In the movie version, Wormtongue also tries to gaslight Eowyn, telling her she is alone, implying that neither her uncle Théoden nor her brother can save her. By the time help arrives, in the form of Gandalf the wizard, King Théoden so doubts his own mind that he believes everything Wormtongue tells him. The abuser alternates his nefarious behavior with concern and encouragement, leading his victim to rely on him for stability and support, and isolating her from those who have a true interest in her well-being.Īnother example of gaslighting in popular fiction is Wormtongue’s “council” for Théoden, king of Rohan, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The victim begins to doubt the reality of situations she clearly witnessed and to disbelieve her perception of the abuser’s behavior. The primary aim of the abuser who uses gaslighting is to manipulate his victim into believing him more than her own mind. In the end, we learn he had murdered Paula’s aunt and developed an elaborate plan to discredit Paula to her own mind so he could freely search the house for her aunt’s jewels. He uses Paula’s supposed mental issues to justify his efforts to further sequester her in the house. Her husband convinces her that the incidents are either caused by her or never happened. Paula begins to witness strange things like a picture disappearing, a brooch gone missing, and the titular gas lights dimming. In the story, a woman named Paula moves with her new husband to her family home after the murder of her aunt, a rich opera singer. The term gaslighting comes from the 1944 movie Gaslight staring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, which was based on a 1938 play, Gas Light.
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