As she lies in her bed sound asleep, unaware of the danger that follows her, Jane awakens to the monster known as Cesare hovering above her. It is in the beginnings of gothic film that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) portrays the innocence of the classic gothic heroine, as she is desired by and in danger from the villain.

Jane is the central (and only) female figure in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, she is the love interest of the hero and the victim of the villain. She is never actually caught by Cesare, but she is nonetheless frightened by him enough to be classified as a victim.

Film narratives are meant to relay a particular meaning onto society, as they are a form of imitation or mirroring of the happenings and beliefs of the world. The image of the heroine corresponds to the way society treated its women, and what they were expected to be at the time of the film's production; innocent, obedient, and silent. This classic gothic heroine represents the classic image of women as the damsel in distress; the female figure that needs the help of, and needs to be saved by a man.

The role of the heroine centers around the men in her life. It is this relationship in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which first produces this role of the heroine as victim to the villain, only to eventually develop (in recent film narratives) into the villain's collaborator.

 

 

 

Jelena Momirov