Hysteria repeating itself: Elizabeth Gaskell's Lois the witch

Abstract

This article discusses Lois the witch, (Elizabeth Gaskell's fictional representation of the Salem witch trials) which was first published serially in Dickens's All The Year Round in 1859. This serialisation led to numerous conservative accounts in the periodical press of the role of the hysterical woman throughout history. In Lois, however, with its representation of mass hysteria, Gaskell refutes the widespread Victorian belief that hysteria is 'natural' for women - a symptom of their vulnerable bodies and minds.