Sneha 1

Sneha Das

Professor Sunjay Sharma

Research and Methodology

Discipline Specific Elective

8 February 2025

From Entrapment to Erasure: The Evolution of Gothic Spaces in Female Gothic Fiction"

RESEARCH STATEMENT

What if the true horror of the Gothic was not the ghosts that haunt a house, but the house itself?

This dissertation explores how Gothic architecture in Female Gothic fiction evolves from a site

of physical imprisonment to an active force that consumes the heroine entirely. No longer mere

backdrops for terror, these haunted spaces transform from rigid fortresses (The Mysteries of

Udolpho), to invasive, shifting landscapes (The Yellow Wallpaper), to sites of total existential
erasure (The Haunting of Hill House). Through this trajectory, I argue that Female Gothic spaces

become increasingly insidious—not just trapping women, but infiltrating their minds, rewriting

their realities, and ultimately dissolving their identities. While earlier heroines struggled to

escape, modern Gothic architecture makes escape impossible, not because the doors are locked,

but because the self is no longer intact. This research redefines haunted spaces as not just

prisons, but as agents of feminine annihilation, revealing how space itself has become the final

and most inescapable horror.

PROBLEM

Traditional Female Gothic fiction has long depicted women’s oppression through haunted

spaces, but the nature of this oppression has fundamentally changed over time. In the 18th

century, Gothic heroines were physically imprisoned in castles and convents, reflecting women’s

real-world legal and social confinement. These spaces were passive settings of patriarchal

control, and the heroines—though distressed—remained rational and capable of escape.

However, by the 19th and 20th centuries, the Gothic house evolved from a site of physical

entrapment into an invasive, consuming force. No longer just prisons, haunted spaces began

erasing women’s identities entirely, mirroring how patriarchal control became more

psychological and internalized. This study examines how Gothic spaces shift from external

confinement (The Mysteries of Udolpho) to psychological invasion (The Yellow Wallpaper) to

total erasure (The Haunting of Hill House). The central problem this dissertation addresses is:
How and why does Gothic horror shift from physical imprisonment to the erasure of the female

subject, and what does this reveal about evolving anxieties surrounding gender, autonomy, and

identity? By analyzing this transformation, the research will uncover how the ultimate horror in

Female Gothic fiction is no longer just captivity, but the terrifying loss of self.

LITERARY REVIEW

OBJECTIVES: PRELIMINARY ARGUMENTS

1) 18th-Century Gothic: Haunted Spaces as Physical Prisons

In early Female Gothic fiction, haunted spaces serve as external, male-controlled prisons,

reflecting real-world anxieties about legal and social constraints on women. In Ann Radcliffe’s

The Mysteries of Udolpho, the Gothic castle functions as a rigid patriarchal structure, where

women are confined but still maintain their sense of self. The horror is external—oppressive

male villains like Montoni wield control, but the heroine’s mind remains her own. This reflects

the legal realities of the 18th century, where women were physically dependent on men but had

not yet argued the oppression as a mental state, patriarchy was more understood in terms of

external oppression However, because the heroine retains her rationality, escape is always

possible, reinforcing an Enlightenment-era belief in individual agency and virtue.

Supporting Example:

"She looked with anxious solicitude upon the massy portals of the castle, and the surrounding
ramparts, that seemed to frown defiance upon her attempts to escape." (Udolpho)

The castle is a physical barrier, but Emily’s distress does not dissolve her identity.

Key Argument: 18th-century Gothic horror is about patriarchal restriction, the castle acts as a

setting manifested by external oppression not psychological collapse—escape is possible because

the mind remains intact.The Gothic setting is an external prison, not a sentient force that

consumes the heroine’s identity.

2)19th-Century Gothic: Haunted Spaces as Psychological Traps

By the 19th century, Gothic spaces began to shift from external barriers to invasive

psychological forces, mirroring changing patriarchal control. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The

Yellow Wallpaper, the protagonist is not just physically trapped in a nursery—her own

perception of reality is altered by the space itself. Unlike Radcliffe’s heroine, she does not

rationally resist confinement but gradually merges with the haunted environment. This reflects

19th-century anxieties about hysteria, the medicalization of female bodies, and the idea that

women’s oppression was shifting from physical confinement to mental conditioning.

