GOTİK BİR ROMANDA ON DOKUZUNCU YÜZYIL KADINININ STATÜSÜ: WILKIE COLLINS’İN BEYAZLI KADIN (1859) ESERİ

Abstract

Gotik edebiyatın, Gotik elementleri kullanarak okurda korku ve dehşet duygularını uyandırmayı hedeflediği düşünülse de bu tür aslında yazıldığı dönemin tabularına ve dogmalarına değinip bu tabu ve dogmaları kırmayı ya da sarsmayı hedefler. Ötekileştirilen ve marjinde kalan azınlıkları kapsayarak onlara bir tür varoluş duygusu vermeyi hedeflediği söylenebilir. Türün bu özelliğinin bir sonucu olarak, gotik eserlerde kadın sorunsalı, sosyal sınıflar ve dönemi domine eden belirli ideolojilerle ilgili belli birtakım sorunlar incelenebilir. Daha açık ifade etmek gerekirse, bazı Gotik romanlarda, karakterlerin ilişkilerini inceleyerek kadınların toplumdaki ikincil konumu ya da sosyal sınıflar arasındaki fark ve alt sınıfların nasıl sömürüldüğü incelenebilir. Bu bağlamda, Gotik edebiyatın gündeminde olan bu sorunlar ile uyumlu olarak bu yazı Wilkie Collins’in Beyazlı Kadın adlı romanında on dokuzuncu yüzyıl İngiltere’sinde kadınların mevcut durumlarıyla ilişkili değişiklikleri göz önünde bulundurarak kadın temsillerini incelemeyi amaçlar.

Keywords

• Gotik Edebiyat
• Wilkie Collins
• The Woman in White
• Kadınların sosyal durumu
• On dokuzuncu yüzyıl İngiltere'si

THE STATUS OF THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY WOMEN IN A GOTHIC NOVEL: WILKIE COLLINS’S THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1859)

Abstract

Though it is widely thought that Gothic fiction aims at evoking fear and terror in readers with the employment of Gothic elements, this genre actually addresses certain taboos and dogmas of its time intending to break or undermine them. By encompassing the othered and the marginalised minorities, it can be asserted that Gothic fiction aims to give them a sense of existence. As a consequence of such an aspect, in the examples of this genre, certain concerns related to the woman question, social classes, and particular ideologies that dominate specific periods can be scrutinised. To make it more precise, in certain Gothic novels, the secondary position of women in society can be discussed through the characters and their relationships. In particular Gothic novels, the gap between the social classes and how the lower classes are exploited can be examined. In this sense, in line with the concerns that are on the agenda of Gothic fiction, this paper aims at analysing Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White (1859) in terms of the representation of its female characters by considering the changes regarding the status of women in nineteenth-century England.

Keywords

• Gothic fiction
• Wilkie Collins
• The Woman in White
• The status of women
• Nineteenth century England

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