Between the Female and Male Gothic: "Charlotte Dacre's "Zofloya, or The Moor"

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Charlotte Dacre's scandalous novel "Zofloya, or The Moor" (1806) and aims at providing evidence of its embracing both the male/horror and female/terror Gothic traditions.

The thesis starts by analysing Dacre's biography and providing an overview of Gothic literature's most recurring elements. Then it explores the differences and points of convergence between "Zofloya", Matthew Lewis's "The Monk" (1796), and Ann Radcliffe's "The Italian" (1796). The second chapter discusses the influence exerted on Dacre by those two early English Gothic writers. The thesis wants to demonstrate the perfect harmony Dacre obtains between Radcliffe's "terror" and Lewis's "horror" in "Zofloya". Furthermore, since Dacre subverted the typically Gothic role of female protagonists, a subchapter of this thesis is devoted to "Zofloya"'s role in nineteenth-century literature. Representing a new and utterly scandalous female mentality that was gradually gaining ground, Victoria di Loredani, the novel's heroine, challenges a patriarchal society in which innocent women like Lilla embodied the only female ideal in men's eyes because they accept their inferiority without rebelling. Nevertheless, in "Zofloya", Victoria's sublime beauty and strong personality triumph over feeble men, subverting the typical modesty of Radcliffe's innocent heroines as well as Lewis's female characters, who are the victims of male violence. As a result, the third chapter focuses on the two main female characters in "Zofloya", whose opposing appearances and personalities not only echo Burke's "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (1757) but also represent the clash of old and new values. Furthermore, the thesis investigates the ambiguous position of the title character, Zofloya, and Dacre's inspiration from Marlowe's "Faust" and, in particular, from Lewis's "The Monk", with which "Zofloya" shares large part of the plot. The thesis compares Matilda and Zofloya, the two devilish tempters in "The Monk" and "Zofloya", but also Lewis's Ambrosio and Dacre's Victoria, who, as victims of their consuming desires, fall prey to their tempters.

The final chapter focuses on "Zofloya"'s ending scene, examining female sexuality in nineteenth-century society and enabling us to draw some conclusions about "Zofloya"'s role in Gothic literature.