In an essay regarding the components of the Romantic novel, James P. Carson frames the difference between Gothic and Romantic attitudes as a "disagreement over the values ​​inherent in attempts to represent the people" (Matthew). He succinctly describes the difference as a matter of intent: the Romantic novel evokes depth “in the midst of excess” while the Gothic novel seeks excess and uses divisive methods of description to thus create identity (Matthews). In the speculative fiction novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, the concept of the female gothic manifests itself through the concern of how sexual boundaries can endanger and the idea of ​​female incarceration and isolated environment as a means of allowing them to occur dark deeds. Alternatively, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre tells the larger story of a woman's coming of age through sad circumstances and focuses on the emotions and experiences that spur her growth into adulthood, all filtered through the lens of Gothic romance. Through female gothic conventions, LeFanu and Bronte use a strong sense of isolation as a means to overcome their heroines' often captive state and to create a sense of individual experience in their gender roles and social class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In alternative ways, the physical settings create a sense of incarceration in both protagonists. During Jane Eyre's childhood in Gateshead, the incident in the red room marks a change in the novel and contributes to Jane Eyre becoming a gothic text by creating a tangible sense of fear and imprisonment. The red room has its own menacing and realistic presence: “A bed supported by massive mahogany pillars, hung with deep red damask curtains, stood out like a tabernacle in the center;… the carpet was red; the table at the foot of the bed was covered with a crimson tablecloth; …Mr. Reed had been dead for nine years: it was in this chamber that she breathed her last;... and from that day, a sense of sad consecration had protected her from frequent intrusions” (Bront? 11-12). Following the disturbing description of the room, Jane believes she sees the ghost of her uncle and faints from fear, an event that stays with her into adulthood. All of the physical elements of the red room that serve to entrap Jane predict future gothic themes in the plot as well as showcasing her incarcerated state and lack of control over her adolescent suffering. Despite the unfair and frightening nature of Jane's experiences as a child, her strong-willed nature allows her to maintain an innate sense of identity that Laura, Carmilla's protagonist, lacks. Laura's setting in Styria only proves to heighten the sense of hidden information and separation from the rest of the civilized world. At the beginning of Carmilla she describes their castle, called a schloss: “Nothing can be more picturesque or lonely. It stands on a slight rise in a forest... Above all this the schloss displays its many-windowed façade; its towers, and its Gothic chapel…, and to the right a steep Gothic bridge carries the road over a stream which meanders in deep shade through the woods. I said this is a very lonely place” (LeFanu). Laura's economic dependence and her loneliness in her remote environment are perhaps what makes her so welcome to Carmilla's arrival, and the monotony and remoteness implicit in her daily life may be what makes her so easily susceptible to danger. Regardless of whether she consciously feels like a prisoner, her initial solitude in the schloss leads her to be2/13>.