With his tale of corrupt patriarchy filled with mystery, romance, and tragedy, Horace Walpole bridged the gap between the wantonly romantic and the excessively realistic (Scott 11); filling the space with dark settings, stark characters and tangled narratives. It was the sum of all these parts that became the formula that is still followed today by writers of the genre. This essay will outline various elements of the typical gothic novel, and the way in which they are associated with excess in the themes, characterisation, and style of writing. In doing so, the differences in the techniques used in Walpole’s novel Castle of Otranto, and M.R James’s short story Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad, will be identified and discussed. The primary objective of Gothic novelists is to rouse the reader into eliciting emotional responses such as shock or fear (Hume 284).
The features of Gothic fiction are both psychological and physical. They tend to play with a person’s mind and psyche. The features that can be found in Gothic fiction are supernatural features such as ghost, secrets and curses passed down over generations. Architecture plays a large role in Gothic fiction. It is the haunted houses, castles, and medieval gardens.
Another element is an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Throughout the novel readers are kept wondering about different situations such as Lucy’s fate, Dracula’s next victim, and Renfield’s purpose. Presence of the supernatural is an element as well. Dracula is a vampire which is supernatural. The next element is a woman or women in distress.
In the most important aspects of Frankenstein; Frankenstein is compelling in and of itself. This book has stories that surround other stories, setting them up in one way or another. Frankenstein is a gothic novel that focuses on mysterious or supernatural features. It takes place in dark, often exotic settings. Readers feel uneasy and in terror after reading the novel.
Gothic horror was a popular genre in the late 19th century that was defined by specific literary tropes. This particular genre focused on the supernatural and fictional monsters to entertain readers by appealing to their natural fears. During this period many authors took their place in literary history by creating unique stories that combined both romanticism and science fiction. Gothic fiction was published as short stories, novels, novellas or poetry and continues to excite audiences and readers in the 21st century. Two significant gothic works include Bram Stoker’s infamous story Dracula and Christabel a long narrative poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s.
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey: a Gothic Parody The Gothic fiction is a literary genre that combines elements of both horror and romance. It flourished in England during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as a “reaction against the rigidity and formality of other forms of Romantic literature. [1]” It has often been said that the first true Gothic romance was The Castle of Otranto, written by Horace Walpole and first published in 1764. Although during this period many of the highly regarded Gothic novelists published their writings and much of the novel’s form was defined, this genre is not limited to this time whatsoever. Indeed, the Gothic can still be found nowadays in the
The setting is very important in the elaboration of this specific fictional text. The time and space we are dealing with are much relevant for creating the perfect background for a heroine like Jane to live in. Culturally speaking, Gothic novels were in evidence at the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It involved a lot of stereotypes, fantastic elements, and melodrama. Yet, although some critics define Jane Eyre as a Gothic piece of literature, it is true that it ruptured several aspects to create something quite new, including characterization points that will be discussed further.
An “Un-Dead” Classic -- Book Review With the majority of today’s popular vampire attention orbiting around Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, it seems as though an important classic vampire novel has been forgotten. The 1897 classic, titled Dracula, has been assigned to many literary genres over the years. Some, for example, are vampire literature, horror fiction and even a gothic novel. Literary critics have identified several themes, such as the role of women in Victorian culture and folklore. It is important to note though, that Stoker did not invent the vampire, but played a major influence in interpretations since its publication.
Coleridge was an author during the 1700/1800’s where society was rapidly changing, with many people starting to question, what was once law and religion, to discover the unknown, with gothic literature stemming from this period. Coleridge’s works reflected the issues, especially his gothic ballad “Rime of the ancient Mariner, with the discovering of unknown. In the ballad Coleridge questioned concerns like Christianity vs. God in nature, death and life in death, romantic tradition and voyagers in the new world. Among this emerging conventions of gothic literature were also portrayed, for example the weather, characters, setting and the supernatural. In the time where there was an incorruptible belief in God as the Supreme Being, Coleridge challenged it with the thought of God in nature.
This was the time of the Enlightenment, when many artistic and literary trends prior to the 17th century were considered unrefined and primitive. The favoured approaches in architecture and the arts were classical models derived from antiquity. The word 'Gothic' was frequently used as a pejorative term to describe the barbarism and superstition of the Middle Ages. Gothic fiction actively railed against these schools of thought by openly celebrating the phenomena of the medieval era. A variety of sources affected the character and development of the Gothic genre.