Rise of Madness and Identity Crises in 'Wieland or the Transformation': A Close Reading Océane Parreau College

From p. 210, line 25, “Man of errors!” to p. 212, line 20, “they must continue to hover in my sight.

”I am reliably unreliable.”― Steven Magee

The eighteenth century was a period where reason and rationalism were privileged over fanaticism and religious beliefs. A duality between the two implemented and everything outside this binary frame was out of the discussion. Charles Brockden Brown, a US American novelist, refused to pick a side and proved instead that they are inherently tied. His novel Wieland, Or the transformation, published in 1798, combines reason and supernatural elements to question or sense our beliefs and faith. In the extract, the characters are confronted with a disturbing epiphany that plants even more seeds of doubt into their and our minds. Considering this, How does this outcome shatter every reader’s suspicion, leading him to reassess everything he thought he knew and leaving him as confused as the characters of the story? Firstly, we are going to focus on the loss of the landmark between rationality and spirituality. Then, we will witness the rise of madness and identity crises in the character’s hearts. Finally, we will analyze how this extract makes the reader re-evaluates all the previous theories...