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LITR 4328 American Renaissance Research Posts 2016 (research post assignment) Research Post 2 |
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Vaneza M. Cervantes
The Role of Women in Gothic Literature
Taking Dr. White’s class has really opened my point of view of literature.
Especially one theme that I always took for granted the theme of women in
literature. In my previous research paper I talked about the Transcendentalist
women. I want to keep the theme of women in literature going by addressing it
with one of my favorite themes, the Gothic. When reading the gothic poem the
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti,
it got me thinking, what is the actual role that women play in gothic
literature. We all know the societal role that the woman plays, being submissive
and staying home doing the household chores. However, it seems that in the Gothic
world of literature, there is a second outlook in women. For example in the
Goblin Market there are two sisters.
Being women, they have to be submissive and afraid of the woods. However, one
sister defies the ‘law’ and is tempted by the gothic world.
For my research paper I will look at various gothic literatures and come
down to an answer as to what role woman play in the gothic realm of literature.
One
of my favorite stories that we have read in class is Edgar Allan Poe’s
Ligeia.
Ligeia is a unique story because it
enhances the idea of a fair lady, and dark lady. Being in a gothic setting the
two names give an air of suspense and questioning as to why those titles.
However doing further research as to why Poe brought to life these two women, it
seems that Poe was trying to tell the world of his ideal women, being Ligeia.
According to Stovall, “Her (Ligeia's) power of will is so great that she is able
to transfer her own spirit into the corpse of the Lady Rowena, the hero’s second
bride. Thus she appeals to Poe’s scientific mind as well as to his aesthetic
sense. To these attributes, beauty and intellectuality, he needs only to add
supreme love in order to make his heroine the incarnation of feminine
perfection.” In this gothic story we see that the fair lady, though said to be
dead, does an extraordinary thing that is out of the ideal image of women. She
defies death, thus being immaculate and pure in Poe’s eyes through the gothic.
The
gothic literature also shows how women could’ve been a danger in society, Sophia
Lee illustrates this in her work, The
Recess, “by emphasizing the dangers of secrecy, the ignorance that results
from it, the value of female friendships, and the need for female histories as
well as male” (Isaac). Following the characters Elinor and Matilda, I found this
article very interesting in how women are being seen as mischievous and
secretive, very gothic. By these women romancing the men, “Lee presents an
amazingly comprehensive and complex picture of male powers, potentials, and,
most importantly, problems within the patriarchal system” (Isaac). At the end by
these women being immersed in this world, thus men thinking they are innocent
and quiet, the women in this gothic world are able to go outside of the
stereotype and help or be a threat to the patriarchy.
One
beloved author in the gothic realm, Arthur Conan Doyle, really uses women a lot
in his stories, usually where the women is in charge of the inheritance. As it
turns out, “Doyle was capitalizing on a recent change in the law. The Women's
Property Acts of 1870-82 allowed women both to own and inherit property
independently of their fathers or husbands” (Hall). My favorite Sherlock Holmes
stories is the Speckled Band, where again
we have two female protagonists, Helen and Julia Stoner, both sisters. However,
one has already died; the other is on a hunt to solve the mystery with the help
of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. However, one would think that Holmes is actually trying
to help the woman. As it turns out, “Holmes takes over the Gothic villain's
role as physically dominant male while the villain steps into the physically
dominated female role: the relation of father to daughter is replaced by the
relation of Holmes to father” (Hall). Holmes is really trying to stop what
Sophia Lee is saying in The Recess. Holmes is trying to return to an era of male
dominance, by tricking Helen at the end obtaining all of the money. It is a very
interesting turn of events for the gothic realm.
The
last story I want to discuss is the very famous Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein. According to Haddad the
female character is, “usually for the sake of teaching a male character a lesson
or sparking an emotion within him.” Frankenstein being a gothic novel we see
women in a different way than how we have been seeing in pervious gothic novels.
Besides the female character being curious and headstrong, it seems that in Mary
Shelley’s novel women are going backwards. Analyzing one character, “Elizabeth
has become another inert victim in this game of insanity and male-centered
mayhem. She has been demeaned and reduced to a simple tool of revenge, along
with the other female characters appearing in Frankenstein” (Haddad). We all
know that Elizabeth is the main protagonist; however, the monster kills her. It
seems to be that along with Elizabeth all the other women in this gothic novel
are just pretty images, and they are not given a change of events role. It seems
that there are two sides to the role of women in the gothic literature.
In
conclusion, I thought that the women in gothic literature would defy their
social persona, and be daring, curious, a partner to the male lead. However it
seems that Jane Austen had an idea going when she wrote
Northanger Abbey, being said that the
novel is a parody to the gothic literature, especially with women.
Nevertheless we do have gothic novels where the woman is the heroine and saves
the day, even more in today’s popular culture. However when reading a novel one
has to reflect of the time frame of when it was written. We see this definitely
played out in Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
To end, the women is a mysterious creature. In some novels she can bring down a
kingdom, and in other’s she is as fragile as a dandelion. I have learned a lot
of the gothic realm of literature that women can be seen as tough, holding a
high role in the novel they are being portrayed in. However, society will always
conclude women as submissive.
Works
Cited
Haddad, Stephanie S. "Women as the Submissive Sex in Mary Shelley's
'Frankenstein'." Inquiries
Journal/Student Pulse 2.01 (2010).
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=139
Hall,
Jasmine Yong. "Ordering The Sensational: Sherlock Holmes And The Female Gothic."
Studies In Short Fiction 28.(1991):
295-303. Humanities Source. Web. 14 Nov. 2016
Isaac, Megan Lynn. "Sophia Lee And The Gothic Of Female Community."
Studies In The Novel
28.(1996):
200-218. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Stovall, Floyd. “THE WOMEN OF POE'S POEMS AND TALES.”
Studies in English, no. 5, 1925, pp.
197–209.
www.jstor.org/stable/20779365.
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