Grace Marks's 'Insanity In Alias Grace'

In the story of Alias Grace, the plot is left up to the reader to interpret. Each character holds some sort of mystery, especially Grace Marks. She was convicted of a double-murder, and no one knew if she committed the crime, committed it out of insanity, or didn’t commit the crime at all. Grace Marks’s entire story revolves around her imminent insanity. The question of insanity and madness plays a vital role in the novel. If it weren’t for madness, there would be no story at all. Grace Marks is a likeable character with a violent past, and it is believed to be that this was due to mental illness. Several things led the reader, and others around her in history to believe that she was, in fact, insane. Some reasons included dreams she had, violent

behavior, and her personal revelations within the story.
Grace Marks had exhibited multiple behaviors that led others to believe that she was insane. For example, Grace shrieked and fought as soon as a doctor was in her presence. She was terrified of him, and refused to see him. She claimed that she didn’t trust him not to cut her up with his knives (surgical tools). Her sanity was questioned here, because her behavior mimicked that of many patients in the lunatic asylum. Grace’s insanity is also questionable to the reader due to the violent and graphic dreams she had. For example, she dreams of her mother’s dead body floating off to sea multiple times, and of Mary Whitney coming back to life (after being dead for some time). Additionally she had a recurring dream that Nancy, the woman she was convicted of murdering, is heavily bleeding and wearing her kerchief. “Then up ahead I see Nancy, on her knees, with her hair fallen over and the blood running down into her eyes. Around her neck is a white cotton kerchief printed with blue flowers, love-in-a-mist, it’s mine” (Atwood 6). This scene is crucial to the story’s madness because it shows that although Grace claims to not fully remember the incident, she dreams of what Nancy actually looked like when murdered, with Grace’s kerchief and all.
The most prominent event involving madness in the novel is a scene where Dr.

DuPont, previously known as Jeremiah the peddler, hypnotized Grace to finally learn the truth about Grace’s murder case. After she was put to “sleep,” she was asked a series of questions about facts relevant to the murder. After being asked if she murdered Nancy Montgomery, a different spirit took over her body. This spirit was said to be Mary Whitney, who was the one who actually wanted to murder Nancy. “The voice is gleeful. ‘Stop talking rubbish,’ she says. ‘You’ve deceived yourselves! I am not Grace! Grace knew nothing about it!’” (Atwood 401). This scene does not only allow question for Grace’s own madness, but for the madness of the events in the story themselves as a whole. Other characters are involved, and Grace’s madness may not have involved Grace at all. Although this story was very believable, hypnotism was not heavily trusted during that time period. This led many to think that it was not Mary Whitney who possessed Grace, but Grace’s insanity shining through in that

moment.
Although the madness in this novel is very prominent and apparent, there is some means of justification.

For example, Grace’s fear of doctors could be justified due to Mary’s Whitney’s death. Grace could have had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from the moment when a doctor cut up Mary Whitney during an abortion. This doctor and his tools caused the painful, bloody death of Grace’s best friend, and her fear of doctors is fairly reasonable due to this. Additionally, repressing one’s memory is a psychological term in which an individual subconsciously forces himself or herself to forget a traumatic even in his or her life. This could be the reason as to why Grace has forgotten the murders, and whether she has committed them at all. Justification of Grace’s “possession” by Mary Whitney could be a medical condition Grace has. Dr. Simon believed her to have a seizure disorder, which did not allow her to remember these events. “…Dr. Jordan gave it as his opinion that Grace Marks’ loss of memory was genuine, not feigned- that on the fatal day she was suffering from the effects of a hysterical seizure brought on by fright, which resulted in a form of auto-hypnotic somnambulism… this fact explains her subsequent amnesia” (Atwood 432). These events explain Grace’s madness, and how it is reasonable given the situations she was

in.
Alias Grace tells the story of a girl accused of murder. Readers and people of that time may have asked, “Was she insane, and was it her insanity that brought on her murderous actions?” The answer to this, and Grace’s case, although likely to be due to madness, will never truly be known. The entire novel focuses on Grace’s story and whether or not her actions were derived of mental illness. Events show that she probably was mad, and without these events, Grace’s case would have immediately been solved, and she would have been put to death. Overall, the motif of madness plays an enormous role in the novel as a whole.