Anger in the Nineteenth Century: Critical Perspectives
From the Gothic beginnings of E.T.A. Hoffman’s Mademoiselle de Scudéri (1819-20), one could sense the heavy breathings of a darkness almost entirely manifested in Anger. When Olivier Brusson comes knocking at de Scudéri’s door, standing on the verge of being turned away by La Martinière, he responds in an axiomatic manner: “Remember, her anger will rest upon you for ever when she comes to know that it was you who cruelly drove away from her door the unfortunate wretch who came to beg for her help”. What Olivier communicates, albeit cryptically, is that the perpetuation of anger becomes a remote possibility in instinctive nescience, whereas Knowledge creates that anger which stands capable of generating fruitful results.