The Silent Patient Part I
Prologue
Alicia Berenson begins recording her thoughts in a journal on the 14th of July, at the insistence of her loving husband. He is worried about her mental health and believes it will help her. Alicia decides that she will only write positive things in the Journal.
Chapters
Alicia Berenson and Gabriel Berenson were married for seven years before Alicia Berenson was convicted of murdering her six years ago. Alicia Berenson was a gifted painter, while her husband was a celebrated photographer. The narrator prefers her photorealistic art over her husband's photographs of ‘half-starved women.’ The couple had a seemingly loving marriage, as described by those around them, and there had been no history of violence between them. On the day of the crime, Gabriel was out of the house for a shoot and he did not return home until late at night. Alicia’s whereabouts during the day were unknown, although it is believed that she remained at home throughout the day. Their neighbor called the police after hearing several gunshots from their house. The police arrived to find a darkened house and a pool of blood. Alicia was found with a gun, wearing a white dress, with wrists slit, sitting in front of a tied-up and dead Gabriel. He had been tied to a chair with wire, and his face had been destroyed with multiple close-range shots. Throughout the investigation into the crime, Alicia Berenson did not utter a single word about the events of the night, and as the investigation proceeded to label her as the murderer of her husband. Alicia painted a self-portrait and named it Alcestis, which seemed to be inspired by the tragic heroine of an ancient greek tragedy by Euripides. Alecstis is sacrificed by her husband to death so that he can gain immortality.
The trial of the murder garnered a lot of public attention because of Alicia’s silence, as everyone was at a loss to understand what had led to the tragic demise of a relationship that seemed so good and whole. Alicia’s silence did not aid her during the trial of the crime, as the Judge felt that it indicated a lack of remorse. However, Professor Lazarus Diomedes, the director of a psychiatric facility called the Grove, believed her silence indicated deep psychological problems. The judge chose to defer to his assessment, and so Alicia was sentenced to receive treatment at the Grove under the expert supervision of Professor Diomedes. People had thought that her silence was an act to secure a more lenient punishment for her crime, but years went by and Alicia remained mute. The case began to fade from people’s memory, but the narrator still remembered.
Six years after the crime, Theo Faber, a forensic psychotherapist, saw an advert for a position of Psychotherapist at the Grove. He knew right then that he had to try and help Alicia. He recounts his childhood to explain his motivation for pursuing the career path of a psychotherapist. Theo grew up in a troubled home, primarily because of his violent and abusive father. He is certain that his father had suffered from an undiagnosed personality disorder that caused him to erupt into violence at the smallest infraction. Theo spent most of his childhood feeling scared and anxious. He left for university with relief, believing that he would be leaving behind his constant source of anxiety. Sadly, he realized that the years he spent with his father had left an indelible mark inside him that continued to cause him unrest even when he was on his own. He attempted to kill himself in his first year of university, and after surviving the attempt, he sought help. Ruth, a psychotherapist, helped him process the emotions that he had been suppressing for so many years, and he was finally able to experience a sense of normalcy. Theo wished to follow her example, and help people much like how Ruth had helped him.
Theo is accepted into the Grove and catches a glimpse of Alicia on his first day there. The past six years have been visibly difficult for Alicia, and she appears to be heavily sedated. Alicia’s sorry state serves to further encourage Theo in his endeavor of helping her. He decides right then that she is going to be his patient. Theo approaches Professor Diomedes with the intent of learning about Alicia’s treatment. Diomedes seems to be fond of Theo and shares with him the difficulties of running a facility like the Grove. The trust that finances the establishment is eager for them to produce results, and it is difficult to produce results without greater investment for staff and other facilities. Diomedes informs Theo that he had tried to treat Alicia for a long time, but had finally given her up as a lost cause. He allows Theo to attempt to treat her, and Theo arranges for Alicia to be called to his office. The sight of the heavily sedated Alicia affects Theo, and he attempts to speak with her but he receives no response. He begins to go over the notes that Professor Diomedes had made, and learns that Alicia had tried to kill herself several times after she had been brought to the Grove. Since Alicia is unwilling to speak for herself, Theo decides to speak to the people from her life. He calls Lydia Rose, Alicia’s aunt, who had raised Alicia after her parents had passed away, and he also calls Max Berenson. Max was Gabriel’s brother, Alicia’s brother-in-law, and Alicia’s lawyer. Lydia refuses to speak about Alicia and curses Theo over the phone, while Max is away on a business trip, so he leaves a message.
The staff nurse, Yuri, takes Theo out for a beer and talks to him about falling out of love with his wife by being obsessed with another woman. He cautions Theo about being obsessed with Alicia and asks him to focus on his wife, Kathryn, instead of Alicia.
Theo meets Kathryn as she is telling her actress colleagues about how they had met at a party, where they had both arrived with different partners. They had fallen in love at first sight, and Kathryn had brought light, warmth, and goodness into his life. Theo felt lucky that he had found her, and he was certain that his patients were in difficult conditions because they lacked love in their life, like Alicia.
Analysis
The first part of the novel gives the reader a clear understanding of the objective details of Gabriel’s murder. The circumstances of the murder strongly indicate Alicia’s involvement in Gabriel’s gruesome death. Yet, the nature of the crime doesn’t quite fit in with the glimpse of Alicia and Gabriel’s marriage that the readers receive through her journal entries from July. The Silent Patient examines the theme of mental health in great detail, and the development of the theme begins with the prologue. Alicia begins writing her journal because she has been feeling depressed, and wishes to only focus on the positive things of life in it. Yet, Alicia is certainly not the only character whose mental health seems shaken. Theo confesses that he becomes a psychotherapist because he is “fucked up,” and even Yuri, the nurse confesses to stalking women. Thus the author effectively demonstrates that the boundaries between sane and insane are often porous and difficult to define with both doctors and patients sharing similar traits.
Theo’s dislike for Gabriel’s art is rather indicative of his dislike for the man. It is observed that Theo is never too concerned about expressing any sympathy for the victim, and he doesn’t wonder why Alicia killed him. His primary focus in treating Alicia is his desire to discover why she is silent. This becomes one of the main questions that drive the plot of the novel, and Alicia’s self-portrait, the Alcestis functions as a powerful symbol that only heightens in its importance as the plot progresses.
