During the 3rd and 5th centuries, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths migrated across Europe and battled the Roman Empire. Their maltreatment of Rome and rival tribes gave them a reputation of barbarians, meaning that the word "Gothic" carried the definition of being "barbaric". Since being barbaric is seen as being full of chaos, brutality, lack of enlightenment and superstitious, the word "Gothic" was considered to be an insult. What is Gothic literature designed to do? Gothic literature is designed to terrify and horrify people in a pleasurable way.
Why Dracula is a Gothic Novel The horror story Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is a thrilling novel about the notorious vampire, Dracula, and about a group of men and women who suffered from his evil and fought back. This novel, written in 1897, is one of the most famous gothic novels, and one of the most famous pieces of literature still to this day. The setting of the novel, the terminology, and the deep emotion that Stoker used allows the reader, and literary critics, to classify Dracula as Gothic Literature. The elements that Dracula contains to make it gothic include the setting of a castle, a suspenseful atmosphere, dreams and visions, inexplicable events, overwhelming emotions, distressed women, metonymy of horror, and of course gothic vocabulary. For a novel to be considered gothic, it must contain certain elements; Dracula reflects many of these unique principles.
Brahm Stoker’s “Dracula” highlights concerns prevalent within the Victorian era, shown through characters, symbols and themes throughout the novel. Prior to this, Samuel Taylor Coleridge worked within the Romantic era absorbing a multitude of radical political and theological ideas, ideas which often underpinned his works. Coleridge’s “Christabel” confronts concerns surrounding universal human characteristics, particularly those most prominent within his era, such as female purity and innocence. In contrast to these more traditional beliefs, “Blood; The Last Vampire” articulates anxieties surrounding the breakdown of a society and the repercussions of this in relation to a younger, more contemporary society. The “dark side’ within these texts are often projected through a singular symbol, character or theme that is unaccepted or feared by its surrounding society.
Washington Irving is identified with the gothic with his “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, however the gothic mode can also be identified in his story, “Rip Van Winkle”. To begin, both will be compared with their use of the Gothic Mode. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing set the mold for most gothic literature to follow. From “The Raven” to “The Tell-Tale Heart” his writing sets the reader on edge and fills them with unease. “Its style tends to be ornate, unnatural” (Carter 134).
In a gothic novel there are elements of horror, mystery and suspense. The gothic elements found in Frankenstein come from the ugliness as well as killings and death. There are other examples of a gothic novel such as remorse and sadness. The atmosphere in a novel gives another element of being gothic. The novel Frankenstein contains many of these gothic elements like the atmosphere, ugliness, killings, sadness and remorse.
English 113 February 16, 2013 “The Tell-Tale Heart”: Elements of Gothicism As an offshoot to Romanticism, Gothic literature became keen in the 19th Century, leaving Edgar Allen Poe to claim his title as the father of Gothicism. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator himself is a classic character of Gothicism. Witnessing the insanity his character is consumed by and the murder he commits, this story really gives the reader a dark perception and demonstrates a feeling of abnormality and general deviance. Throughout the entire story, the conflict morphs from the narrator versus the eye, to the narrator versus his own madness. The “Tell-Tale Heart” can be definitively be classified as Gothic literature because Poe’s strong use of imagery, symbolism, and the element of suspense captivates and further heightens the sense of how insane the narrator really is.
A tragic hero is one that has one major flaw and the audience usually feels pity, sympathy, empathy, and compassion for. Common characteristics of a tragic hero According to Aristotle: o Usually of noble birth o The tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. o A reversal of fortune brought about by the hero's tragic flaw. o The audience must feel pity and fear for this character. o His downfall is usually due to excessive pride Two famous characters I would consider tragic heroes are Victor Frankenstein from Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
How does Sigmund Freud’s concept of ‘The Uncanny’ assist us in appreciating the psychological neuroses explored in Jekyll and Hyde? The concept of ‘The Uncanny’, as explored by Sigmund Freud, is a theory that can often be found in works of literature intended to scare and unsettle the reader. For instance, the notion of ‘The Uncanny’ is commonplace in 19th century gothic literature due to the ability it has to create a feeling of unease, particularly among the repressive society at the time. ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ written by Robert Louis Stevenson during that era, makes use of the idea of repression and plays on fears of the repressed being revealed. Throughout his essay ‘The Uncanny’, Freud refers to the german word ‘heimlich’ which means secretive and concealed.
To begin with the two short stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “by Edgar Allan Poe are two illustrations of Gothic literatures. There are several characteristics of Gothic literature spooky surroundings, glumness, and immoral dominant over the moral. Gothic literatures are more often set in old building, or big house, which portrays human decay and it’s designed a feeling of isolation and fear. Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", and Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", both use gothic elements of technique in relating the exterior in order to reflect the gloominess of these characters feelings. Both books have similar writing style as gloomy, but foreshadowing and dystopia bring about the effectiveness of gothic literature in both books.
The public-houses were just closing, and dim men and women were clustering in broken groups round their doors. From some of the bars came the sound of a horrible laughter. In others drunkards brawled and screamed.” The unexplained supernatural is a regular theme in gothic novels and in A Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian’s bargain with the devil and the magical effect of this on his portrait is the novels most important gothic element. In the first chapter when Henry manages to convince Dorian that beauty and youth is everything and that without these two things a man is worth nothing, Dorian’s subconsciously, in the pursuit of absolution says ‘I would give my soul’ . And for the next eighteen years his wish is fulfilled, not a hint of a crease marks his face.