can you expand more on mark s being a heroine archetype? I know exactly what you mean, but I find your words and explanations super insightful, as well as just being curious as to how you see it
at first glance, mark s. may not seem to be a gothic heroine because he lacks some of the telltale signs.
he is not entering the creepy house (aka the severed floor) for the first time
his character is a large departure from typical gothic heroines. they are often young women who’s story involves an emotional journey as she enters the house and slowly becomes aware of its horrors. maybe by this description it seems as if helly is the gothic heroine of this story. but i believe that’s intentional! it’s all a part of the bait and switch to make it more shocking to find out that she’s an eagan at the end of s1.
so if mark doesn’t possess the hallmark traits, which ones does he posses that make me believe he’s the real gothic heroine of this story?
even though we aren’t following mark as he enters this world for the first time, we are following his emotional journey as he is awakened to the evils of this place. the point of following the heroine as she first enters this world is to see this progression! to watch her go from naive and blind to truly seeing these horrors she’s living with. at first she’s amazed and impressed by the big house, if still a little unsettled. these positive emotions soon fade as she uncovers more about the house and the family’s dark secrets. mark fits this bill. although i admit he does fit it differently than his predecessors. most gothic heroines are uncovering these truths for the first time, but mark seems to be rediscovering them. we get the sense that he used to be rebellious and saw how horrible this place was but eventually had the fight beat out of him and became more accepting with/ignorant of this place in order to cope.
helly is born with a clear sense of justice and immediately sees the truth about this world. her emotional journey is more about making connections and finding something to fight for. while mark’s is more about having his eyes reopened to the horrors of the severed floor. therefore, it’s still mark’s emotional journey that aligns better with that of the gothic heroine.
falls for the byronic hero
“The Byronic Hero is a moody, brooding, and rebellious character marked by deep intelligence, emotional complexity, and a troubled past. Often isolated and haunted by guilt or existential angst, he defies conventional morality and societal norms, embodying both charisma and self-destructive tendencies. He is characterized as having a rich inner life and softer side only accessible to a few special people capable of understanding his turbulent depths” (TV tropes). i think what makes markhellyna so interesting is that both mark and hellyna have qualifies of the byronic hero. just as they both have some qualities of the gothic heroine! but, in my opinion, hellyna embodies the byronic better than mark does. helly shows clear self-destructiveness with her threat of self-multination and attempted suicide. she’s also rebellious and defies the conventions of the severed floor. helena shows great guilt over her status as an eagan. she seems very isolated and deeply intelligent. and she chooses to show her soft side to one special person: mark! helly also chooses to open up more intimately to mark. thus, being on the receiving end of that, he’s in the heroine role.
uncovering the love interest’s heritage/ancient familial baggage that comes with the house
so as i just established, hellyna is the one in the gothic hero, or byronic hero, role. another part of this is that character’s horrible, creepy, torturous family home that he lives in with the gothic heroine. often this is depicted as a dreary, dirty, run-down mansion that’s so old it’s falling apart and practically fading away. but in severance, their version of that classic gothic house is so different it’s almost unrecognizable! the perfectly spotless and bright white halls of the severed floor create an atmosphere that, on a surface level, feels almost entirely opposite to that orginal description. but since the severed floor leans SO heavily into it’s aesthetic, it still draws out those same emotions in us! even though it’s clean and new, it’s so much so that it still feels creepy and hostile and unwelcoming and uncanny.
so the severed floor is a gothic haunted house. got it. and who is the owner of this house? though it is unbeknownst to them at first, hellyna is the owner! and not only does she own it but all of her awful familial lore is embedded within the space. the mythology of kier makes up the religion of the severed floor. it’s seen in the art, the perpetuity wing, the teachings in the handbook, even the computers have a kier animation congratulating the refiners for finishing their files! often we see a gothic/byronic hero oppressed by his lineage. this can be seen through helly reciting the computation statement in the bathroom in s1 finale when she learns her identity. as well as helena admitting that she feels ashamed of who she is on the outside. so this asserts hellyna as the house’s tortured owner and mark as the outsider.
mark discovers the connection between helly and the house’s lore in the opposite way than it’s most often seen. usually, the heroine will know the partner’s name and then discover his tragic past later as the story plays out. but mark first knows everything about kier’s story and his lineage and only later comes to realize helly’s relationship to it. but even so, mark is still in the position of watching his love interest deal with the weight of this legacy. and he has to dissect his own feelings about what a union with a person like that would be like. though we already know mark’s feeling by the line: “i don’t care who you are out there, i care about who you are with me.” this reminds me so much of something jane would think about saying to rochester in that chapter where he spills his crazy story.
“Whether the first wife is dead or simply hidden away, she often manages to cast a shadow over her husband’s new lover and interfere with their relationship” (thegothiclibrary). okay so usually it’s a jane eyre or rebecca situation where the heroine’s partner is the one with the first wife. but severance turns this trope completely on it’s head. here it’s our gothic heroine, mark, who has a first wife. this may sound like a situation where the first wife trope could never operate correctly, but since imark is cut off from omark’s memories it makes it so his wife is still able to be hidden away from him!!!! learning that he has this dead alive wife is information that then interferes with and casts a shadow over his relationship with a new lover, helly.
threatening control of a male antagonist
many gothic heroines lack free will and are forced into marriages by the men in their lives. now do NOT get my words twisted. i am not saying anything negative about gemma/ms casey. i am purely making the assessment that imark did not make the choice to be with her but is being pushed towards her by his outie nonetheless. gemma is NOT similar to the evil men that most of these heroines are forced to marry. but the fact that omark is angrily pressuring imark into this match and imark doesn’t have a voice (or doesn’t a voice that is listened to) IS similar.
and even outside of omark trying to dictate imark’s partnership, he is also trying to be in complete control of his entire life in general. this is often true gothic heroines! they’re constantly having their lives controlled by the powerful men around them. in imark’s case, omark is that powerful man. he gave him life on the severed floor and now feels that he has ownership and absolute control over his innie’s will and autonomy. breaking free from this control is a central part of a gothic heroine’s story. think of jane leaving rochester and choosing to become independent! imark’s exit door decision feels very much like this.
thanks so much for sending this ask! it was really fun to research, analyze, and explore my own thoughts on this topic.
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