‘The role of female vampires in the novel is to warn of the dangers of female sexuality’ consider the presentation of the female vampires in Dracula in the light of this comment Many may argue that the novel Dracula highlights the suppression and belittlement of women during the 19th Century. In Victorian England, women’s sexual behaviour was dictated by society’s rigid expectations. A Victorian woman was either a virgin or else she was a wife and mother. If she was neither of these, she was considered a whore, and thus of no consequence to society This idea is reinforced by Stoker with the contrast of the ‘brilliant white teeth, that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips,’ the virginal white is contrasted with the hellish red of their lips shows the battle the women went through suppressing and hiding their sexual desires. Stoker’s choose of women as the temptresses may be a warning to the women of the Victorian era to beware about pushing the boundaries of their sexuality.
Macbeth on the other hand cannot sleep and starts to see things. When Macbeth starts acting strange towards people, Lady Macbeth deceives everyone to hind their secret. When Macbeth kills Banquo and Lady Macduff, Macbeth’s guilt starts to go away because the evil and amount of power has taken over him. Lady Macbeth starts to feel guilty and is no longer able to sleep. She fears the dark, meaning she is afraid of evil and what has become of it.
How does Angela Carter deal with the issue of gender in ‘The Lady of the House of Love’? Support your answer with reference to other texts or films you are aware of in Gothic genre It would seem that in ‘The Lady of the House of Love’ Angela Carter reverses the roles of gender as instead of the female being the helpless victim, she is instead the dominant and powerful character, the role usually played by the male. It would seem Carter is showing how females can break out of this routine in which they are trapped by society and take the main role; something which is also seen through her other stories such as ‘Werewolf’. Carter reverses the traditional scenario of a male vampire feeding on females by using a countess who only sucks the blood of young men and so it becomes a paradigmatic femme fatale. Instead of her being a helpless victim, she is instead taking on the role of a villain and so Carter is challenging the traditional gender role of a helpless female victim in a traditional gothic story; she seduces and murders men, much like the Count in the Bloody Chamber.
While her getting worse than before, it dramatically shows the procedure of being enlightened in case of rising of female powers. There are several evidences that may represent narrator’s mental instability and they seem to be originated from John’s oppressive way to treat her. The narrator is afraid that John doesn't seem to understand her state fully enough. "Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good." (1279) She knows doing her favorite work―writing―and traveling around beautiful places may be helpful to recover her nervous hypochondria, but she just tries not to make John irritated by doing nothing.
Whilst both Dracula and Twilight explore similar themes they are expressed in different ways to represent different insecurities in society. For example in each text we see the classic universal battle of good versus evil however in Dracula this battle has been used to express societies fears for the loss of Christian values. In Twilight a key theme involves acceptance of others, which represents societies insecurities about the lack of acceptance for others within our modern society. The concept of the new woman used in Dracula demonstrates the 19th century role of women within society, this is then contrasted by the role of women in twilight, allowing the responder to see how differing themes in each of these gothic texts demonstrate the context of the society during the era in which they were composed. As these themes mirror the insecurities and fears of society as Dracula reflects the 19th Century society and Twilight represents a 21st Century society.
Both of these writers includ women as an element of their Gothic fiction, but they are used in contrasting fashions. In the Gothic genre, women are often times portrayed as either oppressed by a tyrannical masculine character, or in a forced position to make a tough decision. The former is the case in “The Black Cat,” although the beginning of the story makes it seem otherwise. This is exemplified by the narrator when he states, I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife.
In Jacobean times women were seen as inferior and even in the Victoria era, thus she required external forces to crush her conscience to allow her to fulfil her ambition. Yet she is afraid her feminine qualities will prevent her from achieving the murder of King Duncan. Which would gradually lead to her mental breakdown. Regicide was considered a mortal sin in Jacobean times, one God couldn't forgive. Whereas Browning’s protagonist in The Laboratory sustains her feminine qualities this is reflected in the line “The colours too grim” in which she is referring to her dislike of the colour of poison and that it needs to be 'brightened' up in order to convince her victim to drink it.
In addition to the concerns about non-confidentiality, the qualifications required under the proposed legislation for parenting coordinators are onerous and unnecessary. The process of parenting coordination is not dependent upon advanced degrees in mental health disciplines or excessive trainings. Certainly some training is necessary and the requirements under the current statute are quite adequate. Courts are conscious of the qualifications of those whom we appoint to serve families on a confidential basis. If conduct that is counter-productive to the aim of helping families resolve conflict is brought to our attention, regardless of whether it had to do with compliance with standards or statutes, we have the discretion to remove the appointed individual and never to appoint them again.
To what extent does Angela Carter draw on the Gothic tradition in her representation of female characters in The Bloody Chamber and what is the significance of these representations? Angela Carter uses gothic tradition and conventions in her depiction of female characters in The Bloody Chamber in order to break down stereotypes and patriarchal expectations; she recreates traditional gothic tales into ones which are both eerie and shocking for her modern readers, in the same way that old gothic tales were to Victorian readers. Carter’s female victims come to be empowered by embracing their passions and work to go against patriarchal rule, acknowledging their own sexual desires. Female characters can be presented as victims of male tyranny in The Bloody Chamber. Within The Bloody Chamber, the protagonist brings about the attention of female sexuality to the reader through the loss of her innocence “I remember how…country of marriage” she is experiencing a journey from her innocence and individuality to being the possession of a man.
and therefore plays a large part in initiating the reader's anticipation- a key criteria of a gothic text. Carter uses the metaphor "her walls as black with tears of pearl" to describe setting in The Lady of the House of Love." Here, Carter clearly juxtaposes the two in order to create ambiguity- another clear gothic convention. Through contrasting the black walls against the tears of "pearl," Carter forms a duality within our gothic protagonist. As pearls are usually white, the contrasting of the two suggest that the Countess is suffering from multiple personalities, as seen in other gothic texts such as The Monk and Northanger Abbey.