Abstract：Twilight is a series of five vampire-themed gothic novels by American female writer Stephenie Meyer. It describes the story of a teenage girl Bella Swan, who moves to Forks, and then falls in love with a vampire. The author uses horrific scenes, supernatural abilities and many other unique factors of female gothic fictions to show Bella’s braveness and courage. Now, gothic literature becomes more and more acceptable to people. As the representative works of female gothic novels, Twilight series are highly praised for its rational treatment of sexuality and morality. The story is unique and entertaining, so it has attracted a lot of people to read it. In recent years, Twilight series have been adapted to films and brought great commercial benefits. According to the survey, we can find that female gothic has developed rapidly and become a main-stream literature. The study of female gothic works is also meaningful to oppressed women in modern society. Bella’s rebellion consciousness tells us that women should learn to protect themselves. The current study aims to open up a window for those who are concerned about female gothic, and stimulate people to make a further study on Twilight.

Keywords: female gothic; Twilight; Bella

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-1

2.1 Development of gothic theory-1

2.2 Development of female gothic theory-3

3. Female Gothic Embodied in Twilight-4

3.1 Female gothic embodied in Bella-5

3.2 Female gothic embodied in environment and supernatural elements-6

3.3 Differences between female gothic in the novel and traditional female gothic-7

4. Contribution to Gothic Literature-8

4.1 Weakening of the horrible atmosphere-9

4.2 Contribution of its adaption-10

5. Conclusion-11

Works Cited-12