Market Efficiency Hypothesis Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2215 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: Concept Essay Did you like this example? The notion of efficient market can be traced back to Bachelier(1900) in his dissertation. According to his research, the expected return for each investor can be seen as an independent event, and the samples are close to normal distribution. That means, therefore, the expected return for the security is zero and the stock prices are unpredictable. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Market Efficiency Hypothesis Example For Free" essay for you Create order As he stated, past, present and even discounted future events are reflected in market price, but often show no apparent relation to price changes The newly rising concept challenged the former economic theory which focus on estimating the future security prices, but unfortunately, his contribution was not valued until the later scholars had came up empirical evidence and developed to random walk theory, which is seen as the origin of market efficiency. With further understanding of random walk model, in which assuming the stock price is not predictable, Samuelson(1965) then carried out resembling researches in stock markets. He found that if there was a technical indicator implying that the stock price would rise, it would have already been raised by the coming investors. (cited in )Thus, the increased price led the indicator disappear and the stock price reset to the random position. Arguments like this are used to deduce that competitive prices must display price changesÃÆ' ¢ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦that perform a random walk with no predictable bias. Basing on previous approaches, Fama(1969) concluded those literatures reviews and produced market efficiency hypothesis with relevant evidence. In his paper, he defined market efficiency hypothesis, in the meaning that the stock prices have fully reflected the related information in capital market. Therefore, it is unreasonable to earn abnormal profits by using the public news. In other words, those excess returns gained by speculators are merely occasional chances and may disappear through frequent operation.(Fama 1991) 2.2 The Problem of Hypothesis Assumptions Although it is important to establish a theory upon controlled assumptions, the background of those has also to be suspected if it is alive in reality. As Fama(1969) stated, the market hypothesis have to build up on four assumptions, which will be described as below. Nevertheless, a volume of researchers have proposed opposition to challenge the theory. The major criticism will then be presented. To begin with the first assumption, the hypothesis assumes there is no transaction cost, taxation, and other expense in capital market. Ruling out the cost, the stock prices are close to random walk theory and there are no opportunities to make profits because of the unpredictability. However, it is impossible to exist such pure economic surroundings as Fama(1969) state. Thus, The hypothesis have face the challenges of whether it is applicable in financial markets. The continuous point of control variable has been stated that the relevant information is spread to every investor at th e same time for free, so all of them have the same expectations for the security return. Those are other challenges in which not only how can the information be delivered to everyone simultaneously, but the different levels of risk taking for various revenue expectations. Although the development of technology has help reduced asymmetric information, there are difficulties to say the resource is fully shared and even without considering the delivery cost. Besides, the limitation of investors rationalities has to be discussed. Criticisms argue that the evidence here to support the points is too powerless. Moreover, the method supposes that people are all rational to share the same thoughts and regard the maximum return as major aims. Through analyzing, evaluating, and operating the assets, they participate on the market frequently and actively. However, in the hypothesis, the various considerations of investors are ignored. As the financial market is tend to be more complex recent ly, it is impossible to say profit is the major factor to affect decision makers. For instance, financial managers may use stocks to hedge risk and does not pursue the profitable return. Consequently, oppositions propose it is seem to be sustainable in favor of the hypothesis under this position. Last but not least, as Fama(1969) presumed, individual transactions would not affect the security prices and participators are price takers. That means investors are independent enough not to be influenced by others. However, Criticisms may say the supply of security quantities is limited, and if the stock exchanges have no impact on the prices, how can stock market be adjusted. This point is considered as a contrary side of the principle of stock exchange operation. Types of Market efficiency In section 2, the stock prices are defined to react to all relevant information. Actually, different information may influence the share prices at different speeds. The common categories are sorted information into historical price information, publicly available information, and all information which includes public and private resources. ( Hillier et al,2010) The three types of efficiency will be described and discussed in the next sections. In Engle and Morris(1991) studies, the price reaction is believed to be an indicator of future dividend market value , which comes from the profitability of companies. Thus, it can be said that the price changes reflect the company performance. For example, if there is a new technology patent received, investors may suppose the possibility of profitable income in the future and then buy in the securities. That implies the increasing strike amounts grow the stock price up. 2.3.1 Weak Form Market Efficiency In the weak form of market