Abstract:

 This essay, according to George Mosse' s theory of manly ideal, and taking as the study cases the three representative works of Horace Walpole, William Beckford and Matthew Lewis, gives an analysis of the male narrative strategy in the British Gothic novel. The authentic facts indicate that Horace Walpole, William Beckford and Matthew Lewis are queers, whose male identities have suchandsuch inadequacy, each displaying a tendency to homosexuality or bisexuality. And in the eighteenth century, Britain is dominant in heterosexuality. The homophobia prevailing in the society causes the above three authors to be in the closet, thus producing different degrees of repression in their psychology. Their Gothic novels are just a reflection of the repression, in a natural or unnatural way. In conclusion, the male narrative strategy in the British Gothic novel is the one of homosexual consciousness.