Context in The Woman in Black
- Created by: florencechild
- Created on: 03-01-18 17:58
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- Context in The Woman in Black
- Ghosts and Witches
- Witches
- Women who were considered troublesome or undesirable were put down as 'witches'
- Drought, famine and unexpected death were occurrences that people blamed 'witches' for
- The more that people started to understand things on a scientific level, the less supernatural they became.
- The less likely you were to hear accusations of witchcraft
- During the Victorian era and afterwards, there are much fewer recorded accounts of witch trials and accusations in the civilised world
- Ghosts
- Became more common in the Victorian era
- Education and changed social structures did little to affect the belief in ghosts
- Spiritualism endorsed the ghost
- So the ghost continued to be "real"
- Sought to answer questions about death and the afterlife
- The ghost could be found through spiritualism
- Spiritualism endorsed the ghost
- So the ghost continued to be "real"
- Spiritualism endorsed the ghost
- The ghost could be found through spiritualism
- Became less plausible after the Great War
- There was a diminishing influence of the spiritualist movement
- But the ghost story still continues to have a lively tradition
- Became more common in the Victorian era
- Witches
- Gothic Genre
- Broadly refers to stories that combine elements from horror and romanticism
- Often deals with...
- supernatural events
- events occurring in nature that cannot be easily explained
- Or over which man has no control
- Typically follows a plot of suspense and mystery
- Common elements found in Gothic novels
- Gloomy, decaying setting
- haunted houses
- castles
- Secret passages, trap doors and other mysterious architechture
- Poor weather
- use of pathetic fallacy
- darkness
- thunderstorm
- Supernatural beings or monsters
- ghosts
- vampires
- zombies
- giants
- Curses or prophecies
- Damsels in distress
- Heroes
- Romance and intense emotions
- Gloomy, decaying setting
- Arose partly because the 18th and 19th centuries were a time of great discovery and exploration
- In the fields of science, religion and industry
- Some people began to question the existence of God or a higher power
- Darwin's "The Origins of the Species"
- 19th century doctors only just beginning to understand the condition of madness
- Used to increase suspense
- Used to explore aspects of human nature which cannot be easily understood or explained
- Women could find themselves labelled insane and locked up in madhouses for a range of conditions
- Alcoholism
- postnatal depression
- senile dementia
- even for infidelity, viewed as "moral insanity"
- Mad people are deemed to have severed their connections with society
- Victorian Attitudes
- Women
- If a girl became pregnant outside of marriage...
- Sent away to relatives to give birth and returns afterwards
- Reduced scandal in the local community
- Child would be put up for adoption
- Girl's likelihood of getting married drastically reduced
- No longer a virgin
- Classed by some as wicked or terminally ill
- On occasion they were committed to asylums due to the shame they brought upon their family
- Sex outside of marriage was shameful and unnacceptable
- No reliable form of contraception until the pill in the 1960s
- Sex outside of marriage was shameful and unnacceptable
- On occasion they were committed to asylums due to the shame they brought upon their family
- Sent away to relatives to give birth and returns afterwards
- 'Blue-stockings' considered unfeminine and off-putting
- Attempted to rival men's 'natural' intellectual superiority
- An educated and intelligent woman
- Some doctors reported that too much study had a damaging effect on the ovaries
- Supposedly would turn attractive young women into dried up prunes
- When Oxbridge first opened their doors to women, many families refused to let their clever daughters attend for fear it would make them unmarriageable
- Assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers
- Not for emotional or sexual satisfaction
- Had no choice but to remain a virgin until marriage
- No longer a virgin
- Not even allowed to speak to men unless there was a married woman present as a chaperone
- Many men found prostitutes
- Double standards
- Venereal disease (STDs) was rife so sometimes passed syphilis onto their wives
- Had no choice but to remain a virgin until marriage
- Victorian society placed much more importance on motherhood than our contemporary society does
- Untitled
- Not for emotional or sexual satisfaction
- If a girl became pregnant outside of marriage...
- Religion
- Strict Christian moral code
- Sex outside of marriage was shameful and unnacceptable
- No reliable form of contraception until the pill in the 1960s
- Sex outside of marriage was shameful and unnacceptable
- Strict Christian moral code
- Law
- Abortion against the law until the late 1960s
- Strict Christian moral code
- Life threatening risk of back street or illegal abortions
- Strict Christian moral code
- In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s
- Most adoption was informal
- Abortion against the law until the late 1960s
- Children
- Illegitimate children had no inheritance rights and were deemed "second class"
- For some it was a social stigma that they carried throughout life
- Children adopted by own social class usually treated fairly and equally
- If adopted by a family whose class was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected
- Children from different social classes were not encouraged to fraternise
- If taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them
- Illegitimate children had no inheritance rights and were deemed "second class"
- Women
- Ghosts and Witches
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