efficiency, the current security prices are asserted to fully contain the historical price changes. That means, therefore, that investors cannot get any help from past stock trend when choosing securities. Under the weak market efficiency, technical analysis cannot assist investors to find those stocks which are underestimated or overestimated in order to earn excess returns. Several research have conclude that most economic environment in the world belong to this type. 2.3.2 Semi-Strong Form Market Efficiency A market is defined as semi-strong form efficiency if current security prices have incorporated all publicly available information. In the semi- strong market efficiency, fundamental analysis cannot suggest investors any advance decisions. That is, investors are unable to gain excess returns even analyzing the published accounting statements and historical price information thoroughly, since the stock prices adjust to new information immediately. 2.3.3 Strong Form Market Efficiency A market is defined as strong form efficiency if current security price have reflected all kinds of information, including public and private. Once, new information appears the stock prices will modify to appropriate level rapidly. Thus, any investors, even insiders, cannot predict market performance. Empirical Test for Various Types of Efficiency To support the hypothesis, the evidence for Market efficiency hypothesis is also brought up. Because of the comprehensive ways of examining the method, just the major tests are explained below. With various intensities of efficiency, there are the empirical measurements here: Test for Weak Form Efficiency The weak form efficiency contains the notion that investors cannot earn any abnormal return from past price information, which have highly relationship with random walk theory. Fama(1965) suggested further evidence that security prices follow the random walk model. The test for weak efficiency has been developed extensively; however, two common methods are discussed. Since the weak efficiency is close to random walk theory, it is measured whether the stock prices are random. Serial correlation has been widely used to test for it. This method inspects the correlation between the past and the present return on one security. While Calculating the series of this period, if the coefficients are low and the expected return is close to zero, this market can be seen as Weak form efficiency. ( Hillier et al,2010) There is, in addition, filter rules is an alternative tool to examine weak form efficiency. As Fama and Blume(1966) defined, the principle states that setting a standard of b uying and selling points and operating the stocks once the prices reach the level, if the sum of the security returns is higher than the long-term strategy, we can say that price changes are related, and analysis can help investors to earn abnormal returns. That means, the market is not in weak efficiency form. For instance, Investigating 30 securities in U.S. stock market, Fama and Blume(1966) explored the effect of technical analysis and efficient market by using different levels of filter rules. As a result, although 15 of them achieved higher return on performance, the abnormal profits still vanished after considering transaction cost. Namely, technical analysis cannot be in favor of earning excess return in weak market efficiency. 3.2 Test for Semi-Strong Form Efficiency The major test for semi-strong efficiency is to measure the speed of adjusting security prices to new public information. The frequent used principle here is event study. Measuring the stock price changes over news announced period, the performance is used to judge whether the market is semi-strong efficient. According to Fama, Fisher, Jensen and Roll(1969) paper, they observed the security price adjustment for stock splits and earnings announcements. As a result, stock prices were surprisingly found that most reaction have completed before the news were released to market. Once the information announced, the changes continued rapidly. Actual events, which can be seen as applications of empirical evidence, are such announcements of dividends, earnings, mergers, initial public offerings, stock splits, or block trading. In these examples, security prices would carter to the appearance of new information. Thus, speculators cannot gain any abnormal profits even from fundamental a nalysis. 3.3 Test for Strong Form Efficiency The method of strong form efficiency is based on the position that security prices have already reflected all public and private information. Namely, no one can earn extra return in this market. Therefore, to test the market efficiency, many studies have been developed to investigate whether insiders can gain profit in long term. If they do, it can be seen as a symbol of inefficient strong market. For instance, mutual fund which managed by financial experts is an alternative examination for strong form efficiency, because those experts are seen to have close relationship with insiders and able to use private to control the fund in order to reap profits. According to the analysis of mutual fund performance published by Jensen (1968), the return of portfolio might have been offset by fees and expense. In other words, on average the funds apparently were not quite successful enough in their trading activities to recoup even their brokerage expenses. Furthermore, some studies also p oint out that the sustainable evidence are not strong enough to hold the hypothesis. In fact, as general identification, traders who have private information are easily to earn excess returns. 4.Anomalies There are, of course, critical studies with applied evidence showing the unusual phenomenon in reality. The next section will provide discussion of market anomalies. 