Insanity : The Result Of Social Norm

Throughout the course of history, society has tried to explain and diagnose the abnormal behavior of individuals with mental illnesses. Originally, folklore and other concepts dating back to ancient times, influenced societies to define and label those individuals that expressed abnormal patterns of behavior as mad, insane and mentally ill (Henderson, 2009). Treatment and legal proceedings for such individuals often incorporated cruel and unusual punishments and in some cases even death. Over time, societal views on the available treatments and legal proceedings for the mentally ill have changed drastically. Legal defense for those with mental illnesses, known as the insanity defense became available as far back as King Henry III’s reign over England (Ahia, 2009). The insanity defense is often used interchangeably with: the insanity plea as well as the phrase “not guilty” by reason of insanity. The accepted use of the insanity plea by the defendant, an individual whom is accused of a crime, is determined by the mental health evaluations of the court’s legal standards and or by mental health professionals. The issue of mental illness and the insanity defense becomes controversial when those with mental illnesses commit heinous crimes and use the “not guilty” by reason of insanity defense. The public fears that the individuals are using a questionable and concerning defense to be pardoned for committing violent crimes and that those individuals who are found not guilty and

communicates two interpretations concerning Both poems describe the behavior of people who are in loving, romantic relationships. There are several aspects common in both poems. Using the literary technique of dramatic dialogue, the author reveals the plot and central idea of each poem. Robert Browning tells each poetic story through a single speaker. Both poems reveal an account in which the admirer kills the object of his love. This paper will compare and contrast the following characteristics: the setting, the speaker, the mood and tone, and theme found "My

Holden Caulfield is an insane person in a sane world. What is insanity? Insanity is when you’re in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior or social interaction. This state is mental illness. Insanity is when you do things in deranged or outrageous ways that could frighten people, or make people feel uncomfortable when around you. It’s when you do things out of the ordinary; yet feel as if they are ordinary. Insanity could come about when you’re depressed, or after a traumatic event, and sometimes even by keeping all your feelings bottled up inside of yourself. Sane people are sensible, reliable, well-adjusted and practice sound judgment. It’s behavior that is expected in a society. By these

Robert Browning uses descriptive details to portray a theme of how darkness rises from warmth and happiness by showing us on how a man’s love for someone makes him turn to savagery. The narrator of the poem has very deep feelings for his lover, but he only thinks of himself and he never wants the girl to leave his side so he does the unthinkable. In the times that the girl was not home or was not with the narrator then there was coldness and darkness, but when she was with the man then the house would “blaze up, and all the cottage warm”. She created hope and the narrator needed that constantly, so he realized that his love was too strong to put on hold everyday when she would leave. The fact that the narrator had to watch his lover leave everyday

Former U.S president Ronald Reagan was shot by a man named John Hinckley in the year 1981. The president along with many of his entourage survived the shooting despite the heavy infliction of internal and external injuries. The Hinckley case is a classic example of the 'not guilty by reason of insanity' case (NGRI). The criminal justice system under which all men and women are tried holds a concept called mens rea, a Latin phrase that means "state of mind". According to this concept, Hinckley committed his crime oblivious of the wrongfulness of his action. A mentally challenged person, including one with mental retardation, who cannot distinguish between right and wrong is protected and exempted by the court

Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” is a perfect representation of the status of women during the Victorian Era; women were treated as objects not people. They were property of men, not individuals. In this poem, the speaker, Porphyria’s lover, murders Porphyria and does not only think it was okay to do so, but he also thinks what he has done is noble. In the lines shown above, the speaker begins to realize that Porphyria loves him. Not only does she love him, but she “worships” him. This further pushes the idea that, because he is a man and she a women, he is so superior to her that he is a god. It is not actually her love that he wants, it is the power that he gets from earning her love and making her his subject. His heart does not swell because of the joy in discovering that she loves him; it swells because of this sense of pride he now feels. In the next line, he debates what to do to preserve her “love” forever. In line 36, the speaker comments on how, in that moment, Porphyria was pure and innocent, as Victorian women should be, and suddenly thinks of how to keep her that way. The speaker wants to hold on to the image of her like this forever; so he decides to kill her. The narrator then strangles Porphyria. When describing the act of strangling her, the narrator describes her throat as “little.” Here he is once again showing his dominance over her. However, the most important thing is that he uses her hair, of all things, to strangle her. At the time, hair was a

The early nineteenth century poem by Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover”, is filled with examples of figurative language. Browning uses metaphors, similes, and personification to bring the poem to life. The use of figurative language allows Browning to raise from the dead a poem with the unemotional tonee of the speaker. He exposes the mind of a psychopath, an insane lover, mastering the art of the dramatic monologue.

