When a person thinks about gothic today, they might think of a sparkly vampire or a hunky Frankenstein in popularized films. This has led to parodies upon these adaptations of the gothic. This relationship between traditional gothic characters and parodies is not a new subject but a very interesting dynamic. I would like to discuss how one scene from the typical gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, and a scene from Jane Austen’s parody of the gothic novel in Northanger Abbey contrast in many different ways to illustrate gothic tropes as well as Austen’s perspective view on the subject of the gothic through the use of, diction, setting, character and tone.
The diction in each novel is very different for both. In The Castle of Otranto, Walpole uses words like, “curdled”, “terror”, and “darkness” which connote a negativity meaning (Walpole 28). This is a traditional gothic trope in the sense that these words are the basic vocabulary usually used in gothic novels. Using these types of words create a dark or fearful atmosphere that is essential for the mood of traditional gothic novels.
The diction that is used in Northanger Abbey depicts the gothic in a different light. Austen writes phrases and words such as, "fine old place,” “explore our way,” and “snugly” which set up a different atmosphere for the reader (Austen 161). “Fine old place” doesn’t connote anything dark or negative like in Walpole’s novel, but more of a place that is homely with a lot of shared family memories like the average English home would be like (Austen 161). This gives off a positive vibe to readers. “Explore our way” implies that the place of topic is welcome and open for visitors (Austen 161). The environment is welcoming unlike the scen...
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...’s not reality.
In final, the contrast between traditional gothic tropes and the parody of the gothic is very evident in Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Through the contrast between diction, setting, characterization, and tone, it is made clear what the traditional gothic tropes are and how they represent themselves in Walpole’s novel, while the gothic parody is illustrating how reality and the fictitious world of the gothic should be two separate entities for readers of this genre to Austen. All in all both illustrate something significant about the gothic genre and how it is crafted and viewed.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane, Barbara M. Benedict, and Deirdre Le Faye. Northanger Abbey. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2006.
Walpole, Horace, and W. S. Lewis. The castle of Otranto: A gothic story. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008.
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Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
Due to the conventions included in the novel, this is a perfect example of a gothic novel. The novel evokes in the audience fear and anticipation of the novels plot. The 19th century audience would have been overwhelmed with terror whilst reading the novel as the atmosphere creates suspense and the pace of the novel is fast.
Various authors develop their stories using gothic themes and characterizations of this type to lay the foundation for their desired reader response. Although Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Peter Taylor’s “Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time” are two completely different narratives, both of these stories share a commonality of gothic text representations. The stories take slightly different paths, with Poe’s signifying traditional gothic literature and Taylor approaching his story in a more contemporary manner.
In conclusion to this essay, having examined these 19th century gothic texts, it is fair to say that normative gender behaviour and sexuality pervades them. This element gives the reader a deep insight into the culture context of the time in which these stories are situated. It enables the reader to delve into the darker sides of humanity at that time, that they would not have been able to do otherwise.
In many ways the fascination with the gothic style of art, represented by music, literature, film, and others, is nothing more than a way for the observer to escape from real life and its many responsibilities. Gothic art claims to be profound and contain great esoteric meaning with life changing impact, yet the characters and the message are more often weak, unproductive, crippled, or even mad. Examples of this flaw in the argument in favor of the gothic imagination are given in the works by Beethoven, Goethe, Rice, and Gilman. It will be revealed that these authors have been misguided often by their own escapist nature to create a false reality and promote it as meaningful. In truth, the gothic imagination is the imagination of those who are looking for an excuse for their laziness and purpose behind their protective depression.
The setting is gothic litereature is commonly located in a Victorian-styled environment, with dull shades of black and white pointed architecture. Some of the place described in the Gothic writing are old, abdondoned house, castles, or
I offer by way of introduction to the Gothic literary world an extract taken from Ann. B Tracy’s book The Gothic Novel 1790-1830: Plot Summaries and Index Motifs:
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In what follows, my research paper will rely on an article by Kathy Prendergast entitled “Introduction to The Gothic Tradition”. The significance of this article resides in helping to recapitulate the various features of the Gothic tradition. In this article the authoress argues that in order to overturn the Enlightenment and realistic literary mores, many of the eighteenth century novelists had recourse to traditional Romantic conventions in their works of fiction, like the Arthurian legendary tales (Prendergast).
Punter David, ‘The Literature of Terror’, in A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the Present Day, The Modern Gothic. Harlow, eds. (UK: Pearson Education, 1996)
Several times in Northanger Abbey Austen’s main character, Catherine, gets caught up in her emotions. In the second part of Austen’s story, Catherine is frequently consumed by curiosity, and it is in this same part of the novel in which the gothic mood is introduced, beginning with Catherine’s travels to Northanger Abbey. Catherine is eager to find the abbey to be like those that she reads about in novels, and Henry affirms this belief stating, “And are you prepared to encounter all the horrors that a building such as ‘what one reads about’ may produce? – Have you a stout heart? - Nerves fit for sliding panels and ta...
Brown’s perspective on the European fiction that, while gothic and therefore focusing on “superstition and exploded manners, gothic castles and chimeras”, merely appealed to popular taste and as such held the consensus that reading fiction was an idle pastime (Elliot, ix). Brown’s aim was to change the general consensus of fiction reading and create a genre that challenged readers to use their full intellectual capacity. He did this in Wieland through not only the dialectic, but also through allusions to the climate of the world he was living in. If we are to take Wieland as a representative for the American gothic, then the genre must achieve that goal.
Michael Gamer, Romanticism and the Gothic: Genre, Reception, and Canon Formation (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2000) 15, Questia, Web, 29 May 2010.