| Gothic figures and places have always existed in literature, at times menacing and at times seeming to simply reflect our own human identities and societies. Through signification, Victorian literature enables novel readers to easily identify when and how the Gothic presents a threat to the protagonist. A narrator's verbal condemnation of a subject would likely indicate its undesirability; on the other hand, silence may suggest the suppression of an improper desire for that subject. Such identification and recognition on part of the reader take place in the reading process. But the act of reading is infused with complexities when the narrator chooses to manipulate language in the performance of narration. This thesis focuses on two Victorian texts which interlace issues of narrative, language, knowledge and self-identity. In Carmilla, Sheridan le Fanu presents a girl protagonist who opens up gaps and spaces for interpretation in the narrative by means of intentionally withheld knowledge. Accordingly, this type of chosen silence inserts different layers of meaning to the "unspeakable." In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll's Alice makes use of nonsensical language, exploring the potential of her identity and sexuality. These girl protagonists throw into question concepts of vampirism, victimization, purity, and innocence. And they never say more, perhaps, than when they are ever-present and silent. |
