Female Gothic Essay

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Female Characters in Gothic Texts Gothic Literature, otherwise also called Gothic horror, is a genre of literature that combines fiction, horror and Romanticism. It originated from an English author Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto. The name Gothic refers to the (pseudo)-medieval buildings, similar to the church or castle, in which most of the stories take place, as in the original Castle of Otranto. This extreme form of romanticism was very popular in England and Germany. Characterized by its castles, dungeons, gloomy forests and hidden passages, from the Gothic novel genre emerged the Female Gothic. Female Gothic permitted the introduction of feminine societal and sexual desires into Gothic texts. The relationship between women and the Gothic focuses on works of Gothic literature mostly by women authors. In the mid-1800s, women had much fewer rights than today, and were expected to be submissive to men. They didn’t have voting or property ownership rights. They were expected to avoid expressing themselves openly in the men’s company and were supposed to be supportive ...

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