madness – R&D Gothic Discoveries

In this post, I decided to try to find and understand how someone can turn into a human monster. There are two aspects I want to explore with you, hoping you will enjoy it!

The first aspect that could influence this transformation is loneliness. I think that when someone is forced to stay on his own without seeing nor earing others, he or she might develop violent or thoughts that are disconnected from reality. For example, in the movie I Am Legend, the main character is left alone in New York City, due to the apocalypse that happened. Since he did not ear nor see other people for a long time, he became really fearful and tormented by the evil creatures that were outside his house at night. He was constantly thinking about how he could kill or fight them, which finally lead him to a form of madness. The proof is that when someone finally arrived with him in New York, he rejected her immediately, even if he wished company for so long.

Another aspect would be duality in personality. I think that when someone tries to hide a side of his or her personality to other people, it will surely come out eventually, maybe creating some negative events. What I want to express with this statement is that people who have two sides of their personality might, eventually, get tired of playing around with the perception of others and mix both parts together, sometimes creating a human monster. A good example of this duality would be Dr. Jekyll in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this story,, the main character Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde at night, who has an evil and monstrous personality, the complete opposite of his day-time personality. With time, his personalities come to mix altogether, changing whenever they want. This causes evil behavior, linking him to a human monster.

I suggest you do not stay alone for too long and hide a certain part of your personality because you might turn into a human monster! 😉

Rosalie

Recently, I have read several short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. One of them really marked me with the exploitation of the theme of madness, and it is called The Fall of the House of Usher. Whether you have already read it or not, I think you will understand the extent of this particular theme.

The most important aspect of the theme, in my opinion, is the disconnection from reality. In fact, the man, Roderick Usher, thinks everything in his environment is constantly looking at him. He thinks the rocks and the windows are always looking and checking out each and every one of his actions. His fear of ending the family line leads him to disconnect with the reality, leading him to extreme madness.

Another form of disconnection is when the narrator of the story himself is reading a story to Roderick. While the narrator reads the story, hiding his own fear and madness, Roderick keeps staring at the door, fearing the return of his wife Madeline, talking to himself. If this is not proof of disconnection with reality and madness, I do not know what it is!

I hope my little introduction to the story helps you understand how important this theme is in most of Poe’s story, especially in The Fall of the House of Usher.

Rosalie 😊

Tag: madness

How Can Someone Become a Monster

A Disconnection From Reality