This book offers an in-depth analysis as to how and why women have been widely associated with madness since ancient times. The first part of the book comprises a historical survey of various perceptions of madness across the centuries, while the second part of the book covers a wide selection of literary works by American and English writers who dealt with this subject in their works. In this part of the book, the authors examine selected works of literature from a feminist perspective by also drawing on the works of influential theorists of feminist criticism. The authors further show how these writers, who have been influenced by various philosophers and theoreticians, critically examine women's madness in their fiction.