THE STATUS OF THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY WOMEN IN A GOTHIC NOVEL: WILKIE COLLINS’S THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1859)

Authors : Özgün Yurtcu, Alev Karaduman

Pages : 317-335

Doi:10.30794/pausbed.1631348

View : 109 | Download : 70

Publication Date : 2025-09-05

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Though it is widely thought that Gothic fiction aims at evoking fear and terror in readers with the employment of Gothic elements, this genre actually addresses certain taboos and dogmas of its time intending to break or undermine them. By encompassing the othered and the marginalised minorities, it can be asserted that Gothic fiction aims to give them a sense of existence. As a consequence of such an aspect, in the examples of this genre, certain concerns related to the woman question, social classes, and particular ideologies that dominate specific periods can be scrutinised. To make it more precise, in certain Gothic novels, the secondary position of women in society can be discussed through the characters and their relationships. In particular Gothic novels, the gap between the social classes and how the lower classes are exploited can be examined. In this sense, in line with the concerns that are on the agenda of Gothic fiction, this paper aims at analysing Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White (1859) in terms of the representation of its female characters by considering the changes regarding the status of women in nineteenth-century England.
Keywords : Gotik Edebiyat, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White, Kadınların sosyal durumu, On dokuzuncu yüzyıl İngiltere'si

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