Books/films/people who mistreat wives and label them insane

[Fishboneschokus]

Am I wrong in thinking that this is a common theme?
I don't think that I have read enough books to give examples.
The only thing that I can up with was the recent docudrama about Lucan, who wanted to divorce his wife so tricked her into going to a 'health spa', which turned out to be a sanatorium.

I have looked up gas lighting but NOY 100 percent if I have it right.

Fingersmith although I don't want to explain any more than that because it will spoil the book.

There's a book by Phillipa Gregory which deals with exactly that.

Is mostly the MiL, but the son doesn't help.

Rebecca falls under this - but it is the housekeeper who is tricking the main character not the husband.

Wide Sargasso Sea is a look at Mr. Rochester's first wife (Jane Eyre) from that point of view.

The film Gaslight.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It suggests this is the cause of the 'madness' of the first wife in Jane Eyre.

Dear God Anthony; I just read the plot! Yes, that is exactly what I am after.

King Joff, thank you; any idea of the title.

Oh yes and very obviously Gaslight

I'm sure there's quite a few Hitchcock films on this theme as well - like the Lady Vanishes where the heroine is assured she is imagining things by everyone around her.

Is it ' The Little House', KingJoffrey?

The Little House/This Little House?

Ooo, The Twits.

Mr Twit made Mrs Twit think she was shrinking.

Philippa Gregory's The Favoured Child also has a broadly similar theme, if I recall correctly.

Thank you everyone.

I'd like to ask if this thread could be moved to adult fiction but I'm now also wondering about 'wayward' daughters who were 'put away' by their own families.
When I was at school, I volunteered in a private psychiatric hospital, serving teas to elderly women who had lived there all their lives. Around the same time it emerged that a Bowes-Lyon relative of the Queen Mum had had the same.

Does anyone know of any further reading on this subject?

And thanks especially for The Twits.

Eh Joffery you're supposed to put the spoiler alert before the spoiler.

Ruined it now for everyone.

A couple of books to get on with: The Female Malady and The Madwoman in the Attic.

They were on my reading list for a Victorian Lit module at Uni.

Oh and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Not quite 'insane' but This Charming Man is themed around this subject.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman Perkins

Mrs Twit is just as much of a git as Mr Twit though.

This was passed on to me by a friend, and I haven't got round to reading this one yet, but from the blurb it looks like it fits the wayward daughters put away by their own family brief:

Maggie O'Farrell - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Oh, and John Haywood "The Asylum" has similar themes of a woman locked up and labelled as insane.

How to be a good wife by Emma Chapman.

The Crimson Petal and the White. There's an outrageous prostitute, and a mousy wife. The mousy wife is driven insane by her husband and a colluding doctor.

The doctor was played by Richard E Grant in the telly version. I never thought I would find Richard E Grant scary but he gave me the full on heebie jeebies.

Poor, poor Agnes.

Oh and much the same thing only with a troublingly intelligent daughter in A Proper Education For Girls. Hilarious book but with a very dark side. The doctor in that one is downright evil.

Thank you
Plenty to read.
I've asked mn to move this to fiction.
:)

Stepford wives, not quite the brief but still

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stepford_Wives