Genre
Novel, Feminism
Setting and Context
Eighteenth-century England
Narrator and Point of View
Both first-person and third-person omniscient narrators are utilized.
Tone and Mood
Emotive, unsettling, empathetic, feminist, and activist
Protagonist and Antagonist
Maria-Protagonist. George Venables-Antagonist.
Major Conflict
Maria’s incarceration and mental subjugation in an asylum; her oppression is attributed to egotistical and disempowering patriarchy.
Climax
Maria’s detention in the asylum that follows her botched endeavor to flee from her obnoxious and unloving husband.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
The label ‘bastard’ understates the legitimacy of an individual as a child of someone.
Allusions
Allusion to literature such as “Dryden’s Fables, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.”
Imagery
Maria is an archetypal 'damsel in distress' and a victim of patriarchal despotism who is redeemed from out-and-out craziness by books. The books distract her positively; otherwise, her distress would have deteriorated swiftly.
Paradox
Mansions/Castles, which are magnificent, torture occupants such as Maria.
Parallelism
Maria’s and Jemima’s recollections provide parallel narratives that are instrumental in constructing the theme of female subjugation.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Hearts denote love.
Personification
House pillars are personified to highlight the worth of male children in households.
Maria’s thoughts are personified.
