The central characters of the three plays by Elfriede Jelinek that make up the collection “Illness, or Modern Women” are women of bright individuality who existed in reality or in literary texts of past centuries. By the will of the author, the heroines are immersed in the context of modernity - sometimes harsh and ugly, and sometimes transformed beyond recognition and absurdity. The heroine of the play "Illness, or Modern Women" is the vampire Emily Bronte.