Female Gothicism came in the late 18th Century. It gave writers and readers to describe terrifying experiences. It was a label for the macabre, supernatural, and terrifying. Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft are some Gothic writers. Others are Lord Byron and Robert Walpole. Female Gothic is categorized by female authors as meaning that the Gothic texts “rescue” the female author. It plays out in plot, characters, meaning, or moral and theory. Ellen Moers coined the term Female Gothic.
Female Gothic literature tended to be labelled as erotica, childish fiction, or trash by several male critics or writers. However, others say that it links feminism to literature. It can be placed as a sub genre of Gothic literature focusing on female writers, their works, and the theory to gothic texts. Frankenstein was the most original by dramatizing dangerous oppositions through the struggle of a creator and a creation. Mary Shelley produced a test testifying to a female experience, because Victor has anxieties and fears as the creator of “the Creature.” It is important to note that Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died as a result of childbirth, and Shelley herself miscarried a child and was often bedridden. Interestingly, there are several passages in Frankenstein where the title character falls into a swoon due to stress or sickness. Her mother’s famous A Vindication of the Rights of Woman inserts an analysis of the relations between the sexes into a revolutionary attack on hereditary birthright, wealth, rank, and gender concepts. With her initiating this discourse, texts like Udolpho might not have been possible.
As explored in The Mysteries of Udolpho, it is too easy to look at propriety, because behaving properly would ensure your future in life. To keep your reputation, women depended upon propriety. It was a defensive thing. The notion of it being a positive thing also meant to own your own self-image and rightness in the world. It was about moral strength and pleasure one takes in creating their persona. The protagonist Emily would act without propriety behind a lock door. That is just how she is deep down.What propriety she has begins to shift at the ball at which she sees Valancourt. This is a perfect example of her wanting to live up to society’s expectations. To refuse an offer to dance and accept another one would be considered rude.
When she has been kidnapped and imprisoned, Emily is faced with a dilemma: Is it better to stay kidnapped by her abductors or to do an unladylike thing like climbing out the window? Emily is quite assertive and resourceful. Radcliffe suggests that propriety is beyond the rules of behaviour. There is a clear distinction of rules and inner morality/self-worth. Radcliffe was conservative, but she is not putting forward a Wollstonecraft-type notion of rebellion. She puts a young woman in a lot of lurid situations, but the protagonist manages to come out alright. On Emily’s part, there is a sense of empowerment, and she is not afraid to call someout out for their wrondoing. It does not all have to be progressive. The way Radcliffe creates Emily as a character is vastly different from the Wollstonecraft notion of women.
She gets taken away from her guardian and is forced to escape. It shows quick-thinking and intelligence. Even Pamela was presented as a paragon- she goes on about duty and obedience but will not stop to call out her husband. Strangely, Emily does not bemoan her predicaments, such as her father’s death, her being shifted to different places, and her abduction.
The Female Gothic is a culmination of the literary progress through the ages. Gothic themes placed the Gothic at the center of the female tradition. Those sorts of things we would call “female traits” was regarded as a mark of sophistication for men to have such responses. The Romantic Poets are mostly males. There were a lot of female writers during this era, but through Emily, Radcliffe shows a notion of sensibility.
