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    • Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (JIDR) (UMKC)
    • Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (JIDR), vol. 2, no. 1 (2008)
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    •   MOspace Home
    • University of Missouri-Kansas City
    • School of Graduate Studies (UMKC)
    • Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (JIDR) (UMKC)
    • Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (JIDR), vol. 2, no. 1 (2008)
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    Penitence, Punishment, and Pain: Negotiating Personal Authority in Francis Lathom's The Midnight Bell

    Condit, Lorna Anne
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    Date
    2008
    Format
    Article
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    Abstract
    Francis Lathom's novel, The Midnight Bell (1798), uses conventional gothic themes of crime, guilt, and punishment to interrogate gender roles and to explore how individuals may conform to, reject, or subvert mechanisms of social control in order to preserve their autonomy and sense of self. This paper examines the treatment of two characters, Countess Anna and Count Byroff, who each commit murder and come under the auspices of the Catholic penitential system and French judicial system, respectively. For Anna, voluntary self-flagellation provides an alternative form of self-authorization and subjectivity based on the special status of Catholic female religiosity, while Byroff's state-controlled subjugation results in his being objectified and feminized. While the subversive vision of male and female power dynamics is ultimately reversed, I argue that the novel's radical potential is never entirely contained, the high cost of the “happy ending” interrogating the social values on which such an ending depends.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10355/10097
    Citation
    Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 29-46
    Rights
    Open Access (fully available)
    Copyright retained by author
    Collections
    • Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (JIDR), vol. 2, no. 1 (2008)
    • Religious Studies Publications (UMKC)
    • English Language and Literature Publications (UMKC)

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