Feminine Curiosity In Charles Perrault's 'Blue Beard'

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The depiction of women in gothic fiction is often hostile, mysterious and oppressed in order to subdue the power that is associated with femininity. The captivity of the feminine in these gothic stories is overshadowed by the fear of their potential to undermine and expose the depravity of man. Charles Perrault’s, Blue beard, demonstrates fear towards the power of feminine curiosity and the consequences of allowing inquisitiveness. In Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Fall of the House of Usher, the death of women also represents the power to annihilate an entire lineage of family and in a broader sense, female capability of reproduction and controlling the continuation of man. These gothic fictions often present women as ghostly and mysterious to reflect …show more content…

Feminine curiosity is one of the main rationales used to explain why women are imprisoned and oppressed throughout gothic fiction. This fear is driven by what these women may expose as a result of their curiosity and how that affects the status of man. Perrault’s, Blue beard, focuses on the consequence of female prying and how it is always man who will be negatively affected if women are free to inquire and explore with no repercussions. Firstly, it is man’s integrity that is exposed and excoriated by this temptation of the woman to uncover what is behind the door. Revealing the true nature of Blue beard’s character as a murderer he is tainted, similar to the key which she could “never make quite clean again” (Perrault 3), reflecting the power of women to disgrace man to the point of no return. This potential vulnerability, as a result female curiosity, incites the threat and imprisonment of women in much gothic fiction and observes reason to fear the feminine. Secondly, the switch of the characters’ …show more content…

The ability of women to carry children gives them an aspect of control over the continuation of humanity in gothic stories which is explored throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Fall of the House of Usher. Roderick Usher’s deteriorating mental health can be considered a result of his twin sister, Lady Madeline’s, impending death. Due to their inferred incestuous relationship, Usher’s family lineage is dependent upon a child conceived by himself and Lady Madeline which is pointed out by Roderick himself that her death “would leave him the last of the ancient race of the Usher’s” (Poe 4). The power of Lady Madeline’s death in the cessation of the Usher house is reflected in the immediate decline of Usher’s mental condition, as it is recognised that immediately after her decease “the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out” (Poe 8). A woman’s role in humanity as the carrier of children and birth giver is a significant power that underlines many tales of gothic fiction and is seen as a force that must be controlled. The fear of loss, not only of Lady Madeline but of the Usher house in its entirety, reflects the substantial power of the feminine. The consequent entombment of Usher’s sister can be seen as a result of Roderick’s angst and attempt to ignore the repercussions of her death. The oppression of women in gothic stories is in the

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