Taylor Phillips ENGL 356 Dr.

Anne Morey October 28 2013 Welcome Home: Historic Narrative Tropes in the Paranoid Womans Film The Freudian Feminist Melodrama (FFM), also known as the paranoid womans film, is a genre that revolves around the tension between women and their role in a patriarchal world. As Andrew Britton describes, it [the FFM] is the work in which psychoanalysis, Charlotte Bront and the American Gothic are articulated with each other on the ground of the womans film (38). Charlotte Bronts Jane Eyre can be credited as a foundation for many FFM tropes, specifically that of the home and the heroines role within it; these tropes can be clearly seen in Fritz Langs 1947 FFM Secret Beyond the Door. Thornfield Hall establishes not only the location of Rochesters project of domination over Jane, but also sets the tradition for the house as locus of patriarchy that can be seen in the FFM, including Secret Beyond the Door. Thornfield is the embodiment of Rochesters masculine secret, the secret of his castration, where Jane is subjected to systematic, socially organized and socially legitimated disempowerment (Britton 40). This is immediately evident due to Janes position as a governess; she is socially and economically beneath Rochester, in limbo between servanthood and familial status. Given her position, and her belief that she is his plain, Quakerish governess, Rochester sees Jane as an object of fantasy that will allow him to reestablish his masculinity at Thornfield (Bront 220). Rochester attempts to hastily marry Jane in order to escape the inevitable impediment (Bertha) to the patriarchy; Rochester knows that if

Phillips 2 he can successfully marry Jane and have children, the patriarchal line can continue and castration can be rightfully given back to the woman of the house. Keeping with this tradition of the home as patriarchal stronghold, Marks mansion at Blaze Creek serves as the place of subjugation that Celia must endure in Secret Beyond the Door. Much like the Rochester wedding, Mark and Celias nuptial is hasty; their honeymoon is also cut short, moving Celias arrival at Blaze Creek much sooner than she had expected. Celia does not even get the chance to enter the mansion before she is burdened with the fact that Mark has a son. On top of this, Caroline immediately asks Celia when she will begin managing the house, making it obvious that it is Celias burden and not her own (Lang). Thus begins Marks project of domination upon Celia and her confinement to the Blaze Creek household. Mark has lost his masculinity like Rochester, except this loss is due to his former wifes refusal of patriarchal regulation. This is realized during the scene of his fantasized judgment, when Mark confesses, All my life I was dominated by women . . . I never lived a life of my own (Lang). The subjugation of Celia can be seen as a failed attempt for Mark to regain his masculinity; he forces Celia into a domestic prison, full of burdensome demands as the woman of the house, but is ultimately unable to regain it without her help. Within the house of the FFM lies a hidden, taboo location of a concentrated, repressed masculine dominance, first established in Berthas secret room at Thornfield. Once Bertha is discovered publicly, the reasons for Rochesters aversion to the house become known. Bertha is the cause of Rochesters castration due to her symbolic embodiment of female sexual energy which has refused patriarchal regulation . . . experienced by the husband as daemonic (Britton 40). Bertha can be seen as the completely unrestrained, natural woman that refuses to succumb to civilized man. As Jane describes, she groveled, seemingly on all fours; it snatched and