4.1 Stock Return Anomalies Arguments about the predictability of stock return are still continued discussed. It is important to note that challengers controvert to market efficiency hypothesis by presenting exceptional appearance in real world. The first suspicions are drawn in return anomalies which violate the semi-strong hypothesis. Based on Fama(1969) in his paper, fundamental analysis do not provide stock prediction for investors, therefore, the seasonal anomalies such as January effect, weekend effect, and monthly effect are an indicator which debate the hypothesis and provide the opportunities to obtain the excess return. January effect is defined as a position that there is unusual price decreasing in every December, but the capital would have flowed back in January. That leads the stock returns in the first month of every year are normally greater than other months. Examining seasonal phenomenon between seventeen nations from 1959 to 1979, Mustafa and Gultekin(1983) discovered that most of the m consist with the January effect. The notion of weekend effect illustrates that the stock prices are frequently lower on Mondays. The reason for the anomalies is believed that most companies and government usually announce unfavorable news on Fridays and the stock prices all react to the information on Mondays. As the similar idea of weekend effect, monthly effect illustrates the higher return before every 15th than the following days. 4.1 Overreaction and Underreaction Famous literature published by De Bondt and Thaler(1985) brought up the notion of overreaction phenomenon. They looked at a long-term stock price changes and discovered those which had overreacted in the past would have rebounded back to former levels, and vice versa. De Bondt and Thaler explained this price reversal can be seen as strong evidence to prove the usefulness of fundamental analysis in predicting returns and suggested investors to use the constrain strategy of price overreaction to gain extra return. However, sharing a consensus with Fama and French(1988), Poterba and Summers(1988) stated Noise trading, trading by investors whose demand for shares is determined by factors other than their expected return, provides a plausible explanation for the transitory components in stock prices. Conclusion Samuelson, Paul (1965). Proof That Properly Anticipated Prices Fluctuate Randomly,Industrial Management Review, 6, pp. 41-49. Fama, Eugene (1965). The Behavior of St ock Market Prices, Journal of Business, 38, pp. 34-105. Fama, Eugene (1970). Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work, Journal of Finance, 25, pp. 383-417. Fama, Eugene (1991). Efficient Capital Markets II, Journal of Finance, 46, pp. 1575-617. Engel, C., Morris, C. S. (1991). Challenges to Stock Market efficiency: Evidence from Mean Reversion Studies. Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City , pp.21-35. ( Hillier et al,2010) De Bondt and Thaler(1985) Fama and Blume(1966) Fama, Fisher, Jensen and Roll(1969) Jensen (1968) Mustafa and Gultekin(1983) Fama and French(1988)

Sociological Event Analysis Michael Brown - 2123 Words

Sociological Event Analysis Michael Brown, a Ferguson Missouri teenager, lost his life on August 9th, 2014. Brown was fatally shot by a police officer after he had robbed a convenience store. Ferguson residents were outraged that the unarmed teen was killed and further infuriated when a grand jury elected not to indict the police officer. As a result, violence erupted in the streets of the town. Businesses were vandalized, robbed, and set ablaze. Protests escalated from peaceful gatherings to ones that required military presence in the town. Though this instance can be examined as a single occurrence, it can also be characterized as a greater sociological event that requires special attention. Sociology cannot explain the events of the day that led to Michael Brown s death. 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Meichenbaum’s Self-instructional training Free Essays

Problem: Feeling insecure about not being intelligent enough compared to my classmates. Phase 1: Self-observation I have been an average student all my life, and I am aware that at times I feel insecure and doubt my own abilities to be able to complete the required tasks and assignments in my classes to be able to finish this program. When an instructor gives out assignments or projects I always ask myself whether I could do it or not, most of the time I feel I can’t. We will write a custom essay sample on Meichenbaum’s Self-instructional training or any similar topic only for you Order Now Then when during class discussions or debates I listen to my classmates and I wonder how eloquently they are able to share their thoughts and argue their opinions. I often listen to myself and my internal dialogue had been how unsure I am of my answers, how I fear talking in front of my classmates because I might not be able to give the correct answer. I want to be able to change this behavior and negative self-perception; I want to be more confident and smart in class. Phase 2: Starting a new internal dialogue According to Meichenbaum, the second stage in the behavioral change process is to start a new internal dialogue that is not in accordance with the old negative internal dialogue. The client can work with this new internal dialogue with the therapist, but I guess I could do it without the help of the therapist. I could basically throw rebuttals to my negative internal dialogues. If for example, I say I am not smart, then my new internal dialogue would be that I always had good grades, I never failed a course and that is being smart. I could also say to myself that there will always be people who are better than me and that I am better than others too. Phase 3: Learning a new skill In this phase, the client learns new behaviors to cope with the negative internal dialogues and to be able to learn skills that would bring about behavior change. For me, I could probably learn how to be able to speak more confidently and I could do that by observing how my classmates put their thoughts together and how they deliver it in class. I could buy a book about public speaking or better communication skills and learn it. I could also ask my classmates their strategies for studying and maybe learn those strategies to be able to study better and have higher grades. How to cite Meichenbaum’s Self-instructional training, Papers

