Unpacking the Gothic Staircase and Madwoman in the Attic in Stephen King’s Misery

Staircases abound in Gothic literature and film, serving as potent symbols of psychological descent, often leading to places of confinement where madness and isolation take root. For instance, in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Jonathan Harker’s unsettling ascents and descents within Dracula’s castle mirror his internal struggle with fear and helplessness, each step bringing him deeper into a prison where safety and dread merge. Similarly, in many Gothic narratives, staircases direct characters towards confined, oppressive spaces where madness festers—their journeys upward or downward reflecting the psyche’s gradual unravelling.

In Stephen King’s Misery, this connection between staircases and psychological descent is intensified. The Colorado mountains serve as an expansive, metaphorical staircase, isolating Annie Wilkes and her captive, Paul Sheldon, from the outside world. Her mountain home itself becomes a Gothic “attic”—a high, inaccessible space where her madness dominates, and from which Paul cannot escape. The house itself reinforces this trope; Annie frequently retreats to the literal attic space above, while Paul is relegated to the basement, evoking a symbolic descent into confinement. When Annie leaves Paul in the basement to retreat into the mountains, she transforms the landscape into an unreachable, high Gothic prison where she reigns unchecked.

The Staircase Leading to the “Madwoman in the Attic”

In Misery, Annie’s autonomy in her home and her movement up and down the stairs solidify her command over Paul, as each level represents a space she can control, while Paul remains trapped. Annie’s home stands in stark contrast to the urban or pastoral settings of traditional Gothic literature. Her remote mountain house is a fortress in the wilderness—a psychological staircase leading to horror, with each ascent or descent marking an emotional shift that amplifies Paul’s helplessness and Annie’s dominance. The stairs become a literal and metaphorical pathway to the ultimate Gothic trope: the madwoman in the attic, where Annie’s rage and loneliness are unconstrained by societal interference.

The geographical isolation of the Colorado mountains deepens this symbolic journey. As Annie’s moods darken, she often withdraws even further into the mountains, creating a distance between her world and any potential for intervention. The mountains, towering above, create a sense of physical and psychological altitude, making Annie’s home an attic of her own design. Her power over Paul is symbolically reinforced by the house’s structure: she ascends when she wishes to retreat, while Paul is kept below, immobilised and powerless, descending further into despair. The stairs in this context become a vehicle for confinement, creating a Gothic threshold that locks Paul into his confinement and seals Annie into her role as the “madwoman.”

Annie Wilkes: The “Madwoman” Transformed by Isolation and Autonomy

Traditionally, the “madwoman in the attic” trope represents women confined due to society’s fears of their autonomy, anger, or unfulfilled potential. However, King reinvents this figure in Misery. Annie chooses her own isolation, self-imposing the attic-like confinement that fuels her madness, and in this lies her power. Unlike Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre, whose rage is contained, Annie is not imprisoned by anyone else; her autonomy within her “attic” (her mountain home) amplifies her menace. When she imprisons Paul, she creates her own Gothic narrative, asserting control over him in the same way she has asserted control over her environment.

Annie’s dual roles as “madwoman” and captor complicate the trope, turning her into a Gothic villain who embodies both rage and authority. Her attachment to Paul’s novels and her obsession with the character Misery manifest as a desperate attempt to impose order on a chaotic world. This renders her madness multidimensional, a blend of rage, loss, and desperate need for control, which King enhances by placing her within the isolated attic of her mountain home.

The Mountains as a Gothic “Staircase” and the House as the Attic

The Colorado mountains function as an expansive Gothic staircase, with Annie’s home perched high on the metaphorical steps of isolation. This landscape creates a fortress where each step upward or outward increases the distance from civilisation, reinforcing Annie’s autonomy and psychological depth. Her mountainous retreat transforms Annie’s house into an attic in every Gothic sense—an inaccessible, remote place where her delusions grow unchecked. Each time Annie retreats to the literal attic within the home or into the snowy wilderness, she reinforces her control over Paul by reducing his access to her and to any hope of freedom.

This dynamic plays out most vividly in King’s use of physical spaces within the home: Annie’s house is structured to emphasise Paul’s powerlessness, while each staircase reinforces Annie’s authority. The staircase to the basement, for example, is a physical representation of Annie’s psychological control over Paul. His confinement to the lower level renders the staircases within the house a barrier, a means to keep him trapped, amplifying the Gothic atmosphere of power dynamics within confined spaces.

Conclusion: Misery as a Gothic Masterpiece Rooted in Isolation

Through Annie Wilkes and the isolated, towering setting of her mountain home, Stephen King redefines the Gothic “madwoman in the attic.” The mountains, the stairs, and the attic-like structure of her house interweave to create a modern Gothic prison where psychological horror feels intimate and immediate. King’s approach not only honours Gothic tradition but innovates it, making isolation and autonomy the forces that drive Annie’s madness. The Colorado landscape and its “stairs” isolate Annie and Paul from reality, while the layout of the home intensifies their psychological conflict.

By transforming everyday objects, familiar spaces, and seemingly ordinary stairs into vehicles of terror, Misery cements its place as a modern Gothic classic. Annie Wilkes becomes a definitive “madwoman” for contemporary readers—an empowered yet terrifying figure who, like the traditional madwoman, challenges societal norms and constraints in ways that resonate beyond the page