Female Gothic: From Female Characters In The Castle Of Otranto And Wuthering Heights To Dacre’s ’Violent Woman’

Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto in 1764,which is regarded as the first English Gothic novel.In this period,a lot of famous female writers appeared.However,the term ‘Female Gothic’ wasn’t put forward until by Ellen Moers in Literary Women in 1976.Therefore,there are much significance for us to study the particularities of female writers and their heroines;besides,to explore the social progress through it.This paper consists of six parts,mainly focusing on the the characteristics of heroines in The Castle of Otranto,Wuthering Heights and Zofloya,or the Moor,and to analyze how they followed the Gothic tradition and the family mode.Besides,to explore the reasons behind the differences between female and male Gothic writers,as well as the appearance of ‘violent woman’.Part one is the synopsis of the texts and brief introduction to the lifetime of authors.Part two is the literature review of English Gothic and ‘Female Gothic’,as well as the definition of ‘Violent Woman’,and the significance of my study.Part three is the analysis of the traditional female characters,and to explore the reasons of the formation of their characteristics.Part four is about Dacre’s ‘Violent Woman’ and to discover the social progress through this term.Part five is the comparison between female and male writers,and to find the reasons of their differences in terms of gender and social classes.Part six is the conclusion,including major findings and limitations of the study.