Madness, Performance, and Illusion in Victorian Literature free essay sample

Differing from centuries past, Victorian England expressed a desire to more closely understand the meaning of madness, as psychological historian Elaine Showalter notes: â€Å"By the middle of the century, however, visitors to the Victorian asylum saw madness domesticated, released from restraint, and unnervingly like the world outside the walls† (Showalter 158). The insane, warped perception of reality prompted questioning into the formation of the sane identity, especially through the medium of literature. Was â€Å"the self† so simple to understand and identify? The identity of humanity was much more complex and multi-faceted than the Romanticism of the early nineteenth century perceived it to be. Novels of the Victorian era, specifically Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, examine this complexity through the lens of madness. Both Lady Audley and Dorian Grey adopt new selves, and so conceal their unacceptable secrets from the outside world; however, this act cannot be sustained, as Victorian literature would admonish. Performance creating a facade for the outside world is ultimately what drives Lady Audley and Dorian Grey mad because the illusion of entertainment becomes their reality, causing a fascination with their own self-creation and destruction, respectively. In hopes of escaping poverty, Helen Talboys creates a new identity that fractures who she is, leaving her vulnerable to scrutiny. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, author of Lady Audley’s Secret and the proclaimed â€Å"Queen of Sensation,† understood the goal of a performance: to distort reality. As an actress herself, Braddon witnessed the power of entertainment over a captivated audience, warping and disguising perception in order to achieve the desired effect. Helen Talboys, too, sees the temptation of masking her true self. Initially rational, Helen lives under the care of her alcoholic father because her mother is placed in an insane asylum when she is a child. The desire to advance her means is evident given her conditions; but, when George Talboys does not return for many years and she is left in destitution once more, she must make the difficult decision to leave her old life in favor of becoming Miss Lucy Graham. Undertaking such an act of empowerment was revolutionary and bold, as feminist critic Lynn Voskuil relates: â€Å"As players in this cultural drama, women were the compliant conduits of a transcendent notion of womanliness, weaker vessels perfectly type cast to express an idealized femininity reliably and coherently† (Voskuil 621). This further underscores the rationality of her choice to recreate her own identity because the likelihood of her discovery was slim while the benefits possible to her are innumerable. Although Lucy’s initial purpose in playing the role of performer is self-empowerment, it soon becomes a role of concealment. With George’s untimely return from her past life, the threads she weaves to create a tapestry of lies begin to unravel, until the constant scrutiny from her elevated status as mistress causes her intense psychological stress from her efforts. Literally tunneling their way into Lucy’s inner chambers, George and Robert Audley examine the representation of her secret, the pre-Raphaelite portrait that revealed â€Å"something of the aspect of a beautiful fiend† within her split identity (Braddon 71). This portrait of her conscience shows her deception, and reflects the conflict within her concerning her past life. In order to maintain this elaborate performance, she chooses self-creation over reality by attempting to murder her real husband. Lady Audley is absolutely determined to sustain her created identity by any means necessary in order to preserve the illusion to both the outside world and herself, awakening mental instability from the web of lies she spins. A monomaniacal obsession mandates Robert Audley to investigate the mystery of George’s disappearance, and this further pushes Lady Audley to the brink of insanity as her performance begins to overtake her. In The Picture of Dorian Grey, Sybil Vane offers an interesting comparison to Lady Audley. Sybil is utterly absorbed in her acting as a means of escaping her sordid life, shaping her reality through the characters she plays in the theater every evening. She emerges from the emptiness of the act when Dorian declares his undying love for her; on the other hand, Lady Audley is unable to escape the falsehood that clouds her reality. The obsession with self-creation has conquered her. She is the perpetual actress in an unending performance that she cannot quit. It is clear that Lady Audley begins to lose her grip on reality when it seems that Helen Talboys is screaming to return to the surface once more. For example, Lady Audley maliciously decides to manipulate Sir Michael into believing that his nephew is a madman bent on persecuting an innocent woman. Although Lady Audley sets the plan into motion, Helen hesitates for a moment, barely able to speak as she trembles and cries before him, aware of the horrid performance in which she plays the leading role. This apparent dichotomy between her two identities proves to only aid the wicked nature of the plan, though: â€Å"It was the one wild outcry, in which the woman’s feebler nature got the better of the syren’s art† (Braddon 283). Interestingly displayed, the glimpse of her genuine self that breaks the surface of her facade in these ephemeral moments offers a much more real exhibition of emotion- so much so that it immediately stirs Sir Michael into a frenzy, spell-bound for his lover as she continues to work her magic upon him. Helen’s voice is completely drowned out, projecting her own malady so articulately upon Robert because she is intimate with the lies and deceit she has created for herself: â€Å"They know that they are mad, but they know to keep their