ABSTRACT
Maturin, an Irish clergyman is best known for his Melmoth the Wanderer, while Radcliffe was celebrated for a series of expansive gothic novels notable for their descriptions of sublime landscapes and mysterious castles. Martin-Christoph Just maintains that the gothic novel essentially engages with the fears and anxieties of its readers, usually through the intrusion of evil. For Just, Gothic writers were not intending to create realistic scenarios, but rather were using the gothic format as a vehicle through which to deal with contemporary issues in a disguised manner. As with many aspects of the gothic, though, the castle is also a highly contradictory motif: on the one hand signifying defense and security, while on the other a symbol of patriarchal authority, arbitrary power and oppression. Agnes in nun's habit is shown begging at the feet of the sadistic prioress, while in another she is forced to take poison whilst a dagger is held to her breast.
