Clara Reeve

society. The main focus is often on a female protagonist who is threatened and persecuted by an evil patriarchal figure. The nightmarish, fearful atmosphere of the Gothic world grants the opportunity for female authors to illustrate the female protagonist conflict with the values of society.94 As other genres, there is a very palpable relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth, early nineteenth and modern gothics and the social conditions of women at these three…

because her stories taught a lesson. Maria Edgeworth was also an educator of the newly literate women (Smith, 1996). Soon, however, women were relieved from the burden of social traditions due to their triumphs in Gothic literature. Authors such as Clara Reeve, Sophia Lee, Ann Radcliffe, and Charlotte Dacre wrote stories about very abnormal occurrences. Their stories were about sex, murder, the supernatural, and fantasy. Although these women broke traditions, they were highly exalted for their…