Southern Gothic Essay

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The Victorian Gothic and the Southern Gothic couple to highlight the deviant nature of humanity through their stylistic views in the realm of supernatural phenomenon, the conventions of setting, the implementation of a damsel in distress, and the development of unrequited love validated by Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Poe’s “The Oval Portrait”. Both works incorporate these elements but boast disparities of each other: In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde employs an antagonistic approach by centralizing the plot on the negative impacts of influence and corruption on society, while Poe underscores the consequences associated with preoccupation and obsession.
The Victorian Gothic signifies “a growth and change in culture” (Harris 1). …show more content…

It is a subgenera of ancestral Gothic literature that derives pre-Revolutionary stereotypes and transforms them into modernized interpretations that highlight deeply flawed, grotesque characters to comment on the unpleasant Southern ideals and moral codes (Mullan 1). This concept is equated with Tennessee Williams’ view that “there is the ever present twist and journey to the dark side of emotions, such as obsessions, fatal love and incomprehensible madness in most of Poe's short stories” (Mullan 1). These same despondent notions were illustrated in "The Oval …show more content…

Each genre has differing applications to the elements of the gothic, but contrives social controversies to reveal the character and deviant nature of society. It educates and teaches audiences of the correlation of art with death, the negative connotation of art and attitude toward femininity, and the irreversible effect time has on

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