Demonising the Victorian Heroine's Coming-of-Age in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Lucretia and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales

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2008Suggested citation
Miquel Baldellou, Marta;
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(2008)
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Demonising the Victorian Heroine's Coming-of-Age in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Lucretia and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales.
Odisea, 2008, núm. 9, p. 179-189.
https://doi.org/10.25115/odisea.v0i9.205.
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In Victorian times, the female subject, as embodiment of domestic morality,
contributed to the construction of middle-class ideology. In Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s
novel Lucretia (1846), the female protagonist apparently incarnates the ideal Victorian
heroine. Nonetheless, through her coming-of-age, Lucretia’s privileged mind and lack
of affection lead her to pursue ambitious aims in a men’s world. Edgar Allan Poe also
referred to the incipient power women began to achieve. This article aims to analyse in
which ways Victorian women’s awakening power is demonised through their comingof-
age, thus pursuing a transatlantic comparative analysis between Bulwer-Lytton’s
Lucretia and Edgar Allan Poe’s women’s tales.