Phillips 3 growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered in clothing (Bront 250). Bertha is literally Rochesters daemon that haunts him and refuses to let him continue the patriarchy. Her insanity goes back three generations, and he knows that he cannot produce children with an untamed, wild woman. He has confined her into the hidden room, a place forbidden and reeking of shame and regret. Berthas room can also be interpreted as a place of Rochesters concentrated dominance; he has had to sacrifice his phallus and masculinity in order to contain his wild, carnal wife. Thus he avoids coming home to Thornfield at all costs, but cannot leave permanently because it is where his lost phallus lies. After its establishment in Jane Eyre, the tradition of concentrated masculinity carries onward in the FFM Secret Beyond the Door. The title of the film itself describes the location of Marks castration: secret door number seven, locked away and never to be entered. This is made clear after Celia asks what is in the seventh room, to which he replies, Itll never be shown to anyone, not even to you (Lang). The enigma of the seventh room pervades the entire film, leaving small hints at what lies inside until the narrative climax. It is after the scene where Celia appears to have been murdered that the truth about the room is revealed. He picks up Celias scarf, thinking about what he will say to the court when they question him over her death, when the camera quickly rotates to the right to an imaginary courtroom. It is here, as Mark interrogates himself, when he confesses the secret of the room: I blamed myself, thats why I built the room. She died because I didnt love her, and maybe, unconsciously, I wanted her to die (Lang). Given this confession, it becomes clear that the room is the place of Marks shame and castration due to the death of his first wife; he has locked his masculinity away and failed to continue the patriarchy, just like Rochester.

Phillips 4 The apparently neat resolution of Jane Eyre, the restoration of the couple and return of the phallus to Rochester, is a key narrative element that continues into the FFMs of the 1940s. One of the most surprising things about the novel is Janes return to Thornfield; she finds both the house and Rochester in complete ruin. It is essential that Thornfield and Bertha were destroyed because they were the key impediments to the couples restoration and Rochesters reestablishment of the patriarchy. Rochester is finally able to retrieve his phallus, the wild woman is conquered by nature itself (fire), and the couple is able to legally marry and continue the Rochester lineage. Despite this happy ending, Britton argues, it is fairly clear that at the end of these astonishing Gothic visions of the cost of male-dominated heterosexuality for women such closure cannot carry much conviction (40). Even though Jane is reunited with Rochester, she will never be able to forget everything she has endured, and will also have to take care of her husband for the rest of her life. While some may argue this as a position of female empowerment, it can also be seen that taking care of Rochester can also become a burden that Jane may regret. The typical Hollywood ending of Secret Beyond the Door surprisingly coincides with that of Jane Eyre, marking the restoration of the couple as well as the return of the phallus to its rightful owner. Just like Thornfield Hall, the mansion at Blaze Creek must also go up in a blaze. The scene of the mansion on fire is crucial because the restoration of the phallus to Mark can be actually viewed. Even though Celia has snapped Mark out of his murderous psychosis, it is not until the mansion is on fire that he finally receives his masculinity. Mark crawls out of the burning building, finally free from the castration that has plagued him since his first wifes death. He pulls himself up, and with renewed masculine vigor, plunges back into the mansion to save Celia. This melodramatic, typical Hollywood ending serves two purposes: it establishes the

Phillips 5 return of the phallus, and restores the heterosexual couple. But, like Britton mentioned above, everything is not all right for the heroine, even in Hollywood. This can be interpreted in the final scene of the film, when Mark confesses to Celia, That night, you killed the root of the evil in me, but I still have a long way to go (Lang). This statement appears to be endearing, but given the fact that Celia was almost murdered, the phrase could possibly mean danger and burden in her future. The restoration of the couple and rightful return of the phallus lead to the conclusion that in the FFM the husband is triumphant, but the wife must deal with the burden of the reestablished patriarchy. The paranoid womans film genre owes a large part of its narrative tropes to Jane Eyre, especially that of the relationship between the heroine and the home. While the perpetuations of these tropes into modern day are historically interesting, they also appear to question the progression of womens role in society over the course of time. The domination of the patriarchy and phallus lead to many struggles and dangers for women, and even a Hollywood happy ending may not end up ideal for the heroine of the FFM.

Phillips 6 Works Cited Britton, Andrew. "A New Servitude: Betty Davis, Now, Voyager and the Radicalism of the Woman's Film." Cineaction!. 26/27. (1992): 32-59. Print. Bront, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Norton Critical Edition. W W Norton & Co Inc, 2001. Print. Lang, Fritz, dir. Secret Beyond the Door. Diana Production Company, 1947. Film.