When the words gothic literature come to mind, most people would automatically assume that Poe or King are being spoken of, but two authors who have seemed to have slipped through the cracks in the world’s idea of gothic literature have not only succeeded in many things, but have written two lovely gothic novels in their own ways. Horace Walpole wrote The Castle of Ortanto and Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey; and while these two pieces are vastly different, they both employ the same devices to keep the reader in the world of the gothic. The main device they both share is their use of the setting. Walpole’s setting of a dark and passage-filled castle is a perfect place for things to go array but Austen on the other hand, must make up her own stories about what she wishes her setting were like, which fits her parodical writing perfectly. No matter how different, the settings of both these pieces contribute to the victimization of the female protagonists, Isabella, and Catherine Morland and by placing these characters in certain situations; the authors create a gothic theme.
Dark hallways, secret passages, and low ceilinged tunnels are just a few of the things mentioned in Walpole’s novel The Castle of Ortanto. Even the title of the castle seems a bit daunting when it is read aloud. Isabella was in the castle to marry the sickly Conrad, who unfortunately passed minutes before the wedding due to a large helmet falling from the sky. In a “normal” novel this would seem silly, but when reading one of the first gothic novels ever written, it is excused and understood as terrifying. Castles are typically know as private places, where no one can get in or out without the permission of the king. This is normally not an issue, but I...
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...er is truly satisfied with anything. Once she begins to fulfill what Henry told her, she becomes too terrified to even go on, which then makes her understand she could never survive in a novel at all, and she has been waiting all this time for nothing.
Walpole and Austen both employ many different things to contribute to the victimization of their female protagonists, and setting is a very important part. They create a contrasting setting to the characters, and allow them to explore them freely, and the reader sees what happens, and therefore falls in love with the characters. These two women went through many tribulations, and in the end when all things are settled, the reader and the characters know that they are bettered by the experience. Isabella and Catherine made a trying journey from victims to heroines in these two novels and they did it beautifully.
Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.
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
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.
Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.
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:
The period of the gothic novel, in which the key gothic texts were produced, is commonly considered to be roughly between 1760 and 1820. A period that extended from what is accepted as the first gothic novel, Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto ( 1764 ), to Charles Maturins Melmoth the Wanderer ( 1820 ) and included the first edition of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein in 1818. In general, the gothic novel has been associated with a rebellion against constraining neoclassical aesthetic ideals of order and unity, in order to recover a suppressed primitive and barbaric imaginative freedom ( Kilgour, 1995, p3 ). It is also often considered to be a premature ( and thus somewhat crude ) manifestation of the emerging values of Romanticism. Although the gothic genre is somewhat shadowy and difficult to define it can be seen as having a number of characteristics or conventions which can be observed in Frankenstein including stereotypical settings, characters and plots, an interest in the sublime, the production of excessive emotion in the reader ( particularly that of terror and horror), an emphasis on suspense, the notion of the double and the presence of the supernatural. (Kilgour, 1995; Botting, 1996 ; Byron, 1998 : p71 )
Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,
In Northanger Abbey, Austen intended to reflect a contrast between a normal, healthy-natured girl and the romantic heroines of fiction thorough the use of characterization. By portraying the main character, Catherine Moorland, as a girl slightly affected with romantic notions, Jane Austen exhibits the co...
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).
Le Fanu uses gothic elements to intrigue and shock readers. This is clearly represented through vivid descriptions of isolated castles, abandoned churches, and mysterious woods. “… In the thick of the forest, overlooks the silent ruins of the town” (Le Faun Chapter I), “The castle is a ruin; the very village is deserted…” (Le Faun Chapter X). Le Faun uses this to create an eerie atmosphere. Through this, he manages to build suspense, forcing the readers to always be suspicious something is going to happen, but unable to determine how and when. This keeps the readers captivated. Similarly, by exploring the literature typified by ruin and mystery, Stoker explicitly exposes gothic tropes from Harker’s very first impression of the dilapidated castle. “The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust” (Stoker Chapter II). As a result of this, Stoker is able to effectively convey the feelings of gloom, mystery and suspense. These are presented through the castle as it holds a lot of history, thus allowing Stoker to build up a haunting and ghostly atmosphere. This atmosphere is exaggerated through a sense of decaying which adds to the gothic convention in this context. “Hinges had fallen somewhat”, “wealth of dust’ and “dusty with age”, all indicating that the place is old, rusty and rather run-down (Stoker Chapter
When authors write a story they “tell a particular story to a particular audience in a particular situation for, presumably, a particular purpose” (Phelan 4). Northanger Abbey and Frankenstein came out in the same year, were both gothic novels, and were both written by female authors. Despite these similarities, the two authors produced very different works of fiction and have very different authorial intentions for their stories. Austen and Shelley both use gothic elements to portray their purpose for their stories. The two authors create characters exhibiting powerful emotions and moralize through the usage of these emotions.
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.
Although written during both the Victorian and Gothic time period, Jane Eyre draws upon many revolutionary influences that ultimately enabled it to become one of the most successful books of all time. Jane Eyre is merely a hybrid of a Victorian and Gothic novel, infusing a share of dark allusions with overzealous romanticism. The primitive cultures of the Victorian period reflect high ethical standards, an extreme respect for family life, and devotional qualities to God, all in which the novel portrays. Yet, to merely label Jane Eyre as a Victorian novel would be misleading. While the characteristics of a Gothic no...
... and until the resolution of the story do the readers finally feel happiness for the characters. The characters must overcome these struggles and, “to accomplish the author’s purpose, they must overcome both external obstacles and the personal flaws suggested in the title of the book”(Reisman 2).