Dark Women, Dark Nature

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the Gothic works of Mary Robinson and uses the lens of the Gothic, ecocriticism, and feminism, as they operate in conjunction, to examine patriarchal power structures at work in eighteenth-century Britain. The main argument is that Mary Robinson uses Gothic nature and the figure of the fatal woman in her poetry and novels to critique and resist patriarchal power and to advocate for women’s rights and social justice. Central research questions include 1) How do these areas (the Gothic, ecocriticism, and feminism) within Romanticism create counter-points to the dominant patriarchal narrative of the eighteenth century?; 2) How do the above-cited areas serve to explore grey areas and what I call “squishy” definitions of morality, justice, and truth?; 3) How do these grey (or green) areas impact the ways in which readers see the world and how do these impacts affect resistance to oppressive power structures in eighteenth-century England? Robinson’s work presents female characters who patriarchal forces would see as dangerous to their hoarding of power. The fatal woman character is dangerous in her seductive magnetism and violent tendencies. However, the fatal woman is often fatal to herself as well as others, dying at the end of the work. Robinson’s heroines circumvent this fate in a number of ways, which lead us to the question – is she really contained, in the end? Not only is this research important in helping to revitalize the study of eighteenth-century women’s writing, but the questions of Mary Robinson’s time echo forward into our current global political and social turmoil.