Gothic Horror Elements Used In The Women In Black

Women in Black Women In black is about a young gentleman named Arthur Kipps who has to go to Grygriffian because of a fallen woman named Mrs.Drablow. As Arthur Kipps visit Mrs. Drablow house (The eel marsh house) he finds himself in a Haunted house where he finds The Women in Black. Susan Hill creates a sense of fear and tension by using variety of literary techniques. Susan Hill uses Pathetic fallacy in order to create suspense and foreboding.

Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House, explores the cultural anxieties in the mid 20th century. Specifically, men use womanhood (societal norms) as purposely infantilizing women in order to confine the female mind. Jackson utilizes symbolism, metaphor, and anaphora in her novel in order to convey the message for men to stop infantilizing women. Moreover, Jackson spreads awareness that women are being confined by a system that men developed: womanhood. Hence, in effect, the novel serves as an informal protest against male repression through a medium that can be read by a wider audience —more importantly an indirect challenge to male readers. According to Krolokke, Second Wave Feminism became prominent due to cultural discontent with patriarchy during the mid 20th century. Moreover, Krolokke informs the readers that Second Wave Feminism influenced women to challenge traditional family roles and male ideologies about women not belonging in the workplace (11-12). Mid 20th century is also when Jackson published The Haunting of Hill House. So, with these historical and cultural contexts in mind, Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House ends the novel with Eleanor killing herself because she wants women to challenge the ideas of patriarchy into effect. Hence, Second Wave Feminism has a connection to Eleanor having a childlike personality (can not think for herself) because she wants women (especially young and single women) to explore their rights (their choices) and

When novels are adapted for the cinema, directors and writers frequently make changes in the plot, setting, characterization and themes of the novel. Sometimes the changes are made in adaptations due to the distinctive interpretations of the novel, which involve personal views of the book and choices of elements to retain, reproduce, change or leave out. On the contrary, a film is not just an illustrated version of the novel; it is a totally different medium. When adapting the novel, the director has to leave out a number of things for the simple reason of time difference. Furthermore, other structures and techniques must be added to the film to enhance the beauty and impressions of it. Like a

the play was set in the Victorian period. This made you feel as if you

Black women in America are faced with many challenges. Sexual discrimination and outspoken anger were some of the oppressions that African-American women had to contend with. They were marginalized even on the political aspect. Nobody was ready to come to their rescue. They were marginalized and frustrated by claims about a universal sisterhood that was oppressive. They were discriminated along racial, ethnic, class and social lines drawing them as half-humans. They had to go through difficulties in their daily lives, but the challenges to some extent helped them become tough and strong. This paper will use information from the books Still Brave and Sister Citizen to bring out the oppression of the black women in America. The oppression is based on race, gender, and sexuality.

The power of consciousness and thought- that inner voice of reason constraining one from happiness, or perhaps protecting one from the imminent fear and gloom encompassing the Earth. This is what Romanticist writers across the centuries have worked so sedulously to convey. In the 1700’s these topics frequently arose through what is known as gothic literature, a severe configuration of Romanticism. Most gothic literature writers including Edgar Allen Poe and Horacio Quiroga, demonstrate the universal idea of this inherent, earthly darkness through the use of two elements- entrapment and mental decay. These writers manipulate these elements to show that it is the unfathomable darkness present in people’s hearts and minds that claws at them, torments and traps them; draining the souls from their bodies leaving nothing behind but broken minds. The preceding elements of entrapment and mental decay are portrayed prevalently through “The Black Cat,” “The Feather Pillow,” and “The Raven.”

