The Mortgage on the Brain by Vincent Harper
"The Mortgage on the Brain" explores the complex themes of identity and personality through the story of Viscountess Torbeth and her struggles with what can be described as multiple personality disorder. Central to the narrative is Dr. Ethelbert Croft, who seeks the expertise of psychologist Dr. Yznaga. The viscountess experiences significant identity shifts, revealing a second, more uninhibited self. Dr. Yznaga's materialistic approach to psychology, which dismisses conventional notions of the soul and ego, draws criticism from her father, Dean Chelmsford. As the story unfolds, Croft undergoes an experiment that leads to the suppression of his identity, replaced temporarily by that of Edward Templeton. Complications arise when Templeton, unaware of the manipulation, becomes entangled in a romantic relationship that echoes the duality present in Lady Torbeth. Ultimately, Dr. Yznaga's intervention seeks to resolve the conflict by eradicating the less conventional aspects of the viscountess's personality. The narrative raises thought-provoking questions about the nature of self and the impact of psychological treatment on individual identity.
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The Mortgage on the Brain
First published: 1905
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrapolatory
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Locale: London, England; Paris, France; and Dresden, Germany
The Plot
A young doctor named Ethelbert Croft recruits the help of the great psychologist Dr. Yznaga in diagnosing and treating the problems of Viscountess Torbeth. She suffers from what would now be called multiple personality, although Vincent Harper calls it “complex personality.” At intervals, she undergoes a complete change of identity, releasing a second self far less inhibited than the primary one.
The patient’s father, Dean Chelmsford, immediately opposes Yznaga, disapproving strongly of his materialistic theories. Yznaga insists that there is no such entity as the soul or “ego” (in the religious sense) and that personality is merely the product of the electrical and chemical activity of the brain. The clergyman cannot accept this and begins a campaign of defamation against both Yznaga and Croft. Yznaga fights back against this vilification, delivering strident speeches in which he looks forward to the defeat of all superstition and the establishment of a more rational society by virtue of psychological technology.
In order to test Yznaga’s method of personality manip-ulation, Croft submits to an experiment. His own identity is suppressed, and the false identity of Edward Templeton is superimposed on it. In a further phase, the dor-mant identity is obliterated, so that Templeton becomes the sole inhabitant of Croft’s body. Yznaga and his colleagues are completely satisfied, but Templeton—having no knowledge of the experiment of which he is a part— takes leave of them before they can set matters right.
Templeton goes to Dresden, Germany, where he falls in love with a woman named Gertrude Leighton. He is arrested and charged with fraud on the evidence of Dean Chelmsford, who identifies him as an impostor. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Gertrude Leighton is Lady Torbeth’s alter ego. Yznaga arrives in time to rescue Templeton and restore the identity of Ethelbert Croft to its rightful station, but the problem of Lady Torbeth—whose amorous version Croft earlier met under the pseudonym of Muriel Errington—remains for a little longer. In the end, Yznaga is allowed to apply his treatment to the viscountess, successfully annihilating the less conventional—and hence less convenient—element of her dual personality.