Madhouse

The Madhouse is the institution where Nathaniel is confined after his sanity collapses upon discovering that Olympia is a lifeless automaton, marking the story's decisive descent into irreversible madness.

Confinement after the Revelation

When Nathaniel burst into Spalanzani's study and witnessed Coppola and the Professor tearing Olympia apart, he saw that her deathly pallid wax face had no eyes but black hollows instead—she was a lifeless doll. Spalanzani, bleeding from glass shards, flung a pair of bloody eyes at Nathaniel's breast, crying that Coppola had robbed him of his finest automaton. At that moment, madness grabbed Nathaniel with its burning claws and tore his thinking and feeling to shreds. He began screaming, "Hopla – hopla – hopla! – ring of fire – ring of fire! Spin around, ring of fire – merrily – merrily! – wooden doll, hopla, lovely little wooden doll – turn turn!" and lunged at the Professor, pressing his fingers to his throat. Roused by the racket, many people stormed in, tore the raging Nathaniel from Spalanzani's neck, and saved the old man's life. Siegmund, despite his strength, could not restrain the madman, who kept screaming in a terrifying voice, "Wooden doll, turn, turn!" and lashed about with balled fists. Finally, it took the combined strength of many men to overpower him, fling him to the floor, and tie him up. His words dissolved into a terrible beastly bellowing. In this pitiful state, still raving in a ghastly frenzy, he was taken to the Madhouse.

Recovery and Release

When Nathaniel awakened, as though from an oppressive and terrible dream, he batted his eyes open and felt himself infused with an indescribable sense of well-being and heavenly warmth. He lay in his bed in his room in his father's house; Clara was bent over him, and his mother and Lothar stood close by. Clara took him in her arms and said, "At last, at last, oh my dearly beloved Nathaniel, you've pulled through at last, and now you're mine again!" Every last trace of madness was gone, and soon Nathaniel got better under the painstaking care of his mother, his beloved, and his friends. Siegmund, who had faithfully stood by his friend in dire moments, entered the room, and Nathaniel held out his hand, saying, "You, my faithful brother in need, you never abandoned me." Fortune had in the meantime returned to the house; a miserly old uncle had died and left Nathaniel's mother a considerable fortune and a small estate in a pleasant district not far from the city. There they intended to move together—mother, Nathaniel with his Clara, whom he now planned to marry, and Lothar. Nathaniel had become more gentle and childlike than ever and only now really recognized Clara's heavenly pure, radiant spirit. No one reminded him, not even breathing the slightest hint, of the recent past.

The Tower Incident and Final Fall

The time approached when the four happy people planned to move out to the small country estate. At midday they went walking through the streets of the city, having bought some things. The tall town hall tower cast a long shadow over the market place. Clara suggested they climb it one last time to gaze out at the distant mountains. Nathaniel and Clara climbed the steps; mother went home with the maid, and Lothar stayed below. At the tower's highest lookout gallery, Clara asked about a strange little grey bush drawing near. Nathaniel mechanically reached into his coat pocket, found Coppola's looking-glass, and turned it sideways. There was Clara standing in the eye of the lens. A spasmodic quiver started up in his veins and arteries; turning deathly pale, he peered at Clara, but soon sparks of fire flashed from his rolling eyes. He let out a horrible cry like a hunted animal, jumped high in the air, and with a curious cackle screamed out shrilly, "Turn, little wooden doll, turn!" With a great burst of strength he grabbed hold of Clara and tried to hurl her off the balcony, but she clung for dear life to the metal railing. Hearing the madman raving and Clara's terrified screams, Lothar clambered up the stairs, broke down the locked doors, and pulled his sister to safety, heaving a balled fist into the madman's face so that he tumbled backwards. Meanwhile, Nathaniel kept flailing about on the lookout gallery, jumping high in the air and crying, "Ring of fire, turn! Ring of fire, turn!" A throng gathered below, including the lawyer Coppelius, who had just come to town and made straight for the market place. When some people wanted to climb the tower to capture the madman, Coppelius laughed and said, "Ha ha, just be patient, he'll be down shortly on his own initiative!" Nathaniel suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, leant down, spotted Coppelius below, and with a shrill shriek—"Ha! Eyes a pretty! Eyes a pretty!"—leapt over the parapet. As Nathaniel landed, his skull smashed on the cobblestones, while Coppelius disappeared in the crowd. The Madhouse, which had briefly released him, was thus replaced by a final, irreversible fall.