Dead Can Dance’s “Xavier” acknowledges a female character holistically with critique of the systems surrounding her. Explicitly intended to contradict the persecution of women, her inclusion within the gothic sphere offers an alternative to the stand-in characters for male emotions seen earlier. Referencing Western organized religion as contributing to sexism past and present, “Xavier” includes heavy religious symbolism within its lyrics -- a common feature of gothic literature’s fascination with supernatural or non-physical entities belonging to another world. The religious vocabulary included undertakes an antagonistic tone, referring to religious “laws” as inimical to true freedom. 

Lives may be referring to the multiple escapades by herself, or to the plurality of women who suffered from a similar misogynist history as Xavier. Dead Can Dance’s description of “hatred” as “heresy” injects a religious connotation to misogyny. Birthed in Western culture from “the stigma of original sin,” women suffer for the mortal wound metaphorically struck by Eve in biblical stories. The Western tradition of blaming women for humanity’s ails plagues Xavier as it does all women.
The relatively anti-religious (or at least anti-Evangelical) themes of “Xavier” play continuously with themes of faith. 
Xavier prays to a higher power for tolerance, which ironically is the higher power used to justify much of Xavier’s persecution. Her “sins… / Hung like jewels in the forest of veils,” were not ‘sins’ at all, instead being ironically described as so to satirize the nature of organized religion’s justification for misogyny. The latter line furthers this satirization, with her sins being displayed as ‘jewels’ in a forest whose description as veiled indicates another space (only this time, a positive one) separate from the rest of society. 
“Xavier” never reveals the crimes she was persecuted for, but implies through its usage of “profane” and how “Xavier’s love lies in chains,” that it derives from her sexuality. A woman being sexual - especially in times characterized by religious control - warranted severe punishments. Her sexuality, constricted by misogynist power structures, lies dormant. Contrary to “A Person Isn’t Safe Anywhere These Days,” “Xavier” sympathizes with the femme character, demonstrating her sexuality in a personalized way distinct from male desire. Xavier possesses sexuality of her own, although tragically faces persecution for expressing it. 
These three songs demonstrate a microcosm of gothic musical culture within a broad scope of modern ‘gothic’ culture. 
The former two songs align themselves more with male perception, using female as expedients rather than actual characters. However “Xavier” portrays a female character with a story, and the main focus of sympathy on behalf of the audience. Reorganization of the ‘hero’ of gothic stories demonstrates revolutionary potential. Pushkin’s complete article describes a multitude of gothic subcultures and the feminist dynamics subverting them, indicating that gothic culture in all facets can enjoy a resurgence on behalf of an expanding feminist audience.
Gothic music’s variance shows the potential of the genre in being transformative, and also its shortcomings by sticking to tropes found in its earlier literature. In the case of these songs, the listener engages in both male fantasy, and reality. Incorporation of feminist critiques within gothic music assists in reforming the tragic male character arc seen often within its cultures works. Despite personal attachment to each song included, explicating the purposiveness of their lyrical content arrives at a conclusion more complex than she/he. Instead, analyzing gothic music leads to a conclusion on why the genre continues to exist in this way, and where to move from there.
