Northanger Abbey A Bildungsroman Analysis

Though at first the melodrama and overplaying of the imagination scenes may seem to be a typical blunder on the part of the movie makers, they are actually consistent with Catherine’s character and poke fun at the melodrama often portrayed in movies of similar genres to Northanger Abbey. This parody on other films mirrors Austen’s parody of the gothic novel. Still, on the whole, there is something to be desired when looking at how the gothic does and does not find its way into the movies. Though the imagination scenes certainly do portray gothic scenarios as Catherine perceives them, they poke more fun at overdramatized film adaptations of romantic and 19th century novels than they do at the genre’s themselves. Furthermore, the imagination scenes are

English 348 Mid-Term Exam: Domesticity and the Gothic in Jane Eyre and Bleak House In Brontë’s novel, dreams and uncanny doubles reflect Jane’s frustration with her imprisonment as well as her subconscious feminist desires. Dickens, by applying traditional Gothic concepts to both modern and domestic settings, paints a scathing picture of the disorder, hypocrisy, and indifference of Victorian England. These works acknowledge that very real threats exist within seemingly secure settings, and use Gothic elements to both reinforce and challenge the validity of the moral attitudes and behaviors illustrated within them. It is ultimately suggested that a balance between emotion and logic is necessary to gain the most accurate version of the truth,

In Victorian society, women had the choice between two roles: the pure woman or the fallen woman. Bram Stoker plays with these anxieties revolving around female sexuality – he follows the gothic tradition of innocent damsel in distress against looming evil. The narrative structure Stoker imploys to the text through intertextuality reveals multiple point of view distinguishing a duality in Lucy - her true self and 'thing'. In order to cope with Lucy’s worsening condition, the male authoritative figures of the text assign a duality present in Lucy to make sense of her shifting from “pure woman” to “fallen woman”. Stoker exhibits in the structure of the multi-faceted narrative how certain characters are unable to cope with the duality present

Of course, one almost intuitively understands that the novel’s leading women adhere rather closely to socio-gender norms; both Adeline and Clara, the two women who most represent Radcliffe’s idealized morality, are traditionally beautiful, focus on emotional intelligence via poetry and music rather than on scientific pursuits, and represent the appealing innocence of ingénues. In the same manner that Adeline’s unconsciousness contributes to her integrity, it also appears that her extensive physical beauty results in part from her inherent saintliness, her beautiful eyes linked to some intrinsic purity (7). Further highlighting this ethical preference for femininity, Adeline exhibits fear related directly to the presence of men; in the Marquis’s chateau, her terror specifically abates when she realizes that “elegant” and “beautiful” women surround her, and later the inverse occurs as she balks in fear at “the voices of men” (158, 299). On some level, Adeline seems to recognize that masculinity poses a significant threat to her, and instinctively shies away from its

The old lady told her, “ ‘Little Bird, in the world to come, you will not be asked “Why were you not George?’ or ‘Why were you not Perkin’ but ‘Why were you not Catherine?’ ” (Cushman 17). Catherine didn’t fully understand what it meant at first, but the old woman’s words helped her later when it really mattered. When Shaggy Beard’s messengers came, Catherine ran to her Aunt Ethelfritha’s house in fear and desperation.

Bronte 's Jane Eyre transcends the genres of literature to depict the emotional and character development of its protagonist. Although no overall genre dominates the novel exclusively, the vivid use of setting contributes towards the portrayal of Bronte’s bildungsroman (Realisms, 92) and defines the protagonist’s struggles as she grapples with her inner-self, and the social expectations of her gender. The novel incorporates Jane’s frequent conflicts, oppression, isolation and self-examination as she defends her identity and independence. Set amongst five separate locations, Bronte’s skilful use of literal and metaphorical landscapes, nature, and imagery, skilfully intertwines with the plot and denotes each phrase of her maturity.

