“Trilby” by George du Maurier (post 5): Trilby fulfills criteria for multiple personality—two or more personalities + amnesia—but it is unacknowledged

At the end of the novel, Svengali dies of a heart attack. Trilby reverts to being tone deaf, is unable to sing, and has amnesia for her life as a singer. Svengali’s violinist, who helped Svengali train Trilby to sing, explains:

“I will tell you a secret. There were two Trilbys. There was the Trilby you knew, who could not sing one single note in tune…Well, that was Trilby, your Trilby! that was my Trilby too…

“But…with one look of his eye — with a word — Svengali could turn her into the other Trilby, his Trilby…who could produce wonderful sounds…Well, that was the Trilby he taught how to sing…when Svengali’s Trilby was being taught to sing…when Svengali’s Trilby was singing…our Trilby was fast asleep” (1, pp. 350-353).

Since it is revealed that there were at least two Trilby personalities plus amnesia, the character explicitly fulfills the official psychiatric diagnostic criteria for multiple personality. But since neither the narrator nor any character recognizes it as multiple personality, per se—does not call it what it is—this novel is an example of unacknowledged multiple personality.

And since the novel does not explicitly acknowledge multiple personality, per se, most book reviewers, literary critics, and biographers have not discussed it.

Moreover, the basic plot—Svengali hypnotizes a young woman to become a singer—does not require the woman to have multiple personality. Svengali did not need Trilby to have multiple personality. It was George du Maurier who needed it. Multiple personality was the author’s issue.

1. George du Maurier. Trilby. London, Everyman, 1994.