Women in gothic fiction and their critics

Abstract

Gothic novels have developed a reputation of featuring a certain stereotype of women to the extent that the "damsel in distress" is considered a Gothic trope. In this paper, I re-assess the fairness of that analysis by examining two Gothic classic- Emily Bronte's Wuthering heights and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and one that satirizes and comments on gothic fiction and its audience Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. By discrediting women in classic gothic fiction, critics of gothic fiction also undermine the women who have written these pieces.