With... Bethany Turner-Pemberton
-
Sassy and Sam chat to researcher and curator Bethany Turner-Pemberton.
Bethany is PhD candidate in Textiles and Museum Studies at Manchester
Metropolitan...
OBJECTIVE:
To describe features of Huntington disease in Charlotte Brontё’s character, Bertha Mason, in Jane Eyre.
BACKGROUND: George Huntington’s essay “On Chorea” described adult-onset hereditary chorea in 1872. However, several decades preceding Huntington’s description, familial cases of chorea in children and adults with involuntary movements, speech disturbances, and progressive dementia were published. During this period of enhanced recognition of what is now termed Huntington disease, Charlotte Brontё published Jane Eyre in 1847.
METHODS:
Comparison of Charlotte Brontё’s portrayal of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre with George Huntington’s original description of Huntington disease.
RESULTS:
In Jane Eyre, Brontё features the enigmatic Bertha Mason, known as the “woman in the attic”. Mason had a progressive and familial neuropsychiatric disease with violent movements whose description mirrors the tenets in Huntington’s original essay. One tenet was the “tendency to insanity and suicide.” These behavioral features are prominently featured in Brontё’s text, with descriptions of Mason as a “maniac” with homicidal tendencies who later commits suicide. Mason’s cognitive decline is described as having a “cast of mind common, low, narrow and singularly incapable of being led to anything higher.” Brontё depicts Mason as having abnormal movements, described as wild and animal-like with “convulsive plunges.” Mason’s abnormal movements resemble the description in Huntington’s original essay which is of movements “which gradually increase in violence and variety.”
CONCLUSIONS:
Brontё’s character has a familial disorder with classic motor, cognitive and behavioral features of Huntington disease. This depiction has had implications for the treatment of patients with neuropsychiatric disease. Brontё’s unsympathetic portrayal of Mason’s neuropsychiatric illness has been deplored by literary critics who brought the issue of humane treatment of neuropsychiatric patients into broader view. This insight remains important today as patients with Huntington disease and their families continue to face stigmatization and prejudicial representation.
Elizabeth Coon, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, expands on the theory that Bertha had Huntington’s disease in this video published on Rare Disease Report:
Where Was The Real Thornfield Hall?
-
Spring has not yet sprung and we are still enjoying dark nights where you
can snuggle up with a good book. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is one of
those bo...
Member talk: The Brontës and fake news
-
There have been wild speculations and baseless theories about the Brontë
sisters and their novels virtually since the books were first published in
1847. J...
Celebrating Anne Brontë
-
Wishing a happy belated birthday to Anne Brontë, born on 17th January 1820
in Thornton. She was an English novelist and poet and her works include the
prot...
Goodbye, Jane
-
As two wonderful years come to an end, Piper and Lillian reflect on what
we've learned from Jane Eyre.
Thank you for joining us on this journey.
Happy...
The Calderdale Windfarm
-
*The Calderdale Windfarm*
Sixty-five turbines, each one of them forty metres taller than Blackpool
Tower! All of them close by Top Withens. This is what ...
Hello!
-
This is our new post website for The Anne Brontë Society. We are based in
Scarborough UK, and are dedicated to preserving Anne’s work, memory, and
legacy. ...
Final thoughts.
-
Back from honeymoon and time for Charlotte to admire her beautiful wedding
day bonnet before storing it carefully away in the parsonage.
After 34 days...
Charlotte Bronte and the Great Exhibition of 1851
-
A Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, celebrating industrial advances,
had been promoted from July 1949 by Prince Albert and Sir Henry Cole, the
sam...
Ambrotipia – Tesori dal Brontë Parsonage Museum
-
Continua la collaborazione tra The Sisters’ Room e il Brontë Parsonage
Museum. Vi mostriamo perciò una serie di contenuti speciali, scelti e
curati dire...
-
kcarreras:
I have an inward *treasure* born with me, which can keep me alive if all
extraneous *delights* should be withheld or offered only at a price I...
Livre «Quel Brontë êtes-vous ?»
-
Un nouveau livre en français au sujet des Brontë est paru le 20 février
2020 aux éditions Librinova : Quel Brontë êtes-vous ? par Anna
Feissel-Leibovici. ...
Brontë in media
-
Wist u dat? In de film ‘The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society’
gebaseerd op de gelijknamige briefroman, schrijft hoofdrolspeelster Juliet
Ashto...
Researching Emily Brontë at Southowram
-
A couple of weeks ago I took a wander to the district of Southowram, just a
few miles across the hills from Halifax town centre, yet feeling like a
vil...
Handwriting envy
-
The opening facsimile of Charlotte Brontë’s hand for the opening of the
novel is quite arresting. A double underlining emphasises with perfect
clarity tha...
Html to ReStructuredText-converter
-
Wallflux.com provides a rich text to reStructredText-converter. Partly
because we use it ourselves, partly because rst is very transparent in
displaying wh...
Display Facebook posts in a WordPress widget
-
You can display posts from any Facebook page or group on a WordPress blog
using the RSS-widget in combination with RSS feeds from Wallflux.com:
https://www...
5. The Poets’ Jumble Trail Finds
-
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending with some friends a jumble trail
in which locals sold old – and in some instances new – bits and bobs from
their ...
How I Met the Brontës
-
My first encounter with the Brontës occurred in the late 1990’s when
visiting a bookshop offering a going-out-of -business sale. Several books
previously d...
Radio York
-
I was interviewed for the Paul Hudson Weather Show for Radio York the other
day - i had to go to the BBC radio studios in Blackburn and did the
interview...
CELEBRATION DAY
-
MEDIA RELEASE
February 2010
For immediate release
FREE LOCAL RESIDENTS’ DAY AT NEWLY REFURBISHED BRONTË MUSEUM
This image shows the admission queue on the...
Poetry Day poems
-
This poem uses phrases and lines written by visitors at the Bronte
Parsonage Museum to celebrate National Poetry Day 2009, based on words
chosen from Emily...
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
-
Firstly, I would like to thank the good people at Avon- Harper Collins for
sending me a review copy of Syrie James' new book, The Secret Diaries of
Charlot...
With... Bethany Turner-Pemberton
-
Sassy and Sam chat to researcher and curator Bethany Turner-Pemberton.
Bethany is PhD candidate in Textiles and Museum Studies at Manchester
Metropolitan...
0 comments:
Post a Comment