Female relationships play an important role in gothic literature, espcially in the novel Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, and Lois the Witch. However, it seems that these novels bring up the different kinds of female friendships, genuine and ingenuine, and the important role that these relationships play in teh development of the female protagonists. In Lois the Witch, Lois and Faith are believed to be good, genuine friends until Faith's jealousy turns her into an ugly person, and their friendship quickly ends. It seems a common theme among many of these novels is the idea that jealousy, due to a guy, is the reason for deceit and an end to friendships. As we see similarly in Jane Eyre, Jane is in love with the master of the house and is a bit jealous of the blonde woman. There is definate tension between those two characters and the direct cause is the master of the house.
It also seems a common theme in these novels is that women of different social class and status cannot be friends. Jane Eyre is not friends with the blonde socialite, but her only friend was the red-head schoolgirl who shared a similar reality. Similarly in Lois the Witch, Lois has no true friends except for Nattee who also shared a similar fate and accusations. Lois is considered lower class because she is not truly part of the family, she is a cousin.
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You made some great points about jealousy that I hadn't even considered. If you really think about it I bet you could find this theme of jealousy in just about every novel we've read in class. Even "Castle of Otranto," for instance, could be argued that Manfred was jealous of Theodore. This could definitely be another common theme in gothic literature.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that jealousy was pretty much a big part in most of the novels we read.I see the common part of all the novels are the fact that most female protagonists do not have many friends and they are usually not being treated fair because of jealousy.
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