Assignment 4: Female Gothic

I totally missed the movie today, but from what I read in "Louis the Witch" I feel as if the author makes the female characters very dependent on TRUE friendships in order to insure their success and well being as a character. Throughout the entire novella, it mentions over and over again that Louis is an orphaned child, she has no parents, no connections except for her unknown uncle, and that she has NO friends! It is constantly repeated that Louis has no friendships and feels lonely and disconnected from her distant family, the Hicksons. For a while it seems that she develops a relationship with her cousin, Faith, but in the end Faith's jealousy destroys what little of a connection she had with Louis. From the moment Louis enters her new home, she feels somewhat strange around her aunt and her harsh demeanor and it seems almost impossible for her to develop a close relationship with her after her uncle, their only connection to each other, passes away. It also mentions that Louis lost her only friend when she arrived at the new home. That friend being Captain Holdernesse, and she has also been distanced from her true love, Hugh Lucy. She avoids developing a relationship with Manasseh, her cousin and the only man left in the household, due to the fact that he feels he must marry her. In the end, Louis is accused of being a witch and dies from a hanging. Her own "family" accuses her and leaves her to die alone. I feel as if Gaskell is trying to prove that women who are not cautious with their relationships should be concerned with their well being. I feel as if the moral is like the old saying "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Louis did not have close relationships with anyone that was prominently discussed throughout the novel. This could also be looked at as a major gothic element in the story due to the loneliness Louis experiences throughout the story which begins with her sad and alone, and ends in the same manner.