secret†¦[and] they may yield to the horrible temptation- the frightful, passionate, hungry craving for violence and horror† (Braddon 287). Her anxiety both to keep secrets and mask her reality places a burden upon her shoulders that she finds difficult to carry, but her newly-created self helps alleviate the stress that Helen so clearly exhibits as an integral part of her. Another example of the stress induced by performance upon the dual selves of Lady Audley occurs subsequent to her setting Luke’s public house ablaze. Robert Audley, the man who threatens to pull the curtain on her new life, increasingly threatens her stability on the stage by offering her an ultimatum- she must confess to Sir Michael or he will do it himself. She is so dedicated to this illusion that the madwoman within her demands she kill Robert, finally escaping the past lies that furtively pursue her. She contemplates to herself after leaving the inn: â€Å"Perhaps it would be wiser in me to run away, o take this man’s warning, and escape out of his power forever†¦What could I do? I must go back to the old life, the old, hard, cruel, wretched life- the life of poverty, and humiliation, and vexation, and discontent† (Braddon 316). Always in a struggle of duality, Lucy is again drawn back to the performance against her better judgment due to her initial go al of escaping poverty as an ambitious and self-assertive young woman. The will of the illusion proves too tempting; the madness is too entrenched within her. This secrecy cannot be sustained due to the scrutiny of Victorian society at large, as Braddon warns readers of the pitfalls of lies and false self-creation. Put simply by Voskuil: â€Å"Lady Audley is at once both a clinical case and a theatrical display, a madwoman and an actress† (Voskuil 633). The identity she fashioned as a tool to aid her struggle consumed her, making it impossible for Lady Audley to distinguish herself between Helen and Lucy, rational and mad. Two polar ideologies unknowingly influence Dorian Grey until they split how he sees himself, thereby hastening his internal self-destruction. Oscar Wilde, a master of language and author of The Picture of Dorian Grey, wrote for an age of increasingly realist outlook. Under the tutelage of John Ruskin, one of his mentors, Wilde’s vision of truth became that which shocked, awakened, and awed. Ruskin had profound influence on his direction, prompting Wilde to explain human identity through the case of Dorian Grey by examining his madness as a deeper metaphor for the battle that takes place within the human soul: â€Å"Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art,† Wilde directly addresses the readers in the preface before the story begins (Wilde 4). Dorian is easily influenced by his company at the onset of the novel as a boy, whether it is that of Basil Hallward or Lord Henry Wotton. Nonetheless, it is clear that his friend Harry gains influence, and eventually domination, over the creation of Dorian’s perception as he forms two separate understandings of the self. The human soul is not simply a product of one influence or another; it is an amalgamation of ideas, thoughts, and perceptions that frames identity in terms of a paradox, Wilde argues. Sheldon Liebman, author of a critical response entitled â€Å"Character Design in The Picture of Dorian Grey,† follows up on this thought: Dorian  Gray  is torn between two mutually exclusive interpretations of human experience: one, optimistic, religious, and emotional; the other, pessimistic, cynical, and intellectual. In the course of the novel, the reader (if not  Dorian) discovers that neither interpretation is adequate and that, from Wildes perspective, there are no alternatives (Liebman). In response to the frivolity of the Romantic identity, the Victorian era developed an outlook to mirror the complexity of the world, seeing illusion and paradox as the threshold to truth. The illusion present in the novel, the portrait of Dorian painted by Basil, represents the incumbent split within Dorian’s soul; he sees this as visual product of his indulgent self, his â€Å"mask of shame†, hiding it in order to maintain the illusion of beauty (Wilde 93). The sanity of Dorian is in no real threat when he is young, but as he progresses in years without actually aging his self-destructive habits degrade his soul and force the reader to question his grasp of reality. Capitulating to the illusion of a world of pure beauty, Dorian loses his understanding of reality, and himself in the process, leading him to madly conceal his soul from the outside. The magic of the wondrous picture before him fascinates his curiosity, his desire to pursue beauty and hedonism due to the Harry’s domination. This transformation begins when his life of secrecy begins. To put his identity in terms of reality and illusion, he switches places with Sybil upon nonchalantly discovering her tragic suicide. Sybil’s poor acting connotes her return to reality, while Dorian only falls deeper into his conception of polarity- beauty and ugliness, his physical vitality versus his corrupted soul. The beauty of the illusion on stage and the stirring of his imagination inspire him, but the drab and dull movements of reality, where Sybil now belongs, contradict his new way of understanding. Because Dorian sees beauty as the one and only means of perceiving reality after his contact with Lord Henry, he refuses to acknowledge the inherent brutality and indecency of the world at large. This subsequently encourages him to reject the ugliness within his own soul. Similar to Lady Audley, Dorian seeks to conceal the part of him that is abominable, and hides his painting away in a forgotten room of his household. No one can know his true self. â€Å"What did it matter what happened to the coloured image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything,† Dorian reflects (Wilde 103). His enchantment prevents anyone from directly seeing his act, but the real toll is inflicted on the part of his soul where Basil, the voice of morality, still holds sway. The