Date of Thesis
Spring 2026
Description
“For what do you hunger?”: Metaphors of Consumption and the Gothic Female Experience offers a feminist-forward analysis on the female experience in Gothic literature, specifically through the lens of metaphors of consumption. This thesis examines how, from the Gothic’s inception, women have been the victims of sexual violence and misconduct, rendering them disposable by patriarchal agents. As the Gothic begins to change over the course of the nineteenth century, female protagonists gain agency and move from being completely victimized to playing the villain and, eventually in post-nineteenth-century Gothic, becoming the victor. That is to say that the Gothic both reinforces the oppression of women and, especially in the twenty-first century, leverages that oppression as a critique of traditional gender roles in service of female transformation.
Keywords
Gothic literature, feminist theory, consumption, English literature
Access Type
Masters Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Arts
Major
English
First Advisor
Erica Delsandro
Second Advisor
Virginia Zimmerman
Third Advisor
Jean Peterson
Recommended Citation
Wychock, Olivia G., ""For what do you hunger?": Metaphors of Consumption and the Gothic Female Experience" (2026). Master’s Theses. 305.
https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/masters_theses/305
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons