archetype of MAD women

• Poe employs connotation and grotesque imagery to portray the archetype of the "mad woman", a figure emblematic of 19th century england's societal anxieties. Traditional gender roles, influenced by COB, silenced womens voices and dictated the role of the submissive ingenue in a patriarchal society. However the Gothic "mad woman" purposely refuted this dominant ideology, serving as a warning of the dangers of societal repression and limitations imposed on women.
• purpose of gothic "mad woman" ?

  refuted this dominant ideology, serving as a warning of the dangers of societal repression and limitations imposed on women.

  • LM, a character enveloped in gothic tradition, serves as an undeniable antithesis to the conventional women of her era, with her characterisation challenging gender stereotypes and expectations.
• purpose of LM

  • LM, a character enveloped in gothic tradition, serves as an undeniable antithesis to the conventional women of her era, with her characterisation challenging gender stereotypes and expectations.
• what is the mad woman archetype and why did it arise?

  figure emblematic of 19th-century England's societal anxieties. Traditional gender roles, influenced by the Chain of Being, silenced women’s voices and dictated the role of the submissive ingenue in a patriarchal society
• she usurps the Chain of Being and “fell heavily inward upon… her brother… bore him to the floor a corpse”...

  Poe's use of imagery, she usurps natural hierarchy by avenging herself and murdering her brother.

  • leaves patriarchal "house of usher', "both the family and the family mansion" in "fragments". -> Poe employs iamgery to depict an entitled futurity of the Usher race that was interrupted and subsequently denied, by Madeline
  • Throughout story Madeline is seen simply as "mournful burden", with Poe's LC used to objectify her a boresome workload to be sequestered to the periphery.
• she usurps the Chain of Being and “fell heavily inward upon… her brother… bore him to the floor a corpse”... ? (2.2.2)

  • However at the end of novel, her screams are compared to “the death-cry of the dragon”. This comparison to a mythical beast, not only elevates her social status but more importantly acts as a metaphor for the metamorphosis of Lady Madeline that changes her from a peripheral object to the final punctuation mark of the Usher line.
• (2.1.3) Additionally, women expected to embody submissive role of ingenues, yet, LM defies this oppressive nature in Poe's depiction of "blood upon her white robes".

  • vivid imagery and symbolism to subvert traditional associations of “white” with purity, innocence and virtue, staining this symbolism with presence of “blood” to symbolize a tarnishing of purity and a subversion of traditional ideals.
  • poignant symbol of physical and psychological harm inflicted upon women in patriarchal power structure
• (2.1.4)

  • LM character serves as vehicle for exploring idea of unconventional women, popularised in Gothic literature to return repressed societal fears to society's attention in hopes of abolishment