Gaslighting and Mental Cruelty in Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Grey Woman'

According to Cynthia A. Stark, '[T]he aim of gaslighting is to get another to see her own plausible perceptions, beliefs or memories as groundless'. Kate Abramson, in her analysis of the morality of gaslighting, suggests that the need to gaslight is linked to the narcissism of the perpetra...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Gaskell journal 2023-01, Vol.37, p.23-IX
Main Author: Gentle, Kathleen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Behavior
Bronte, Anne (1820-1849)
Collins, Wilkie (1824-1889)
Culture
Divorce
Emotional abuse
Marriage
Personal relationships
Testimony
Women
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:According to Cynthia A. Stark, '[T]he aim of gaslighting is to get another to see her own plausible perceptions, beliefs or memories as groundless'. Kate Abramson, in her analysis of the morality of gaslighting, suggests that the need to gaslight is linked to the narcissism of the perpetrator: that the victim must see things the same way as him, due to an 'inability to tolerate even the possibility of challenge'.3 These understandings inform my analysis of Gaskell's 'The Grey Woman which centres on victims of mental cruelty and depicts a wife's internalised belief that her husband deserves her obedience as itself a form of cruelty. [...]I argue that Tourelle's courtship of Anna is a gradual gaslighting leading to their unequal and abusive marriage. The Genre of 'The Grey Woman' and the Law 'The Grey Woman was published in 1861 and is set in both the 1840s and 1789; it narrates the experience of Anna Scherer's abusive marriage to Monsieur La Tourelle, a French nobleman, in Germany, her discovery of his criminal activities and then her subsequent escape with a trusted maid.
ISSN:2041-8582