Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night From a Class and Gender Perspective

Abstract: I first became intrigued by the English detective writer Dorothy Sayers' (1893-1957) impressive life and career, early female graduate from Oxford and the woman behind one of the best British translations of Dante's Divine Comedy (1949-62). When I started reading her detective novels I found a richness in both characterization and plot that impressed me. In the present analysis of Gaudy Night I will focus upon three distinguishing aspects of the ideology concerning class and gender, namely the narrative portrayal of women at Oxford University in 1930's Britain, how Annie's criminality is presented, and, finally, if class and gender affect the way in which the two main protagonists, Harriet and Lord Peter, act.