“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” is a darkly humorous short story by Edgar Allan Poe about an asylum that has instituted a revolutionary method of treatment. Here’s a plot summary of “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”.
“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” Summary
The narrator, a medical man, is in southern France near a private lunatic asylum of some note. His traveling companion knows the superintendent, Monsieur Maillard, and agrees to help get him inside, although he won’t go himself, having an aversion to the insane.
They travel through a dense forest to a dilapidated and gloomy house so dreadful the narrator wants to turn back. Monsieur Maillard, a portly man with an air of authority, is waiting at the gate when they arrive. The narrator’s companion makes the introductions and leaves.
They enter a comfortable, attractive parlor where a beautiful, pale and sad looking woman plays the piano. He makes some cautious conversation with the woman, not sure if she’s an inmate or not. When she leaves, Maillard informs him she’s his niece and not an inmate, but he appreciates the narrator’s discretion.
In Paris, the narrator heard how the asylum runs—a “soothing system” is used where punishment is avoided and residents are allowed to roam freely. Maillard now informs him that the “soothing system” has been discontinued. It simply didn’t work.
As the narrator isn’t familiar with all the details of the system, Maillard explains. Delusions weren’t contradicted, in fact, they were catered to. Various hobbies and pastimes were used. There were no punishments. Confinement was only used in cases of extreme fury.
The narrator is surprised the system has been abolished. Maillard promises to show him the new system after dinner, which is the most effective one ever devised for mania, and his own invention. They talk a while and go to dinner at six.
There are about thirty people assembled at the table. They appear to be of rank and high breeding although their dress is in poor taste. The shutters are closed and fastened with iron bars. The spread of food is extravagant. A table of musicians make occasional noises that everyone except the narrator enjoys.
The narrator finds it bizarre but, having a wide experience with different customs, he accepts it. The conversation is spirited, with the asylum being one of the main subjects. Several people share stories of unusual delusions they’ve encountered.
Three waiters place a whole roasted calf on the table. Then he’s offered rabbit with cat. The narrator declines both and has some ham.
People start sharing more remarkable stories of delusions from the asylum, including people who thought they were Cordova cheese, a bottle of champagne, a frog, a pinch of snuff, a pumpkin, possessed of two heads, a spinning top and a chicken. This last is attributed Madame Joyeuse, but then the speaker is identified as Madame Joyeuse when Maillard reprimands her, which surprises the narrator. Some who relate their stories make obnoxious sound effects and actions and have to be kept in check.
The beautiful young lady from the parlor tells a story of a young woman, Eugenie, who wanted to dress outside her clothes instead of in them. Several people leap out of their chairs to prevent her from demonstrating.
A series of loud screams from the main house unsettles the narrator and terrifies those at the table. When they die down, the mood returns to normal. Maillard explains sometimes the lunatics all howl together, causing a great commotion.
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” Summary, Cont’d
There are ten inmates, all of them men. The whole table chimes in on this point; Maillard reprimands them angrily.
The narrator questions the sanity of Madame Joyeuse and the others at the table, but Maillard assures him she’s merely eccentric and everyone present assists him as nurses and staff.
The new system is based on the work of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether. The narrator has never heard of them. Maillard is shocked and the narrator, ashamed at his ignorance, intends to learn of their work as soon as possible.
Everyone continues drinking and talking. The conversation gets increasingly chaotic and loud until the narrator has to yell to be heard. The danger in the old “soothing system”, explains Maillard, is that when unattended, the lunatics will use their cunning to plot something while appearing sane.
Not long ago, at this very asylum, something like this happened. The lunatics were behaving remarkably well. Suddenly, they captured the staff and put them in the cells. They began attending to them as if they were the lunatics. They were led by a lunatic who had developed a system of lunatic government that he wanted to test.
They remained undetected because the leader wouldn’t admit any visitors to the facility, except a stupid-looking young man who they had some fun with. The lunatics lived it up with everything available at the house for a month, and who knows how much longer.
Maillard is just about to disclose the treatment used by the rebel leader when more yelling from the main house interrupts him. It sounds like the lunatics have broken free. The door is hit with a sledgehammer and the shutters are shaken violently from outside.
Chaos breaks out. Maillard hides in the sideboard, the musicians stand on their table and play, and those at the table start acting out various personas—orating, spinning, being a bottle of champagne, croaking like a frog, and crowing like a rooster.
The windows are broken and in pours a group that look like apes. The narrator gets a bad beating and rolls under a sofa.
He learns what happened. Monsieur Maillard had been superintendent years ago but became an inmate when he went crazy. He eventually led the revolt that overthrew the ten keepers. They were tarred and feathered and thrown into the cells where they’ve been for a month. They received more tar and feathers and were soaked daily with water. Eventually, one escaped through a sewer and freed the others.
The “soothing system” has since been reinstated at the house. The narrator has been unable to locate any of the works of Doctor Tarr or Professor Fether.
I hope this summary of “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe has been helpful.