Exploring the “Female Gothic Heroine”

• Who is the Female Gothic Heroine? (For once NOT the madwoman in the attic)• What kind of “woman” is she?

The Female Gothic

Heroine

Who are the FemaleGothics in these films and why?

Do these women share any common traits?

Jane Eyre, Chapter 9

“I should not have suspected that it meant she was dying; but I knew instantly now! It opened clear on my comprehension that Helen Burns was numbering her last days in this world, and that she was going to be taken to the region of spirits, if such region there were. I experienced a shock of horror, then a strong thrill of grief, then a desire— a necessity to see her; and I asked in what room she lay. “

Jane Eyre, Chapter 9

“Her grave is in Brocklebridge churchyard: for fifteen years after her death it was only covered by a grassy mound; but now a grey marble tablet marks the spot, inscribed with her name, and the word"Resurgam.””

Comparing Gothic texts…………..

“In that land of beginnings spirits mingled with the unborn….”

“We could assume numerous forms……….”

“We are the strange ones with half our beings always in he spirit world.”

The Abiku Spirit ChildA child of two words A child of land and waterA child who dies before pubertyA child who is forever being born again

Jane Eyre, Chapter 9

“I should not have suspected that it meant she was dying; but I knew instantly now! It opened clear on my comprehension that Helen Burns was numbering her last days in this world, and that she was going to be taken to the region of spirits, if such region there were. I experienced a shock of horror, then a strong thrill of grief, then a desire— a necessity to see her; and I asked in what room she lay. “