"The pride of conscious worth" : characterization of the female in the novels of Ann Radcliffe /
The androcentric focus of Male Gothic literature reflects the
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1997.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=736796321&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | The androcentric focus of Male Gothic literature reflects the eighteenth-century view of women as legal nonentities and, ultimately, little more than the property of their fathers and husbands. This cultural view of women as second class citizens shows itself in the genre's portrayal of its female characters as little more than plot devices, serving as victims for the villain to abuse and damsels in distress for the hero to rescue. Ann Radcliffe, writing from 1789 to 1797, dramatically changed the role of the female in her Gothic novels and created a new mode of Gothic literature- Radcliffean Gothic. In Radcliffe's novels, the female characters serve as equal partners to the novels male characters, occasionally even dominating the traditionally dominant villain and hero. Thus, Radcliffe opened new roles for the heroines in her novels that were not available to the women of her time, allowing women to experience through fiction what they could never know in reality. The Introduction examines Radcliffe's life and establishes this dissertation's critical focus. Chapter I examines the legal, medical, and religious view of eighteenth-century women as indicated by the laws governing property rights and divorce rights among others. It looks at the church's official view of women as shown by the marriage ceremony and sermons that were preached on the wedding day. It also examines the medical profession and its view that biology was destiny for women. Chapter II looks at the growing debate over womens rights and the male backlash against the women's movement, specifically the backlash against women embodied in Male Gothic literature beginning in Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. Chapters III through V trace the development of Radcliffean Gothic in the five novels published in Radcliffe's lifetime. Chapter IV focuses on Radcliffe's fourth and most critically acclaimed novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and looks at Matthew Lewis's answer to Radcliffean Gothic. The Conclusion discusses Radcliffe's silence after the publication of The Italian and ends by looking at the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, ending in the Gothic genre's most famous novel, Dracula. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: English". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 208 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references: pages 199-207. |