manly rival to the weak, ailing, suffering Jane, Emma echoes the femme fatale figure from Gothic fiction, from Rosa Matilda in contrasted as The Monk, Matthew Lewis’s she is with the victimised Antonia, to, more pertinently, the anti-heroine of Zofloya; or, the Moor by Charlotte Dacre, who wrote under the pseudonym Rosa Matilda. Victoria de Loredani, a spoilt daughter, whose mother absconds with a well-known adulterer, leaving her to dominate a weak-willed father, is described as the picture of health compared to her love rival, the pale, fragile, nervous Lilla. Over the course of Dacre’s novel, Victoria cons, poisons, and murders her way through life, helped by her loyal servant actually the devil Zofloya, who concludes the novel by claiming her – – immortal soul and casting her into hell. Austen strips the Gothic femme fatale of her histrionics in Emma although, from a certain perspective, equivocations – Frank’s reformulating Gothic tropes in comic vein with her protagonist. resemble Zofloya’s – Emma retains the autonomy, agency and acerbity of Lewis and femme Dacre’s fatales, without sharing either their demonic aspect or violent demise. Emma shifts its Gothic propensities to the margins of the text poison drips in gossipy conjecture, – murder becomes veiled character assassination, violence a tendency towards cruelty harnessing its energies and freedoms elsewhere. –
manly rival to the weak, ailing, suffering Jane, Emma echoes the femme fatale figure from Gothic fiction, from Rosa Matilda in Matthew Lewis’s The Monk, contrasted as she is with the victimised Antonia, to, more pertinently, the anti-heroine of Zofloya; or, the Moor by Charlotte Dacre, who wrote under the pseudonym Rosa Matilda. Victoria de Loredani, a spoilt daughter, whose mother absconds with a well-known adulterer, leaving her to dominate a weak-willed father, is described as the picture of health compared to her love rival, the pale, fragile, nervous Lilla. Over the course of Dacre’s novel, Victoria cons, poisons, and murders her way through life, helped by her loyal servant – actually the devil – Zofloya, who concludes the novel by claiming her immortal soul and casting her into hell. Austen strips the Gothic femme fatale of her histrionics in Emma – although, from a certain perspective, Frank’s equivocations resemble Zofloya’s – reformulating Gothic tropes in comic vein with her protagonist. Emma retains the autonomy, agency and acerbity of Lewis and Dacre’s femme fatales, without sharing either their demonic aspect or violent demise. Emma shifts its Gothic propensities to the margins of the text – poison drips in gossipy conjecture, murder becomes veiled character assassination, violence a tendency towards cruelty – harnessing its energies and freedoms elsewhere.