Context:
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Victorian society believed in separate spheres – men working whilst women acted as
housewives
Reputation and wealth important values in Victorian society
Subverting Gothic genre (opposite)
Phrenology (the idea that how you look determines how you behave) – judged on
appearance
‘The Other’ – anyone who looked/behaved different in society perceived as horrible
Symbiotic relationship – one cannot survive without the other
Gothic Features:
Settings e.g. back alley
Suspense
Omniscient narrator (knows everything though a character might not)
Omens/visions
Supernatural
Women in distress
Darkness
Largeness
Over fraught emotion
Gothic Themes:
Religion
Good v Evil
Light and dark
Heroin v Victim
Patriarch
Disguise
Duality