The Feminist Undertones Gothic Literature Julia Spada 11th Grade

Gothic literature focuses on the darkest aspects of humanity. It was written in response to the change the authors faced in everyday life, as well as the challenges of world events. Gothic literature is a sub genre of the Romantic Movement, a movement focused on honor, integrity, and justice. Physical elements, for instance mysterious setting and atmosphere, along with supernatural elements create tones of high emotion and gloom in gothic literature. Authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe embodied the spirit of this movement through famous works such as The House of Usher and The Scarlet Letter. These writings helped make gothic literature the influential genre that it is now. Other aspects of gothic literature are the oppressed heroine and the women in distress. Both of these aspects deal with the same thing: female characters. Mary Ellen Snodgrass analyzes the importance of female characters in Jane Eyre. She writes from a unique feminist perspective: that the oppressed heroin in the story serves as an outlet to voice concerns about the repression of women in careers, marriage, and treatment. Ultimately, gothic literature is an extension of the romantic era that is merged with horrors tones in order for authors...