Supporting Example:

"I have finally found out what the thing in the wallpaper really is! It is a woman! She is

creeping, and most of the time she is trying to climb through!" (The Yellow Wallpaper)

Unlike Emily in Udolpho, this narrator cannot separate herself from the haunted space—it is

actively consuming her perception of self.

Key Argument: In the 19th century, haunted spaces stop being external prisons and become

psychological landscapes that manipulate and break down female subjectivity.

By the 20th century, Female Gothic horror moves beyond psychological invasion to depict

haunted spaces as entities that fully erase female identity. In Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of

Hill House, the house does not simply trap Eleanor—it absorbs her entirely. Unlike earlier

heroines, Eleanor does not fight against her fate or seek escape; instead, she willingly dissolves

into the haunted space. This represents the final stage of Female Gothic horror, where the self is

no longer just threatened—it is annihilated. The horror is not of captivity, but of ceasing to exist

as an independent being. This shift reflects 20th-century radical feminist concerns about

suburban domesticity, existential alienation, and the loss of female autonomy in a culture that

demanded women disappear into their roles as wives and mothers,concerns influenced by the

second wave of feminism unwinding and and the arrangement of “feminine mystique”as put by

betty fredian.

Supporting Example:

"Hill House had taken her. And whatever walked there, walked alone." (The Haunting of Hill

House) Unlike previous Gothic heroines, Eleanor does not escape—she ceases to exist

independently.

Key Argument: 20th-century haunted spaces do not just invade the heroine’s mind—they

consume her entirely, reflecting a shift from patriarchal oppression to existential annihilation.

4) Final Objective: Unifying These Three Stages

This dissertation argues that the transformation of haunted spaces in Female Gothic fiction

mirrors broader changes in patriarchal oppression.

In the 19th century, oppression became psychological → Gothic spaces invaded

female perception.

● By the 20th century, oppression was existential → Gothic spaces erased female

identity altogether.

By tracing this evolution, this study provides a new framework for understanding how Female

Gothic fiction reveals shifting fears about gender, autonomy, and the self.

Methods: How the Research Will Be Conducted

Comparative Textual Analysis → Examining The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Yellow

Wallpaper, and The Haunting of Hill House to trace the shift from entrapment to invasion to

erasure.

First I will start by Close Reading that is Analyzing how haunted spaces interact with the

heroine and evolve from physical barriers to psychological forces.

Followed by reading some Interdisciplinary critical readings

● Gothic Studies → Evolution of haunted spaces in Female Gothic fiction.

● Feminist Theory → How haunted spaces reflect shifting patriarchal control.

● Spatial Theory → How spaces transition from passive prisons to consuming entities.
Lastly will look at the Historical & Cultural Context therefore Connecting each text to the

gender anxieties of its time (legal oppression, domestic confinement, existential alienation) and

hence defining how the role of “space” in gothic fiction changed .

Conclusion: Broad Outline of Research Goals

This research aims to redefine the role of haunted spaces in Female Gothic fiction by tracing

their transformation from physical entrapment to psychological invasion to existential erasure.

By analyzing The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Yellow Wallpaper, and The Haunting of Hill

House, the study demonstrates how shifting woman anxieties shape the way haunted spaces in

female gothic fictions function—moving from external oppression to internal psychological

control, and ultimately, to the annihilation of female identity.

Through comparative textual analysis, feminist theory, and spatial studies, this dissertation hopes

to Provide a new framework for understanding how haunted spaces evolve in Female Gothic

fiction, Show how Gothic horror reflects changing societal fears about gender, autonomy, and

the self and Contribute to interdisciplinary discussions on literature, feminism, and architecture

by highlighting how Gothic spaces transition from mere settings to active forces of erasure.

Ultimately, this study reveals that the greatest horror in Female Gothic fiction is no longer

external captivity, but the complete dissolution of female identity within the haunted space itself.
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