Pieces of literature often show relationships involving the supernatural. In Macbeth (1606), the supernatural plays an extremely important part in the structure of the plot. It provides a substructure for action, a deeper look into Macbeth’s character and it affects the impact of numerous scenes. In contrast, in Susan Hill’s novel, The Woman in Black (1983), Susan shows how the supernatural can be used in an attempt to make the reader frightened, she attempts to do this through the ghost of Jennet Humfryes who is trying to seek revenge and solace for the injustice that was done to her in her past life and to her son. Once again, the supernatural plays an integral part throughout the story with the ghost of Jennet Humfryes and what occurs at Eel Marsh house. While over three hundred and seventy years separate the two pieces of literature, both explore how the supernatural affects the protagonist’s sanity and both pieces of literature feature the supposed involvement of ghosts which are widely used in plays or novels that feature the supernatural. However, whereas Shakespeare illustrates the destructive effects the supernatural can have on a protagonist’s (Macbeth’s) decision making and how an honourable and well respected man can turn into a dishonourable and largely hated man whom people generally despise. Susan Hill demonstrates the effect of when the supernatural affects a lawyer who doesn’t end up resorting to doing anything dishonourable and who doesn’t deserve the

Whens the last time you read a great horror story? Have you ever been afraid of the unknown? Well, Susan Hill wrote The Woman in Black, a gothic novel set in the Nineteenth Century about the fear of the unknown. We all know we like a good ghost story here and there. Well, this novel is full of fear and the unknown that will keep you silent and wanting more. It will make you cringe with its supernatural events throughout the novel. The Woman in Black has an interesting background to it that makes is so horrific.

Race and gender roles were an ever present issue in the Southern culture and dynamic. After the Civil War, dramatic changes began to take place in the South. Political leaders began to enact Civil Rights amendments, industrialization became more popular, and gender roles were beginning to be indistinct. In Southern literature, the portrayal of female characters evolved along side with the Southern culture. Female characters became more independent, strong-willed, and hardworking. Even African Americans became the main characters in Southern literature. In “Caroline Gordon’s Ghosts: The Women on the Porch as Southern Gothic Literature”, Tanfer Tunc discusses the evolution of the female character in Southern literature.

In addition, Foster utilizes early Gothic elements by incorporating the age’s shifting gender roles to make sexual differences “a source of fear” that plays into the element of generating “something like fear,” for the readers (Crow 1-2). Wharton’s friends and family are all eminent on letting her know that virtue is important and that she is not taking her life serious. Her coquetry is horrific--a Gothic component--to them, exemplifying this other Gothic component of rationality versus irrationality whereas, “My blood thrilled with horror at this sacrifice of virtue!” (Foster 142). What also impacts this novel in terms of Gothicism is that humans naturally make mistakes whether they are along the lines of being evil or disgraceful. In Gothic

Since the inventions of television and film, media influences have become extremely important in modern society with people constantly being inundated by images and messages that come from film, television, magazines, internet and advertising. Researchers and theorists such as Carol J. Clover and Jean Kilborne believe that the fact that people are going to be affected by the media is absolutely unavoidable. Films can act as guides to how people, particularly women, should act and look. Women in horror are typically shown as the ‘damsel in distress’ and are usually attacked by the killer after committing a sinful act like having sex or misusing drugs or alcohol. The females are

How does the author make the first encounter with the Woman in Black particularly ominous?

  Women were once little more than slaves to their male "betters." Some women might have been respected, but their places were limited to roles as wives and mothers. They might rule a home, but were not believed intelligent enough for any other role. This chauvinistic attitude is well reflected in the novels Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

Women in horror fiction tend to be portrayed in a similar light. They are either victims or survivors, but rarely aggressors. Or are they capable of being all these? And if they are, for what purpose do they serve? Dan Simmons’s horror novel, Song of Kali (SK) portrayal of the mother and the villainesses/monster, emphasises females’ struggles for survival of their own through sexual selection, protection of their offspring and aggression towards rivals. Amrita is the maternal embodiment in contrast to Kali and Kamakhya as monsters. Furthermore the recurrent adaptive problems of surviving in a hostile and unknown place, with the added factor of the supernatural, dark and evil forces, make SK is a good premise to test for the biocultural paradigm.

him or her involved in the film - how often have you been watching a