portrait is, indeed, a window into his soul and the site of a conflict between two selves. Falling further and further into the depths of seedy London after receiving the poisonous French novel given to him by Lord Henry, Dorian’s inner strife is apparent as he indulges in every sin available to him. The entrenched obsession with beauty transforms into madness when the conflict comes to a climax as Dorian confronts the source of his moral identity, Basil: â€Å"Each of us has heaven and hell in him, Basil† (Wilde 150). The grisly stabbing of Basil is the culmination of his identity crisis- the illusion of outer beauty and hedonistic pleasure becomes his reality. The secrecy of a double life at first does not wear on the part of himself he symbolically destroyed: â€Å"Perhaps one never seems so much at one’s ease as when one has to play a part† (Wilde 167). In this grand performance, his beauty masked his secret to the outside world and kept him at complacent. The secret is safe from everyone but his conscience, the portrait itself, which eventually comes to destroy him. Dorian becomes obsessed with returning to his portrait after nights of sin and debauchery, fascinated by the change between the fiend depicted and the gentleman in the mirror. He fails to reconcile the lack of change in his physical appearance, of which he is so enamored, and soon he becomes disenchanted with the lifestyle of decadence that he lives. Indulging in opium, prostitution, and senselessness, Dorian self-destructs due to his double life: â€Å"Ugliness that had once been hateful to him because it made things real, became dear to him now for that very reason. Ugliness was the one reality†¦what he needed for forgetfulness† (Wilde 177). The respective conceptions of beauty, ugliness, and reality that vie for control within him are psychologically draining. Ultimately, the madness that seizes his character cannot be controlled. The battle of individual influences within him wear upon him, to the point where the concealment of his painting (and thus soul) from the world is a burden too difficult to be borne. Stabbing the painting in the heart in a performance imitating his murder of Basil, the two polarities of his identity return to a single being. Dorian’s ignorance of the uncomfortable realities of life explain his self-understanding. The illusion he submits to and the madness that ensues bring on his self-destruction because the flawed role of the beautiful in his understanding of reality causes him to lose his identity in the performance. Madness in Victorian literature is a means of understanding identity from a fractured perspective. Evident in the classic novels of Braddon and Wilde, the fascination with madness was both an examination and a cautionary tale. Both Dorian Grey and Lady Audley concede to their insanity due to the significance of their secrets, burdened by the weight of their â€Å"other† identity. Performances are a suspension of reality, and neglecting to take heed of the difference between the two aspects can lead to disastrous consequences and self-destruction.

Madness, Performance, and Illusion in Victorian Literature free essay sample

Differing from centuries past, Victorian England expressed a desire to more closely understand the meaning of madness, as psychological historian Elaine Showalter notes: â€Å"By the middle of the century, however, visitors to the Victorian asylum saw madness domesticated, released from restraint, and unnervingly like the world outside the walls† (Showalter 158). The insane, warped perception of reality prompted questioning into the formation of the sane identity, especially through the medium of literature. Was â€Å"the self† so simple to understand and identify? The identity of humanity was much more complex and multi-faceted than the Romanticism of the early nineteenth century perceived it to be. Novels of the Victorian era, specifically Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, examine this complexity through the lens of madness. Both Lady Audley and Dorian Grey adopt new selves, and so conceal their unacceptable secrets from the outside world; however, this act cannot be sustained, as Victorian literature would admonish. Performance creating a facade for the outside world is ultimately what drives Lady Audley and Dorian Grey mad because the illusion of entertainment becomes their reality, causing a fascination with their own self-creation and destruction, respectively. In hopes of escaping poverty, Helen Talboys creates a new identity that fractures who she is, leaving her vulnerable to scrutiny. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, author of Lady Audley’s Secret and the proclaimed â€Å"Queen of Sensation,† understood the goal of a performance: to distort reality. As an actress herself, Braddon witnessed the power of entertainment over a captivated audience, warping and disguising perception in order to achieve the desired effect. Helen Talboys, too, sees the temptation of masking her true self. Initially rational, Helen lives under the care of her alcoholic father because her mother is placed in an insane asylum when she is a child. The desire to advance her means is evident given her conditions; but, when George Talboys does not return for many years and she is left in destitution once more, she must make the difficult decision to leave her old life in favor of becoming Miss Lucy Graham. Undertaking such an act of empowerment was revolutionary and bold, as feminist critic Lynn Voskuil relates: â€Å"As players in this cultural drama, women were the compliant conduits of a transcendent notion of womanliness, weaker vessels perfectly type cast to express an idealized femininity reliably and coherently† (Voskuil 621). This further underscores the rationality of her choice to recreate her own identity because the likelihood of her discovery was slim while the benefits possible to her are innumerable. Although Lucy’s initial purpose in playing the role of performer is self-empowerment, it soon becomes a role of concealment. With George’s