Autumn Johnson

Final Exam: The opposite of madness is law and order.

A madman lives by his own laws. Don Quixote professes the order of chivalry as per his
adventure novels. When he and Sancho Panza meet a chain of galley slaves condemned to the
kings service, Don Quixote aims to see if their sentences are just. Even though Sancho ensures
him of the magnanimity of the king and the mounted guards say the issue does not concern him,
Don Quixote individually questions each of the prisoners. He declares, It is harsh to make
slaves of those whom God and nature mad free and so he lets them go (170). The principles of
the Holy Brotherhood are not in accordance with those of knight errantry and in this way, Don
Quixotes madness conflicts the laws of the established authority. Furthermore, Don Quixote
does not compensate an innkeeper because he believes that it contravene[s] the order of knights
errant to pay for lodging (121). The innkeeper tells Don Quixote, Leave off your stories and
chivalries; I dont care about anything but earning my living (121). Don Quixotewho
constantly fasts and performs vigilscannot relate. Madmen have no sight for the mundane;
they have a set of ideals that are separate from those of the real world.
A sane person adheres to humanitys expectations. Don Quixotes fall from madness is
catalyzed by his duel with the Knight of the White Moon who demands that Don Quixote return
to his home for a year. When Sancho proposes continuing their adventures, Don Quixote
responds, When I was a knight errant, daring and brave, my acts and my hands brought credit to
my deeds, and now, when I am an ordinary gentleman, I shall bring credit to my words by
keeping the promise I made (894). Don Quixote recognizes the pact he made with a fellow man
and does not try to blame the incident on enchantment as Sancho does. No longer under the order
of knight errantry, he begins living by the rules of ordinary people. Furthermore, on his
deathbed, Don Quixote declares that his judgment is restored and that the dark shadows of

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ignorance imposed on it by [his] constant reading of detestable books of chivalry are gone
(935). Don Quixote also remembers certain accounts and debts and payments that he incurred
over the course of his travels, and he demands that these are paid and Sancho be compensated
with any remaining monies (937). His return to reason comes with an acknowledgement of the
laws of reimbursement. In an attempt to stave off Don Quixotes death, Sancho urges him back
into madness by saying, Lets go to the country side dressed as shepherds, just like we
arranged (937). Sancho wants him to return to naturewhere madmen like Cardenio reside
because societys influence is making Don Quixote recognize his own human fallibility. Only the
laws of the madmen exist in nature.
Nature is disorderly. When Bertha Eckbert runs away from home, she enters the forest
and wind[s] among rocks in a maze of crags and precipices (394). Her demeanor mirrors the
landscape as her thoughts are confused; she scarcely wish[s] to live, and yet [she] fear[s] to die
(395). She also feels lonely and continues to do so even at the old womans cabin. She
establishes no meaningful friendships there: the woman is consistently gone, the dog loves her
only insomuch that it does all she wants, and the bird merely responds to her questions with his
rhyme. The disorder of the wilderness prevents the formation of an order of relationshipsa fact
that compels Bertha to leave the forest in search of a fair knight. However, the outside world is
not so wonderful, and Bertha strangles the bird when it sings to her, Twere best to
stay/Alone in the world so gay (399). Bertha belongs in the wilderness because the people in the
town make her paranoid. Her husband Walther experiences similar feelings that eventually drive
him into forest were he finds himself entangled in a labyrinth of rocks, and there he dies in the
hollow confusion of nature (401-2). The wilderness lacks a social order and so it attracts
madmen.

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Nature is mysterious. Dickinson questions its origin: who laid the Rainbows piers,/Also
who leads the docile spheres/By withes of supple blue (128). Nature is not part of Gods
creation and religious order, but separate and wild. She asks, How many cups the Bee partakes
and declares, Bring me the sunset in a cup,/Reckon the mornings flagons up (128). The
drunken ecstasy also translates to madness. Dickinson describes the seam that could not be
shewn of the sun that is prone to the cleaving in [her] mind that she tries to match Seam by
Seam (1676, 937). Nature exercises it authority over humans. Dickenson says the Red upon
the Hill taketh away [her] will and the Murmur of a Bee is a Witchcraft [that] yieldeth her
(155). Foucault also identifies the animals power over humans in that animality reveals the
dark rage, the sterile madness that lie in mens hearts (21). Humans are subject to the will of
nature, but they can find solace in religion. Dickenson urges people to take care for God is
here (155). Religion is separate from nature and out of its realm of influence. It is a haven from
madness.
Religion is orderly. Dilsey acts as a stabilizing force in the Compton household. On
Easter Sunday, she wakes up, starts a fire, and dresses Benji. When Mrs. Compton reluctantly
offers to make breakfast, Dilsey says, En who gwine eat yo messin? (271) She implies that
Mrs. Compton would only make a mess of the meal. Furthermore, her presence calms Benji who
sits loosely, utterly motionless save for his head, which made a continual bobbing sort of
movement as he watche[s] Dilsey with his sweet vague gaze as she move[s] about (275). Dilsey
is governed by a set of religious principles that allow her to combat the chaotic nature of the
Comptons. She takes the family to a service at her local black church where she says, I seed de
beginning, en now I sees de endin (297). She has witnessed the degradation of the family from a
removed perspective in that she sees the past, present and future. Dilsey has a sense for eternity

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and is not preoccupied with a particular portion of time. The other brothers do not have such
vision: Quentin is preoccupied with his familys past, Benji is only capable of understanding the
present, Jason is obsessed with ensuring personal gain in his future. Madness stems from an
incomplete perception of time.
An awareness of time can lead to physical symptoms of madness. Sigmund Freud
concludes that Doras illness was a demonstration of her love for Herr K. since the bouts
would last roughly three to six weeksthe same length of time Herr K. would be absent (32). He
argues that Doras unconscious also is revealed through her dreams in that every dream is a
wish which is represented as fulfilled and the representation acts as a disguise if the wish is a
repressed one (59). Doras first dream is an act of repression: she locks her door even though
she is sexually attracted to Herr K. Dora has no influence over what she dreams and neither does
she have influence over her symptoms. Hysteria cannot be controlled because it is not in the
realm of awareness. Madness has no conscious order and exists outside of human law.