| This thesis focuses on scenes of sexual violence in three nineteenth-century novels: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, and Dracula by Bram Stoker. As all these scenes all take place in bedrooms, I study the evolution of the bedroom to further understand the significance of the violations suffered by the female characters in these novels. By the end of the nineteenth century, the bedroom had become a personalized, individuated space that reflected the identity of its inhabitant. By studying the nascence of the bedroom in the nineteenth century, I highlight how sexual assaults which occur in bedrooms not only represent a violation of the body, but a violation of the self. |
