Madness of Mary Lincoln

[kerry]

I think it got worse after Tad's death, as she seemed to center around him and he didn't seem to mind. Mary seemed to need someone optimistic and steady, who would not fight her if she was nervous or angry, but would try to redirect her. It seems like Tad had that personality, and probably Willie. I think Robert was less that way, which I just see as a personality type issue, not as a good or bad thing. But once Tad had a family or job, I think it would have been hard for him to always be around the way a husband would. However, I think it is possible he wouldn't have minded her living with him, even if she was domineering, so she would have been more tied down and less likely to wander and obsess. A letter that was more recently posted on an auction site included this:

"Just as I had in a measure returned to my natural cheerfulness - with a worshipped son, by my side, who could not bear me out of his sight when I was feeling that once more, I had something to live for, who was my pride, my fond delight, to have this precious one, snatched from my arms."

Clearly she wanted to be the center of someone's world and fuss over them. http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/c...r=3&page=1

I believe she had probably been having those days/weeks of deterioration for a while, but people around her stepped in. She probably had fewer close relationships in 1871, having been abroad and much less social, and fewer people keeping an eye on her for image reasons. I also think her spiritualistic associations and practices made her say and do unusual things that considerably affected how people viewed her mental state.