| dc.description.abstract | It is eight years since coercive control in intimate relationships was made unlawful in England and Wales, through section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. The relatively low prosecution rates under the Act can be linked to the lack of awareness of what the offence constitutes. A 2020 BBC Three documentary found that 70% of the participants failed to identify signs of the crime.
This thesis explores how narratives of coercive control expose the diverse mechanisms of the offence, using narrative techniques and figurative language that are not available to factual texts. Through close textual analysis, it explores how two 21st century texts and three secondary 19th century texts raise awareness of coercive control. Carmen Maria Machado´s In The Dream House is an experimental literary memoir about domestic abuse between women, recalled and examined through the lenses of a series of genres, tropes and cliches. Bernardine´s Girl, Woman, Other is a ground-breaking novel, in form and content, about 12 diverse black women. One of its protagonists is coercively controlled, also in a same-sex relationship. This thesis also reframes earlier readings of three canonical Victorian novels, revealing features and patterns now associated with coercive control. | |
