Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2021
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
D. Michael Jones
Committee Members
Judith B. Slagle, Scott R. Honeycutt
Abstract
Analyzing Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and linking trends of the Byronic hero that have merged into a variety of genres reveal that the hero is a mode of subversive gender expression, which has evolved within the Gothic through feminine desire. Delving into Bram Stoker’s Dracula will provide unique insight into the audience’s desires/expressions of gender. Finding the transition point from the monster vampire of Dracula to Stephanie Meyer’s desirous, sparkling boy-next-door in Twilight will track the trajectory of gender and sexual norms through time. From the foundational adaptation of the Byronic hero in Wuthering Heights to the repressed vampiric desire of Dracula, to queer desire/domestication within Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, ending with sparkling vampires of Twilight, we can invite the Byronic hero, which already supports rejection of societal expectations, into a genderless space, becoming a champion of desire absent from the constraints of gender and sexuality conformity.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Hoover, Hannah, "From Byronic to Gothic Blood Sucker: Subversion toward a Non-Gendered Identity" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3886. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3886
Copyright
Copyright by Hannah Hoover
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons