Transgression/Sexual Transgression

Question 1

What is transgression in Gothic literature?

Answer 1

Transgression is the violation of boundaries—moral, social, sexual, or supernatural. It’s central to Gothic’s exploration of fear, desire, and the uncanny.

Question 2

How does transgression link to Gothic themes and reader response?

Answer 2

Gothic transgression provokes both fascination and fear, revealing hidden desires and societal taboos. It invites reflection on repressed anxieties.

Question 3

Give a critic quote on sexual transgression in the Gothic.

Answer 3

Jerrold E. Hogle: “The Gothic is obsessed with transgression and the crossing of social, sexual and epistemological boundaries.”

Question 4

How does Carter subvert traditional narratives of sexual transgression?

Answer 4

Carter reclaims female sexuality—her heroines eventually resist or survive male violence. The mother’s intervention in The Bloody Chamber inverts passive female roles.

Question 5

Critic to explain subversion of traditional sexual transgressing in TBC

Answer 5

Helen Simpson: “Carter’s heroines fight back against the Gothic’s usual victimisation of women.”

Question 6

How does Gothic imagery express sexual transgression?

Answer 6

Symbolic imagery like blood, locked doors, and penetrating objects (e.g. teeth, keys) conveys violation, secrecy, and forbidden desire.

Question 7

How does sexual transgression reveal power structures in the Gothic?

Answer 7

It exposes how patriarchal systems commodify or control female bodies. The Gothic reveals these structures, often through violence or seduction.

Question 8

How does Gothic narrative structure support transgression?

Answer 8

Fragmented, unreliable or epistolary forms reflect destabilised identity and hidden desires—mirroring the transgressive content.