Daniel Deronda (book 1) by George Eliot (post 3): Gwendolen is introduced as a young woman with a split personality, probably caused by childhood trauma.

Epigraph

“Let thy chief terror be of thine own soul:

There, ‘mid the throng of hurrying desires

That trample on the dead to seize their spoil,

Lurks vengeance…irresistible…”

The above epigraph precedes the title page of Book 1, “The Spoiled Child,” which is about Gwendolen Harleth. The word in common between the epigraph and title of Book 1 is “spoil.” Thus, it is implied that the way in which Gwendolen, now a young woman, had been “spoiled” as a child, has left something (or someone) within her that (or who) seeks vengeance.

First Paragraph: Duality

“Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance? Was the good or the evil genius dominant in those beams? Probably the evil…” (1, p. 7).

Since people of George Eliot’s time believed in physiognomy—that facial features reflect a person’s true character—the first sentence means that Gwendolen had duality of character. As the next sentence elaborates, she had both a good character and an evil character, and they fought with each other for dominance.

Two Selves Contradict Each Other

Persons with only one personality may have ambivalent or mixed opinions, but persons with multiple personality may have contradictory opinions. Here is an example of Gwendolen’s contradictory opinions about marriage:

“I never saw a married woman who had her own way” (1, p. 69).

“Mamma, I see now why girls are glad to be married—to escape being expected to please everybody but themselves” (1, p. 97).

One personality sees marriage as slavery; the other personality sees marriage as freedom. A person who had only one personality might say that marriage is a mixture of slavery and freedom.

Childhood Trauma

What caused Gwendolyn to have a split personality? Why was it that “those who feared her were also fond of her, the fear and the fondness being perhaps both heightened by…the play of…contrary tendencies” (1, pp. 41-42). How was she “spoiled” (traumatized) into having these contradictory tendencies?

“Gwendolen, immediately thinking of the unlovable step-father whom she had been acquainted with the greater part of her life while her frocks were short, said—‘Why did you marry again, mamma? It would have been nicer if you had not?’ ” (1, p. 24).

“Oh mamma, what can become of my life? there is nothing worth living for! I shall never love anybody. I can’t love people. I hate them. I can’t bear any one to be very near me but you” (1, p. 82).

Multiple Personality’s Memory Gaps

“…a piercing cry from Gwendolen, who stood…with a change of expression that was terrifying in its terror. She looked like a statue into which a soul of Fear had entered: her pallid lips were parted; her eyes…were dilated and fixed…her signs of terror…(1, p. 61).

The reader is not told what goes through Gwendolen’s mind during such episodes. Why not? Gwendolen apparently cannot remember what she thinks during such episodes: she has amnesia for it—memory gaps—a feature of multiple personality. These episodes may be brief periods of time in which a terrified child-aged alternate personality has come out.

In short, Book 1 of this novel introduces Gwendolen as a person with a split personality, which is probably a result of childhood trauma.

1. George Eliot. Daniel Deronda. London, Penguin Books, 1876/2003.