untimely return from her past life, the threads she weaves to create a tapestry of lies begin to unravel, until the constant scrutiny from her elevated status as mistress causes her intense psychological stress from her efforts. Literally tunneling their way into Lucy’s inner chambers, George and Robert Audley examine the representation of her secret, the pre-Raphaelite portrait that revealed â€Å"something of the aspect of a beautiful fiend† within her split identity (Braddon 71). This portrait of her conscience shows her deception, and reflects the conflict within her concerning her past life. In order to maintain this elaborate performance, she chooses self-creation over reality by attempting to murder her real husband. Lady Audley is absolutely determined to sustain her created identity by any means necessary in order to preserve the illusion to both the outside world and herself, awakening mental instability from the web of lies she spins. A monomaniacal obsession mandates Robert Audley to investigate the mystery of George’s disappearance, and this further pushes Lady Audley to the brink of insanity as her performance begins to overtake her. In The Picture of Dorian Grey, Sybil Vane offers an interesting comparison to Lady Audley. Sybil is utterly absorbed in her acting as a means of escaping her sordid life, shaping her reality through the characters she plays in the theater every evening. She emerges from the emptiness of the act when Dorian declares his undying love for her; on the other hand, Lady Audley is unable to escape the falsehood that clouds her reality. The obsession with self-creation has conquered her. She is the perpetual actress in an unending performance that she cannot quit. It is clear that Lady Audley begins to lose her grip on reality when it seems that Helen Talboys is screaming to return to the surface once more. For example, Lady Audley maliciously decides to manipulate Sir Michael into believing that his nephew is a madman bent on persecuting an innocent woman. Although Lady Audley sets the plan into motion, Helen hesitates for a moment, barely able to speak as she trembles and cries before him, aware of the horrid performance in which she plays the leading role. This apparent dichotomy between her two identities proves to only aid the wicked nature of the plan, though: â€Å"It was the one wild outcry, in which the woman’s feebler nature got the better of the syren’s art† (Braddon 283). Interestingly displayed, the glimpse of her genuine self that breaks the surface of her facade in these ephemeral moments offers a much more real exhibition of emotion- so much so that it immediately stirs Sir Michael into a frenzy, spell-bound for his lover as she continues to work her magic upon him. Helen’s voice is completely drowned out, projecting her own malady so articulately upon Robert because she is intimate with the lies and deceit she has created for herself: â€Å"They know that they are mad, but they know to keep their secret†¦[and] they may yield to the horrible temptation- the frightful, passionate, hungry craving for violence and horror† (Braddon 287). Her anxiety both to keep secrets and mask her reality places a burden upon her shoulders that she finds difficult to carry, but her newly-created self helps alleviate the stress that Helen so clearly exhibits as an integral part of her. Another example of the stress induced by performance upon the dual selves of Lady Audley occurs subsequent to her setting Luke’s public house ablaze. Robert Audley, the man who threatens to pull the curtain on her new life, increasingly threatens her stability on the stage by offering her an ultimatum- she must confess to Sir Michael or he will do it himself. She is so dedicated to this illusion that the madwoman within her demands she kill Robert, finally escaping the past lies that furtively pursue her. She contemplates to herself after leaving the inn: â€Å"Perhaps it would be wiser in me to run away, o take this man’s warning, and escape out of his power forever†¦What could I do? I must go back to the old life, the old, hard, cruel, wretched life- the life of poverty, and humiliation, and vexation, and discontent† (Braddon 316). Always in a struggle of duality, Lucy is again drawn back to the performance against her better judgment due to her initial go al of escaping poverty as an ambitious and self-assertive young woman. The will of the illusion proves too tempting; the madness is too entrenched within her. This secrecy cannot be sustained due to the scrutiny of Victorian society at large, as Braddon warns readers of the pitfalls of lies and false self-creation. Put simply by Voskuil: â€Å"Lady Audley is at once both a clinical case and a theatrical display, a madwoman and an actress† (Voskuil 633). The identity she fashioned as a tool to aid her struggle consumed her, making it impossible for Lady Audley to distinguish herself between Helen and Lucy, rational and mad. Two polar ideologies unknowingly influence Dorian Grey until they split how he sees himself, thereby hastening his internal self-destruction. Oscar Wilde, a master of language and author of The Picture of Dorian Grey, wrote for an age of increasingly realist outlook. Under the tutelage of John Ruskin, one of his mentors, Wilde’s vision of truth became that which shocked, awakened, and awed. Ruskin had profound influence on his direction, prompting Wilde to explain human identity through the case of Dorian Grey by examining his madness as a deeper metaphor for the battle that takes place within the human soul: â€Å"Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art,† Wilde directly addresses the readers in the preface before the story begins (Wilde 4). Dorian is easily influenced by his company at the onset of the novel as a boy, whether it is that of Basil Hallward or Lord Henry Wotton. Nonetheless, it is clear that his friend Harry gains influence, and eventually domination, over the creation of Dorian’s perception as he forms two separate understandings of the self. The human soul is not simply a product