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Oppression Of Women In Gothic Novels

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The oppression present at this time is represented through the imagery of the house, as it is indicated that the house’s structure prevents the characters from moving around freely. Therefore, acting as metaphor for an oppressive state in which it's citizens are restrained, portraying the house as the Gothic monster, controlling the fate of its inhabitants. Eventually this immorality becomes so overwhelming that the house collapses. This holds further implications of the impending doom that the upper classes, including the Usher family, will eventually crumble too. These texts both display ‘Gothic novels as a literacy manifestations of deep social anxieties’ as the storylines use distress to explore contemporary cultural issues …show more content…

Her psychological manifestations are a portrayal of the real horror of living as a single, childless, middle aged woman amongst a society so focused upon the idealised notion of domesticity and the nuclear family. Despite craving freedom, Eleanor’s lack of social identity leaves her ‘unable to resolve her contradictory desires’ as throughout the novel she switches between ‘dependence… and continuity with others’ or ‘independence and identity’ (Janovich, 1996, 287). Ultimately, due to Eleanor’s vulnerability Hill House is ‘able to convince her that she has finally found her place, her own cup of stars’ (King, 1981, 310). This is interpreted to be a clear representation of 1950’s social anxieties as it is indicative of the fact that women who had not achieved the idealised role as a wife and mother, often frantically ‘held fast to the idea that something might happen’ (Murphy, 2005, 18). Similarly, Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is a response to the anxieties of social oppression during 19 th century America in relation to aspects of slavery and oppression of the lower classes. Roderick’s mental illness is suggested to be a result of the

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679 Words | 3 Pages

Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be one of the leading writers of the Gothic Romantic period of literature. One of Poe’s famous short stories, The Fall of the House of Usher, creates a dark and sorrowful atmosphere, with a deep story of connection between brother and sister intertwined within. Poe conveys this atmosphere through powerful and elaborate use of diction, to tie into the overarching theme of tradition. Poe is renowned throughout history for his beautiful and elaborate use of diction and symbolism. He uses copious amounts of description to conjure up vivid scenes in the reader’s mind.

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187 Words | 1 Pages

In the short story “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”, Bradbury uses the house to represent society and its downfall. Ray uses, “This was the one house left standing” to show the readers that there is only one chance to mold our society before it is destroyed. The house is the only one left which represents the only chance there is to fix the harmful ways society is run before it is too late. Bradbury also uses “At ten o’clock the house began to die” to show that the downfall of society has begun.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

In addition, the author composes many other akin qualities between the house and society, to further develop the symbolism. Just as the house did, mankind would attempt the save itself and fail, explicitly stated on page three when Bradbury includes, “The house tried to save itself.” Furthermore, on page nine of the story, it states, “Among the house one wall stood alone,” clearly indicating the house has fallen just as society will. In my opinion, the use of this vivid symbolism allows the reader to reflect upon themselves and the society that we live in

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735 Words | 3 Pages

“And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things before. When people are dancing and having fun they don’t stop because a clock rang; this shows that there is something dark like death on the guests mind. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator’s thoughts set a dark mood. “...I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with a grim phantasm, FEAR.”

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990 Words | 4 Pages

We see some more foreshadowing and symbolism in the story when "The empty chairs faced each other between the silent walls, and the music played.... the house began to die" (Bradbury). The music playing and the chairs facing the walls (as an act of respect) symbolized an atmosphere of a funeral which foreshadowed the "death" of the house. Suddenly, nature's fury physically attacks the house: "The wind blew. A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window" (Bradbury).

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2098 Words | 9 Pages

In the late 1950’s, Americans across the nation began to question the ideas of the nuclear family and a woman’s role in society. The concept that a woman could obtain her own autonomy without the help of a man and the effect it has on the family began to appear more as a common discourse in literature and it lead to a debate that even now, has not had an end. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is a novel that brings into question the consequences of a woman searching for her own autonomy but more importantly, it illustrates the conflict, anxiety, and repression a woman during this time period experienced while attempting to make their own way and how it can affect her. Eleanor, the main protagonist, reflects a variety of issues that

