Gothic Hauntings and Representations of Gender in Daphne du Maurier’s “The Apple Tree”
This contribution examines the instability of Daphne du Maurier’s gendered characterisation of the protagonists in the short story “The Apple Tree” (1952), and the resulting tensions that arise from their inability to fulfil the binary gender roles imposed by the Gothicised marital/familial home. Th...
Na minha lista:
| Publicado no: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jsse, |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado em: |
Journal of the Short Story in English
2023
|
| Acesso em linha: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Resumo: | This contribution examines the instability of Daphne du Maurier’s gendered characterisation of the protagonists in the short story “The Apple Tree” (1952), and the resulting tensions that arise from their inability to fulfil the binary gender roles imposed by the Gothicised marital/familial home. Through her disabling depiction of matrimonial power struggles and the divide between the sexes, du Maurier draws upon the psychological and gendered anxieties of the post-war period. Entering into conversation with the wider theoretical debates surrounding the Gothic and gender studies, this article considers du Maurier’s use of spectrality and a fear of domestic entrapment and violence to suggest that the true horror at the centre of this text is an oppressive masculine and submissive feminine identity which ultimately leads the reader to question the ideological construction of gender within society. In this way, “The Apple Tree” is best read as an allegory for the inherent (self-) destructiveness of traditional gender roles/identities. |
|---|