of one influence or another; it is an amalgamation of ideas, thoughts, and perceptions that frames identity in terms of a paradox, Wilde argues. Sheldon Liebman, author of a critical response entitled â€Å"Character Design in The Picture of Dorian Grey,† follows up on this thought: Dorian  Gray  is torn between two mutually exclusive interpretations of human experience: one, optimistic, religious, and emotional; the other, pessimistic, cynical, and intellectual. In the course of the novel, the reader (if not  Dorian) discovers that neither interpretation is adequate and that, from Wildes perspective, there are no alternatives (Liebman). In response to the frivolity of the Romantic identity, the Victorian era developed an outlook to mirror the complexity of the world, seeing illusion and paradox as the threshold to truth. The illusion present in the novel, the portrait of Dorian painted by Basil, represents the incumbent split within Dorian’s soul; he sees this as visual product of his indulgent self, his â€Å"mask of shame†, hiding it in order to maintain the illusion of beauty (Wilde 93). The sanity of Dorian is in no real threat when he is young, but as he progresses in years without actually aging his self-destructive habits degrade his soul and force the reader to question his grasp of reality. Capitulating to the illusion of a world of pure beauty, Dorian loses his understanding of reality, and himself in the process, leading him to madly conceal his soul from the outside. The magic of the wondrous picture before him fascinates his curiosity, his desire to pursue beauty and hedonism due to the Harry’s domination. This transformation begins when his life of secrecy begins. To put his identity in terms of reality and illusion, he switches places with Sybil upon nonchalantly discovering her tragic suicide. Sybil’s poor acting connotes her return to reality, while Dorian only falls deeper into his conception of polarity- beauty and ugliness, his physical vitality versus his corrupted soul. The beauty of the illusion on stage and the stirring of his imagination inspire him, but the drab and dull movements of reality, where Sybil now belongs, contradict his new way of understanding. Because Dorian sees beauty as the one and only means of perceiving reality after his contact with Lord Henry, he refuses to acknowledge the inherent brutality and indecency of the world at large. This subsequently encourages him to reject the ugliness within his own soul. Similar to Lady Audley, Dorian seeks to conceal the part of him that is abominable, and hides his painting away in a forgotten room of his household. No one can know his true self. â€Å"What did it matter what happened to the coloured image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything,† Dorian reflects (Wilde 103). His enchantment prevents anyone from directly seeing his act, but the real toll is inflicted on the part of his soul where Basil, the voice of morality, still holds sway. The portrait is, indeed, a window into his soul and the site of a conflict between two selves. Falling further and further into the depths of seedy London after receiving the poisonous French novel given to him by Lord Henry, Dorian’s inner strife is apparent as he indulges in every sin available to him. The entrenched obsession with beauty transforms into madness when the conflict comes to a climax as Dorian confronts the source of his moral identity, Basil: â€Å"Each of us has heaven and hell in him, Basil† (Wilde 150). The grisly stabbing of Basil is the culmination of his identity crisis- the illusion of outer beauty and hedonistic pleasure becomes his reality. The secrecy of a double life at first does not wear on the part of himself he symbolically destroyed: â€Å"Perhaps one never seems so much at one’s ease as when one has to play a part† (Wilde 167). In this grand performance, his beauty masked his secret to the outside world and kept him at complacent. The secret is safe from everyone but his conscience, the portrait itself, which eventually comes to destroy him. Dorian becomes obsessed with returning to his portrait after nights of sin and debauchery, fascinated by the change between the fiend depicted and the gentleman in the mirror. He fails to reconcile the lack of change in his physical appearance, of which he is so enamored, and soon he becomes disenchanted with the lifestyle of decadence that he lives. Indulging in opium, prostitution, and senselessness, Dorian self-destructs due to his double life: â€Å"Ugliness that had once been hateful to him because it made things real, became dear to him now for that very reason. Ugliness was the one reality†¦what he needed for forgetfulness† (Wilde 177). The respective conceptions of beauty, ugliness, and reality that vie for control within him are psychologically draining. Ultimately, the madness that seizes his character cannot be controlled. The battle of individual influences within him wear upon him, to the point where the concealment of his painting (and thus soul) from the world is a burden too difficult to be borne. Stabbing the painting in the heart in a performance imitating his murder of Basil, the two polarities of his identity return to a single being. Dorian’s ignorance of the uncomfortable realities of life explain his self-understanding. The illusion he submits to and the madness that ensues bring on his self-destruction because the flawed role of the beautiful in his understanding of reality causes him to lose his identity in the performance. Madness in Victorian literature is a means of understanding identity from a fractured perspective. Evident in the classic novels of Braddon and Wilde, the fascination with madness was both an examination and a cautionary tale. Both Dorian Grey and Lady Audley concede to their insanity due to the significance of their secrets, burdened by the weight of their â€Å"other† identity. Performances are a suspension of reality, and neglecting to take heed of the difference between the two aspects can lead to disastrous consequences and self-destruction.