Female Gothic

E48887

Female Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction that centers on women’s experiences, often exploring themes of domestic entrapment, psychological terror, and patriarchal oppression through female protagonists and perspectives.

Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Gothic fiction subgenre
literary subgenre
analyzes patriarchal structures
associatedWithAuthor Ann Radcliffe
Charlotte Brontë
Daphne du Maurier
Emily Brontë
Jane Austen
Mary Shelley
associatedWithWork Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
surface form: Frankenstein

Jane Eyre
Northanger Abbey
Rebecca (1940 film)
surface form: Rebecca

The Mysteries of Udolpho
Wuthering Heights
contrastsWith Male Gothic
critiques domestic ideology
patriarchal marriage
emergedInContext British Gothic tradition
emergedInPeriod late 18th century
emphasizes female subjectivity
interior psychological states
focusesOn women’s experiences
hasCriticalTerm Female Gothic self-link
hasPerspective female narrator
female protagonist
hasTheme domestic entrapment
female desire
gendered power relations
identity and selfhood
madness and sanity
marriage and confinement
patriarchal oppression
psychological terror
language English (primary critical tradition)
oftenUses ambiguous supernatural elements
first-person narration
psychological realism
unreliable narrator
relatedConcept Gothic romance
domestic Gothic
feminist Gothic
studiedInDiscipline feminist literary criticism
gender studies
literary studies
subgenreOf Gothic literature
surface form: Gothic fiction
typicalSetting castle or mansion
domestic space
isolated house
marital home

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Female Gothic hasCriticalTerm Female Gothic self-link
Gothic literature hasSubgenre Female Gothic