The gothic heroine and the wicked woman

the polarization of femininity in The haunting of hill house, by Shirley Jackson

Abstract

This article examines the construction of femininity in The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (2021) from the perspective of Female Gothic criticism. Drawing on the discussions of Wallace and Smith (2009) and Simone de Beauvoir's (1967) formulation of women's social condition, the study investigates how the novel shifts horror from the supernatural realm to the female subjective experience, portraying femininity as a historical and cultural construct. The analysis also incorporates Judith Butler's (2003) concept of gender as performance to examine how the characters Eleanor Vance and Theodora embody different modes of performing femininity. While Eleanor is shaped by her search for belonging and by the internalization of social norms, Theodora is characterized by her resistance to categorization and her instability in relation to those same norms. In addition, the article considers the role of Hill House as a space that intensifies the conflicts experienced by the female characters. It concludes that the novel offers no wholly positive possibilities for femininity within its narrative logic, as both conformity and transgression are subject to distinct mechanisms of control and punishment.