Although no detailed studyofCharlotteBrontë's [2]attacks ofdepression appears to have been undertaken by alienists, they have not passed unnoticed by her biographers. Stephen [3] has stated that "she suffered fre- * Menston Hospital, near Ilkley, Yorks, England, t Littlemore Hospital, Oxford, England. 208 John Todd and Kenneth Dewhurst · Charlotte Brontë Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Winter 1968 quentlyfromnervous depressions"; deTraz [4] hasalluded to her "chronic melancholy"; and Gaskell [5] has referred to her "accesses oflow spirits." Charlotte's letters containing elegant descriptions ofher moods of depression arepublished in works byReid [6], Shorter [7], Gaskell [5], and Wise and Symington [8]. And these letters show that, far from being a fount of inspiration, her depressive illness was a grievous and constantly recurring impediment to initiative and thought. Outline ofCharlotte Bronte's Depression In 1836, Charlotte Brontë suffered from a profound melancholia which was characterized by doubts about her worthiness and prospects of salvation . In the latter part of1836, Charlotte wrote to her intimate and trusted friend, Ellen Nussey [5]: I am in that state ofhorrid, gloomy uncertainty that at diis moment I would submit to be old, grey-haired, to have passed all my youthful days ofenjoyment, and to be settling on the verge ofthe grave, ifI could thereby ensure the prospect ofreconciliation to God, andredemption through his Son's merits. I neverwas exactly careless ofthese matters, but I have always taken a clouded and repulsive view ofthem; and now, ifpossible, the clouds are gathering darker and a more oppressive despondency weighs on my spirits. You have cheered me, my darling; for one moment, for an atom oftime, I thought I might call you my ownsister inthe spirit; buttheexcitementispast, and I amnow as wretchedandhopeless as ever. Later, in this same letter, Charlotte's ideas ofunworthiness emerge in full force: What am I compared to you? I feel my own utter worthlessness when I make the comparison . I amavery coarse, commonplacewretch, Ellen. Ihavesomequalities which make me very miserable, some feelings that you can have no participation in, that few people in the world can at all understand. I don't pride myselfon these peculiarities, I strive to conceal and suppress them as much as I can, but they burst out sometimes, and then tliose that see the explosion despise me, and I hate myselffor days afterwards. In a further letter to Ellen Nussey written in 1836, Charlotteagain refers to her depression: Excuse me ifI say nothing but nonsense, for my mind is exhausted and dispirited. It is a stormy evening, and the wind is uttering a continual moaning...