Sharp Teeth, Red Lips, Dangerous Ideas: The Construction of the Female Abhuman in Fin-de-Siècle Gothic Literature
Abstract:
The central issue explored is how the concept of gender fits into the construction of the abhuman. The female abhuman is shaped not just as a response to larger cultural tensions; the new discourses that propagate such tensions are factored into her creation to express a specific fear of emergent feminism. This work addresses the female abhuman specifically, and in so doing situates her within a culture largely afraid of the progress of women’s rights. By taking a closer look at four vital texts – Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan, and Richard Marsh’s The Beetle – readers can begin the work of answering these crucial questions: what is it about the female abhuman that is unique and intrinsic to her alone, and what do these qualities say about the culture out of which she is born? To begin answering these question, this work explores the complexities of the female abhuman through a comprehensive understanding of the cultural climate out of which she arises, her physical attributes, her juxtaposition with domesticated women, and finally her punishment at the hands of the patriarchal society in which she resides.
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