Zofloya, or The Moor: a novel between the female and male Gothic traditions
This thesis centres on Charlotte Dacre's scandalous novel Zofloya, or The Moor (1806) and aims at providing evidence of its embracing both the male/horror and female/terror gothic traditions by discussing the opinions of some of the most influential critics.
The thesis begins with a biography of the author and an overview of Gothic literature and its most recurring elements. Furthermore, we will explore the differences and points of convergence between Zofloya, Lewis's The Monk (1796), and Radcliffe's The Italian (1796) in discussing the two main English gothic writers of the nineteenth century, Matthew Gregory Lewis and Ann Radcliffe. Dacre's novel demonstrates, in fact, a perfect harmony between Radcliffe's terror approach and Lewis' horror style. Furthermore, since Dacre subverted the role of female protagonists in gothic fiction, we will devote one subchapter to
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Representing a new and utterly scandalous female mentality that was gradually gaining ground, Victoria di Loredani challenges a patriarchal society in which innocent women like Lilla embodied the only female ideal in men's eyes as she willingly accepted her inferiority without rebelling. Nevertheless, in the book, Victoria's sublime beauty and strong personality triumph over feeble men, subverting both Radcliffe's innocent heroines and Lewis' female characters who are victims of male violence. As a result, the third chapter will focus on the two main female characters in Zofloya, whose opposing appearances and personalities not only echo Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) but also represent the clash of old and new values. Furthermore, we will investigate the ambiguous position of the title character, Zofloya, and Dacre's inspiration from Marlowe's Faust, but