Date of Award
Spring 5-4-2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Tanya Caldwell
Second Advisor
Paul Schmidt
Third Advisor
LeeAnne Richardson
Abstract
Scholarship on Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret typically focuses on Lady Audley. This thesis adds to the scholarship by analyzing the main characters Robert, George, Alicia, and Clara through a feminist lens in order to confound contemporary notions about gender roles. I argue that Braddon gives Robert and George traits often associated with women in the Victorian period, such as intense emotions, to overturn assumptions that men should not have feminine traits. I then claim that Braddon bestows on Alicia and Clara some characteristics associated with men to suggest that women should also not have to obey all gender roles.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/28915451
Recommended Citation
Hestand, Danielle, "Power, Domesticity, and Insanity: Gender Roles in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2022.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/28915451
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