Analysis On Female Gothic Elements In The Robber Bride

Margaret Atwood(1939-)is one of the most prestigious writers,literary critics and poets in contemporary Canada,and has the reputation of “Queen of Canadian Literature”.She was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003,and has been nominated for this award many times latter,and successively won the international literary awards except the Nobel Prize.Atwood’s novels mainly focus on the nationalism of revitalizing Canadian literature,the ecological consciousness,and the feminist thinking of concerning the survival of women.Meanwhile,Atwood has always had a keen interest in Gothic fiction.The Robber Bride is a typical Atwoodian Gothic novel.There are many researches on her works at home and abroad,but few scholars discuss the Gothic elements in her works.By adopting the text-based intensive reading,the thesis intends to analyze the concrete embodiment of Female Gothic elements in The Robber Bride.The main research purposes of this thesis is to discuss how the Female Gothic elements reflect the inner fears and struggles of the three protagonists in the text;what is the real causes of their fear;and what role Zenia plays in the novel.The thesis consists of seven parts.Chapter One introduces research background,purposes,significance and outline of the thesis.Chapter Two summarizes the previous relevant studies on Margaret Atwood’s works and The Robber Bride at home and abroad.Chapter Three introduces the origin of Gothic and the characteristics of Gothic and Female Gothic elements.Chapter Four presents the application of female Gothic elements in the environment,discussing the patriarchal oppression suffered by the protagonists in confinement of space.Through creating the atmosphere of mystery,the author depicts the fear of protagonists as well.Chapter Six describes the application of female Gothic elements in characterization.This chapter analyzes the embodiment of tyrant male character and female villains in the text,and explores the reasons for the traditional Gothic image of split self as well as the dark side of the protagonists it reflects.Chapter Seven summarizes the main themes of the thesis and elaborates the future research directions.