Freud's Contribution to Understanding the Gothic

In my previous blog posting I mentioned Frued's idea of the Uncanny and how it relates to the Gothic genre. After visiting the Frued museum in Vienna I developed a stronger understanding of not only this, but also the phenomenon of Hysteria. During the late 19th century this was a common diagnoses of upper class women; he described it as an internal conflict between a wish and its oppression. Some of the "symptoms" of hysteria were anxiety, depression and convulsions. I feel like many of these symptoms could describe some of the hardships that Gothic characters experience; I think it may be possible that hysteria and the madness that often shows up in Gothic novels could go hand in hand. While visiting the museum I also learned that it was primarily wealthier women who were diagnosed with hysteria, but they were not the only people to suffer from it. The less wealthy class also dealt with hysteria, however they could not afford to see a doctor to have a label put on their ailments. Instead they fulfilled their internal wish by reading Gothic literature; through these novels women could experience emotion and the scandalous actions that they may have been repressing.