Female Gothic

It seemed like in Northanger Abbey, Lois the Witch and in Jane Eyre there always had to be some relationship with a female. Jane was friends ( for a short time ) with Helen, Lois was friends ( for a short while ) with Faith and Catherine is friends with Isabella ( along with Mr. Tilney's older sister). Since each protagonist has a female friend, obviously female relationships are very important in any story because not only does it symbolize that they are friendly, but they are also lonely and wish to have someone to relate with. That type of innocence and need for social interaction with other females makes me have a softer heart toward the female characters in these stories ( except for Grace Hickson ). With a female friend by their side, I believe the character doesn't feel so lost and is comforted with the others being near them.
In danger, the female protagonist will then lean on their female friend to give them support and comfort them and letting them know that everything will be alright. In "Lois the Witch", Lois turns to her Aunt to protest against the people were proclaiming that Lois was a witch. Than Faith steps in and agrees with the other people that she is a witch, depressing Lois. When Jane's friend Helen dies, Jane cries because she had lost the one person who was kind to her after her "family" left her.
In all three novels mentioned, it is implied that it is important to have strong friendships with other women not because it gives them comfort, but because it wasn't that proper back then to talk open-mindedly to a male. Female's needed to have a friend to run around the town with and gossip with, but also needed a true friend there for them as well. Women do need to support each other because sometimes you need someone there to stick up for you.
In the end of "Lois the Witch", after being betrayed by Faith, Lois finds comfort in telling Nattee stories of the Holy One as they sat in their hole dreading the morning. Lois felt stronger as she helped calm down and soothe Nattee with her stories, and with that confidence, she did not so much dread the hanging, until they took away Nattee first.
In "Lois the Witch", there is a cinderella formula, but the hero comes too late and does not save the heroine. The formula is the same as any other Cinderella story for the hero is always in love with Lois and promises one day to find her and marry her, but it is different in "Lois the Witch", because the hero comes too late. Weakness can be good and then on the other hand, can be bad. If the female characters speak up and speak their mind, they are seen as witches or as uncontrollable, but yet when they don't speak up for themselves others start making their own judgements about them and start getting ideas of their own in their minds without knowing the true story.This also comes into play with the term prejudice, people making their own judgements because the protagonist will not speak up and tell the truth, or the truth is not believed. There is no redemption in "Lois the Witch" until years later when the Hickson family writes up an apology for juding Lois so harshly, and Prudence delivering a speech explaining that what she did was wrong and shouldn't have happened.
When women become outspoken and decline the hand of marriage, they are seen as devilish and uncontrollable. When that happens, the father feels ashamed and send their daughters to take the veil. But that was in the older stories, in the mroe recent stories, the daughters were to feel ashamed of themselves and also to get an ear full from their father and mother on how her actions were not proper. Lois I guess you could could be seen as sexual because here she is declining her hand in marriage because her lust and love are to be with only one other man, whereas you should be grateful and take whosever hand you should have received.
I perosnally read "patriarchal" rule as "parental" rule and as an authority that opresses others. I do that not just because of my morals, but because usually in these stories the children must obey their parents and can do nothing to get their way or to get the parents to see things their way. The parents are so set in their own beliefs and udnerstandings that no child will steer their thoughts. Unfortunately, I do see the novel "Lois the Witch" as allegorical. I say the word unfortunately because Lois's aunt does not treat her very well along with not supporting her. Poor Lois is left to fend for herself in the end, knowing that what she says is right but can do nothing to save herself without bringing shame upon her name.