The mind is what drives every living creature. The brian tells us everything we need to know in order to survive as a species. It is the most crucial aspect of what we are. Humans have the most complex and intelligent brain out of the entire animal kingdom. The individual spirit of a human is determined by chemicals in the brain and the interaction between them and their surroundings. So what happens when our brain does not function correctly? What happens to the person with the ailments and what happens to those around them as a result of it? In both books at least one character demonstrates insanity. While the books do not specifically state that other characters have mental instability, there are many reasons to believe that some do.

History is thought to be the past, but the past influences the present in many ways. Insane, lunatic, mentally deranged, madness, madman, crazy, mentally disturbed, troubled, these were just a few terms used to label those with mental illness and these labels are at times still used in society today. Although the shift of viewing insanity as a diagnosable condition did not reduce the use of such terms in 19th Century England, there was a historical event that changed the way those who suffered from mental illness were seen. This historical event came in 1845 with the enactment of the Lunatics Act and the County Asylums Act which were dependent on each other. Now, in order to comprehend what these Acts did it is important to first understand

Insanity could be considered the worst human trait. As for Hamlet, insanity doesn’t even begin to describe his character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This embarrassing trait forces Hamlet to disguise his madness with actual madness. Hamlet can be analyzed as character gone mad. He endures the difficulties with the death and reappearance of his father, the remarriage of his mother, and the murders of Claudius and Laertes. The reappearance of King Hamlet is the first glimpse of Hamlet’s madness; he doesn’t begin the play being mad but rather a transition and progression throughout the play. Hamlet doesn’t try to mask his madness but rather use it as a weapon to his enemies (Erlich 87).

The narrator of the poem is in love with Porphyria. He soon learns that love taken to the extreme is not much love at all. “I listened with heart fit to break” He was so attached to her that any emotion she shows greatly affects him. “To set its struggling passion free, From pride , and vainer ties dissever.” This is the beginning of his consciousness disconnection her from being a person to her being a construct of his obsession. She became just a figment that he could control. Nevertheless, turning from love into and overwhelming insanity. “And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.” He thinks she felt no pain because he does not associate her with a living being anymore. Furthermore, she is just a side effect of a twisted individual's mind consumed by his extreme love for her.  The extreme change in his mood shows his love changing from a feeling to an

The love that Porphyria has for the Speaker is seen to be invalid due to the significant difference of social classes between the two. As the poem progresses, the Speaker’s frustration grows more and his patience more weak as he realizes the issue he is having with Porphyria is Porphyria herself and that there is only one way for him to solve his issue: murder. The speaker goes on to say, “she, Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, To set its struggling passion free From pride” (Browning 20-24). The Speaker does not consider the presence of Porphyria to be a sin, but her issue with letting aside her noble pride to be with whom she truly loves, the actual sin.

Porphyria's Lover also demonstrates several of Robert Browning's defining characteristics as a poet. It contains his criticism towards the beliefs and practices of self-restraint and his traditional use of dramatic monologue to expose a single character's personality, which in turn often provides an additional depth to his works in coordination with his use of unpoetic language. Also taking into account the author's own personal experiences with his wife, the poem can also be perceived as a representation of the development of their relationship. Browning's criticism of the idea of self-restraint is evident throughout the poem "Porphyria's Lover" as it was shown in the internal debates both characters underwent as they decided whether or not they should consummate the love between them.

Initially, Browning uses Pathetic Fallacy to convey her Lover is not only upset but also missing her by witnessing the “rain” and “sullen wind”. Porphyria’s presence changes this as she is presented as a very positive figure as she “glided in” and “shut the cold out” which is symbolic for her acting as warmth by completely changing his negative outlook on life and making a positive impact on his attitude. From the start, it is assumed that Porphyria is a huge part of his Lover’s life as he seems to be almost obsessed with her, “I listened with heart fix to

Madness is presented in various ways throughout the three texts. The thin barrier between sanity and insanity and what lies on each side is thoroughly explored in Keats, Bronte and Carter, as the theme of madness is archetypal of Gothic literature. One aspect of madness mentioned is the idea of love leading to lunacy. In ‘Isabella’, written by Keats, the protagonist is described to have gone mad with depression once she finds out that her lover is dead, and it’s stated that ‘she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun, and she forgot the blue above the trees.’ This suggests that despite the beauty of nature that surrounds her, she’s too enveloped in pain to appreciate it. Instead, Isabella ‘hung over her sweet Basil evermore, and moisten’d it with tears unto the core.’ John Barnard stated that ‘Isabella is an empathic portrayal of madness and the extremities of love,’ and this is proven through Keats’ depiction of Isabella’s reaction to the death of Lorenzo. For example, she is written to cry an infinite amount of tears: ‘sweet basil, which her tears kept ever wet.’ However, others have found the poem to be considered melodramatic compared to Keats’ other work, and it has been said that he was embarrassed by the publishing of it.