“‘As a wife and mother,’ cried Lucie, most earnestly, ‘I implore you to have pity on me and not to exercise any power that you possess, against my innocent husband, but do use it in his behalf. O sister-woman, think of me as a wife and a mother!’ Madame Defarge looked, coldly as ever, at the suppliant, and said, turning to her friend The Vengeance: ‘The wives and mothers we have been used to see, since we were as little as this child, and much less, have not been greatly considered? We have known their husbands and fathers laid in prison and kept from them, often enough? All of our lives, we have seen our sister-women suffer, in themselves and in their children, poverty, nakedness, hunger, thirst, sickness, misery, oppression, and neglect of all kinds?”

Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is a great example of her works that looks at the role of women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Austen shows us the gender roles inflicted on women during this time period and how they are perceived. We see the strict gender roles that women were adhered to and the struggle for identity as a woman. Central to this novel is the vulnerability of women and the expectations surrounding gender influence everything and produce define results. Gender definitely determines and structures the world in which these characters live.

This symbolizes a shift in the way of being, that is characteristic of the Musgroves as they are described by Austen; “ the Musgroves - like their houses were in a state of alteration, perhaps of improvement” (60). They had replaced elegance with humility, and the stuffy furniture of the well-to-do with utensils that brought their family joy, even in disarray with their “little tables placed in every direction” (60). The bustles of Uppercross help create a setting for the Anne Elliott to discover the truth about what makes people worthy and what does not, it is here that she realizes that person worth in in their character rather than their rank and position. The Great Houses interior had been touched by its youth, becoming increasingly “modern” and therefore becoming more warm and welcoming. Rather than being stationary parallel to Kellynch Hall in its possessions, the house moved forward, loosing its classic elegance, however, Austen opens up the question that if the house loosing its elegance is ultimately a bad thing in this changing

The thesis statements that appear in the narrative are: the importance of wealth and social status, the marriage of convenience, the pride – depicted by Elizabeth Bennet- and the prejudice -embodied by Mr. Darcy-. She intertwines the critic on the social values of the time with a love story, perhaps in order to make her work more attractive to the public. To my mind, Jane Austen was not only a great author but also a woman ahead of her time. While everyone else was just content with what they had, she was able to see beyond and be critic with her time; a time of change, especially in Britain, an era of constant evolution and transformations determined by

Moreover, the protagonists, Heathcliff and Catherine, are happy when they do not follow the conventions of the society ,however, they were oppressed when they follow them. The scene when Heathcliff comes back proves that Catherine’s happiness is only apparent. Her Transformation

The governess’s first thoughts after seeing Peter Quint are to compare her situation to the plots of two popular gothic novels with romantic heroines, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre—the latter about a governess who marries her employer, which we know to be this governess’s fantasy. However, the effect of these references is not to make the governess’s story seem more like those novels, but just the opposite. The fact that she is inclined to see herself in terms of these gothic romances reminds us that this is not a romance; that those are fantasies rather than reality; and that even though we know that what we are reading is a work of fiction, it’s a work of realistic fiction.

The author describes her father as “a very respectable man” with “a considerable independence” and her mother as “a woman of use plain sense, with a good temper” and “with a good constitutional”; both of their characteristics are very ordinary and expected which makes Catherine’s odd character a rebellious one. The author describes Catherine’s life “as plain

Emily Bronte used various figures of speech to relate commonly known ideas to less known concepts. Catherine, alike to other family members, had rage and had it shown through the parallelism, “... though possessed of keen wit, keen feelings, and a keen temper, too, if irritated” (Bronte 99). The parallelism and repetition is effective in listing Catherine’s characteristics, all the while connecting it to the theme. In the simile, “ I’ll crush his ribs in like a rotten hazel-nut before I cross the threshold!” (Bronte 114), is said by Mr. Linton to Catherin to explain his jealousy and motive to kill Heathcliff.

In Jane Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility she discusses feminism through the challenges women may face in marriage. Austen’s portrayal of her characters Elinor and Marianne demonstrate the struggles and pressures women face. These challenges can be seen through primogeniture, Elinor and Marianne’s approach to love and marriage, and a man’s ability to ruin or help women. The familial succession of assets typically went to the first-born son or the next male heir. In the case of John Dashwood, he inherited Norland estate after the death of his father leaving his half-sisters and stepmother “to quit the neighborhood Norland” and move to a small cottage in Devonshire.