Jane Austen’s novels, specifically Northanger Abbey, have key undertones of modernity. Namely, the heroine struggles with this modernity as a passage of their bildungsroman. These struggles with modernity are relatable and help to Austen’s success throughout the 19th, 20th and now 21st century. Catherine Morland, heroine of Northanger Abbey, confronts the influence of Gothic fiction which is widely available for the female audience and she opposes the political unrest during that period; the threat of riots and war of the age. Gothic fiction became socially acceptable around the time Austen was writing Northanger.
Personally I think Charlotte Bronte does this so that she can have the power to express her views on Victorian stereotypes more fully than a third person narrative or a play could achieve. Charlotte Bronte uses Jane to express her views on Victorian stereotypes on women, meaning that Jane is a proto-feminist to a modern reader. However to a reader of the era, Charlotte uses a character like Jane to shock the reader. It would be quite advanced for a woman of the 19th century to fight for her power and rights. She doesn’t want to conform to the stereotypes of women, consequently wanting to be seen as an equal rather than a male’s
In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reverses gothic traditions so that the males become the victims instead of the females. Consider at least two of the stories in the bloody chamber in the light of this view. The gender constructs of passive, young, virginal woman who are victimised by dominant, strong and wealthy males is a common trait throughout gothic tales including many of Angela Carters short stories from “The Bloody Chamber”. However, Carter received the criticism of “[extracting] latent content, conjuring up a new exotic hybrid” in which she challenges the typical stereotypes of gothic conventions, influenced by her feminist nature. These caused the post modern versions of her stories to adopt dualisms of combining sexual desires with naivety and give alternative interpretations that perhaps the male characters suffered victimisation instead.
In Gothic writing, women are presented as either innocent victims or sinister predators or are significantly absent. Consider the place of women in Gothic writing in the light of this comment: 2500-3000) Guiltless individuals, devilish seductresses or merely not being significant whatsoever are some of the very few attributes women are presumed as in Gothic literature, highlighting women’s actually position in society as to what role they actually play. This type of fiction was a popular tradition developing from the 18th century onwards which includes conventions of the underground, the unspoken taboo as well as concepts from evil in the human mind. Elements that tend to be popular within gothic literature range from Sadomasochism, melodrama, exoticism, transgression and even alienation. Whether woman are perceived as weak and feeble victims, or sinister seductresses (or not included at all), writers of this genre present this gender to the audience as either of these options which makes us question how innocent are women?
In the novel we are presented with very different examples of female sexual expression and are brought with the idea of the “new woman”. Not only does the expression of female sexuality in the novel defy societies norms, it poses a threat to male dominance and temptation, and brings about the idea of the loss of female innocence. While reading the novel Dracula the issue and controversy over female sexual expression was the most prominent and common theme in my opinion. Not only were we introduced to Lucy and Mina, but the three vampire sisters in the beginning of the novel. In the beginning of the novel Lucy and Mina are seen as the epitome of a Victorian women, they represented innocence, purity and devotion to men.
This reversal of gender stereotypes and gothic conventions is used often in Carter’s work. In the Bloody chamber, it seems that although she has adapted gothic conventions into a modern way, presenting females as the more powerful characters than men, she also retains some of these typical roles in some of her stories. The lady of the house of love would be an immediate example of how Carter creates a role reversal that differs from the typically valued places in gender. Carter creates the role of the ‘Femme Fatal’, with this dangerous woman that lives in the castle. This representation of the woman as powerful differs from the original expectation in a gothic novel, as the woman would usually be portrayed as weak, and in need of saving.
Women were seen as mortal, yet at the same time they were seducers and manipulators. The novels main idea is about the conflicts that women, who were influenced by the Victorian Age, suffered. Grace’s identity is confusing, as it is made complex by her either trying to protect her innocence or by hiding her guilt. Atwood does an excellent job getting the reader to question this, but her main issue focuses on survival, and how the search for Grace’s true identity is symbolically the search that all women living in a suppressed environment are involved in. This theme is very true to Atwood’s feminist pursuit, which is seen in her other novels as well.
Emma Baird Dr. Meredith McCarroll English 232 25 September 2010 The Death of Edna Pontellier: A Rebellious Defeat Even from its first publication, Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening has caused controversy. While today The Awakening is praised for its feminist undertones, the piece was first criticized for its lack of representation of American values. Instead of depicting a main character that embodied the Victorian ideal of a woman fulfilling the role as an “Angel in the House” which was the norm for American women during this particular historical period, Edna was a rebellious wife and an adulteress, whose desires and yearning for independence lead her to make many radical decisions throughout the course of the novel¾ from inwardly
Northanger Abbey was posthumously published in 1816 and despite this, was also one of the first written by her. It centres around the enlightenment of Catherine Morland, a naïve girl whom has a fascination for the gothic, a motive which is driven heavily throughout the novel, with heavy gothic leanings and imagery preceding over her narration. At the time, it was written as a parody towards the gothic, whilst further highlighting the idiotic viewpoints society held towards gothic literature; yet in by doing so, does this parody lean itself towards a celebration or a condemnation? It can be inferred that through the excessive hyperbole and extended socio-economic allegories, that Northanger Abbey is in fact a true celebration of all things associated with the Gothic. The uses of excessive description and hyperbole in Catherine’s language (especially during chapters 23, 24 and 25) can show in some ways that Northanger Abbey is very much celebratory of the gothic genre.
The appropriation of dystopian symbols in texts is a key way writers and directors get across their personal, contextual message. The burning of women with her books in Fahrenheit 451 symbolises, through the biblical and historical illusion of witch burning, that society finds free thinking and education an act of heracy. This symbol is appropriated in equilibrium with the burning of marry, is the biblical illusion of the innocent virgin marry. This key scean of women burning in both texts is either the tipping point as in the case of john Preston or the beginning of awakening