Like Mother, Like Daughter: The Role of Taboo Topics in Defining Maternal Roles and Relationships in Nineteenth-Century Literature

Abstract

This thesis will explore the complex dynamics of motherhood and mother-daughter relationships present in nineteenth-century literature, applying concepts from psychoanalytical publications to further understand these literary depictions. Through the application of intense taboo topics, such as death and abandonment, the father-daughter incest continuum, and metaphorical cannibalism, this thesis will examine how these topics and their literary depictions work together as a reinforcement of patriarchal structures and marginalization of maternal figures. Focusing primarily on works by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, this thesis will combine the psychoanalytic with the fiction to investigate underlying (and often internalized) misogynistic themes and their impact on representations of the literary mother.