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214 Words | 1 Pages

I will discuss in this paper the Injustice and oppression of women in Geoffrey Chaucer story, The Knight 's Tale, which shown in the beginning of the story, when Duke Theseus decided to constrict queen Hippolyta city , and after he finished from the city and became part of his kingdom, he taked the queen and her sister Emily like a reward. without showed in the story they wanted to go with the Duke Theseus or not. After Duke Theseus control his wife kingdom" the kingdom of women ", Queen Hippolyta disappeared in the story, and her role in the story became followed to the Duke, which mean the role of happiness and glory which the Duke achieved in his life the Queen did not have any impact on it. so that the story started to make a women as a

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718 Words | 3 Pages

The setting of the house represents the influence of World War II. The house is standing alone amidst the destroyed neighbor houses, just like England who remained independent during the war. The war, however, did leave marks on the English society which is now on the verge of collapsing: the house is tilted and needs the support of “wooden struts” because of the “blast of the bomb” (88). The broken pipes represent the damage caused by World War II. Pipes are essential to a house’s daily function of water circulation.

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335 Words | 2 Pages

The Gothic genre was often used to respond to trauma, social anxieties and dominant cultural issues. Social anxieties and fears can be highlighted in Gothic texts through the portrayal of psychological trauma as a result of social oppression, social conformities and contemporary social issues. The Gothic suggests that psychological trauma is often a result of social anxieties as ‘Psychoanalysis and the Gothic are cognate historical strands made up of the same human hopes and anxieties and then woven into particular patterns by the movement of sociocultural change’ (Punter, 2015, 309). In the novel The Haunting of Hill House, author Shirley Jackson ‘reconfigured the stock devices and settings of Gothic form in order to skilfully reflect

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753 Words | 4 Pages

I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results”(117-180) In this quote he his referring to the fact that he would rather die than live deprived society as he sees it coming. Poe does not kow to interpret society corruption and falls into the dark and negative way of acting and making decisions. Poe Uses internal conflict to portray the bigger image that is happening inside of Roderick’s mind

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1669 Words | 7 Pages

“ The Fall of the House of Usher “ by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about a man named Roderick Usher who initiates some events such as evoking his friend The Narrator as a protagonist to the dreadful mansion. The images such as the house and gothic ambience are used to reinforce the idea of giving the mystery to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic elements to show how they affect the atmosphere and the characters. In the beginning , the gothic atmosphere of the house is indicated with terrifying images such as “ dull, dark and soundless ” that the feeling of horror vaccinated into reader by the thoughts of the narrator.

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1491 Words | 6 Pages

It was not just men who had pressure placed on them for what they should or should not read. Generally, the higher classes, which Austen tended to write about, taught young girls what may be seen as simply trivia to readers today. This is most effectively seen in Mansfield Park, just after Fanny had been relocated to Mansfield. Her cousins, Julia and Maria, were astonished at the fact that ‘she does not know the difference between water-colours and crayons!’ (MP, 21).

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948 Words | 4 Pages

Hugh Blair labels the artistic gothic architecture – the setting, as a source of the sublime “A gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our mind, by its size, its height, its awful obscurity, its strength, its antiquity, and its durability”.14 Another key feature of the gothic genre is transgression. Transgression is simply the violation of social, cultural and moral norms. Gothic tries to get over conventional boundaries and break the rules of law and nature by transgressing to supernaturalism: The figurative texture of the gothic novel is a projection of the romantic minds sense of entrapment in an antiqued culture, its struggle to break from it and its guilty consciousness of both its participation in obsolete attitude and its transgression

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910 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the tone gives off an eerie and bizarre feeling. This is similar to many of Poe’s other short stories but this piece the most. The tone is gloomy compared to “The Black Cat” that Poe has also written. The author starts off the story with immense details of the setting. The readers get a dark vibe from these details.

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942 Words | 4 Pages

In the “Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher prematurely buries his sister, Madeline Usher, because he thinks she has died from an unknown illness. Poe describes the burial as, “We replaced and screwed down the lid, and having secured the door of iron, made out the way with the toll…” (Poe 425). When Roderick bolted the iron lid upon his sister’s coffin, all trust that had previously been built between the two had been broken. In Poe’s life, after the burial of his wife and mother, he felt like he could never trust anyone as well.

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