George III Loses America and His Mind

Hope your 4th was a great one! I enjoyed the awesome fireworks we watched last evening and am very grateful to live in the USA. However, I'm also a fan of Great Britain and its history.



I work in the mental health field and I'm  fascinated and frequently appalled by the treatment of those who suffered from mental disorders throughout history. Whether or not you are familiar with what happened to King George III you might find this post interesting.



The Madness of King George
Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren star in this incredible movie that released in 1994.



Some of my favorite lines from the movie. You can find more at the Internet Movie Data Base

George III: Six hours of sleep is enough for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.

[Pitt has given the King some papers to sign]
George III: What is this? America, I suppose.
Pitt: No, sir.
George III: Oh, America's not to be spoken of, is that it?
Pitt: For your peace of mind, sir. But it's not America.
George III: Peace of mind! I have no peace of mind. I've had no peace of mind since we lost America. Forests, old as the world itself... meadows... plains... strange delicate flowers... immense solitudes... and all nature new to art... all ours... Mine. Gone. A paradise... lost.

I found this next scene between the King and his doctor very sad and unfortunately accurate for the day.

Dr. Willis: If the King refuses food, He will be restrained. If He claims to have no appetite, He will be restrained. If He swears and indulges in MEANINGLESS DISCOURSE... He will be restrained. If He throws off his bed-clothes, tears away His bandages, scratches at His sores, and if He does not strive EVERY day and ALWAYS towards His OWN RECOVERY... then He must be restrained.

George III: I am the King of England.
Dr. Willis: NO, sir. You are the PATIENT.

How sad to think that King George may have actually been suffering the effects of arsenic poisoning. Read this: King George III: Mad or Misunderstood? and this: Porphyria or Arsenic?

Whether you are a reader or writer have you ever stumbled across something in history that just grabbed you by the throat and wouldn't let go? Your own magnificent obsession so to speak? That' me and the Regency era. What's your favorite time period in history? What country?

Madness and Creativity

One of my very favorite blogs is the Bethlem Blog. The Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum is a place I could get lost in all day long.

http://bethlemheritage.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/art-in-madness-new-book-on-nineteenth-century-collections/

Bethlem had a Criminal Lunatics Department. You'll be fascinated with stories about patients like, Richard Dadd and Henry Hudson. You can learn even more about Art and Madness if reading Maureen Park's book of the same title. http://www.jscampus.co.uk/shop/product_display.asp?productid=9781899316694&branchid=0 "Art in Madness looks at the contribution of Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805-1885) to the development of psychiatry in 19th century Scotland."

Bethlem Arts
http://www.bethlemgallery.com/art.htm

Art has provided a creative outlet for patients through the centuries. Today art continues to do the same in psychiatric hospitals all over the world.

What do you think the connection is between the world of art and mental illness? Next week I think I'll look at writers and mental illness but for this blog post I'm going to stick to the artists like Van Gogh.

And then there is the famous painting by Edvard Munch: The Scream. Ever felt like this? I think there is a strong connection to artits trying to make sense of their own personal worlds and coming to grips with their own personal demons in many circumstances. Art may calm or cleanse the artist in the same way that those of us who journal get our thoughts down on paper. Maybe it's a form of better out than in. What's your thoughts on this?
                                                  

Van Gogh Painting

About four years before Blakelock's death, Harrison Smith, then a young reporter with the New York Tribune, was informed of Blakelock's whereabouts and went to see Blakelock in the asylum. He found him largely lucid, although under the delusion that an imagined "diamond of the Emperor of Brazil" had been stolen from him.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Albert_Blakelock                    

Beyond Madness

The Art of Ralph Blakelock, 1847-1919

Norman A. Geske

Foreword by Peter H. Hassrick