Bipolarism in the Nineteenth Century Novel

Literary realism has produced some of the most famous deaths in literary fiction.1 A psychological insight into the characters’ experience and the mental state that induced their death helps to engage the protagonists no more as victims of society, martyrs of fate, or wicked characters, but pathological human beings. Their psychological duality brings not an affirmation of identity but a breakdown of identity, hence turning the reader’s judgment on their morality into a compelling new understanding.