The Evolution of the Female Role in Nineteenth Century Vampire Literature

Abstract

In this thesis four texts generally accepted to be vampire narratives from the nineteenth century are analyzed, namely The Vampyre by John Polidori, 1819, Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe, 1838, Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872, and Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897. The central question regards the roles of women within these texts, the aim being to establish a chronological overview of the evolution of those roles. To this end, the place of these texts within gothic literature and Dark Romanticism is briefly explored, as well as three possible stereotypes visible in many gothic tales. In such a framework, the female characters and their roles are then analyzed through close reading.