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
Today, hunreds of horror films have been made. Two great explames of horror films are pyscho and the strangers. Although made in different centirutes their share some of the same style that make people scared today. 1st off, a little history. Horror stories have been around for a long time, but the 1st story to be called horror was a book by Horace Walpole in 1794 called The Castle Of Otranto.
Vincent Senechal Mme McRae EAE4U Monday September 26 2011 The living dead or the dead alive: Gothicism in marry Shelly’s Frankenstein Marry shelly has written several novels within her time. Her novels focus mainly on theme. Gothicism is a theme that returns often. In Frankenstein Gothicism is represented through characters and their actions. The main theme of marry Shelly’s Frankenstein is Gothicism.
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.
This idea of the supernatural being something just out of reach to be considered possible is common in gothic texts in relation to the views contemporary readers of the texts would have had. In the time that this text was written, though science was making many breakthroughs in all fields, the idea of ghosts and the paranormal was still very popular with the lower classes of society, classes typically associated with gothic texts at the time; séances and ghost stories were rife at the time. In this text Shelly blends the uncertainty of new science and the pushing of boundaries (another gothic trait) together with this obsession with the otherworldly and often scary, to create a scene that is quintessentially gothic in its nature, as well as extremely appealing to a large portion of the texts contemporary readership. Though perhaps not as prominent in this scene, the idea of excessive feelings leading to transgression is also
Though the Gothic fiction genre can be broken down into just seven different elements, each story uses them in their own unique way. These stories may use any number of these elements, in any order, and even with a bit of artistic liberty, perfectly exemplified by both Edgar Allan Poe and Frank Stockton. Poe’s “The Black Cat” and Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger” both have their own rights to the Gothic fiction genre, but achieve it through mostly contrasting elements. Although they are both filled with overwrought emotion, they diverge when it comes to their atmospheres of mystery, and the roles which women play. Both of these writers includ women as an element of their Gothic fiction, but they are used in contrasting fashions.
Gothic Elements in Lady Oracle It’s not difficult to recognize a gothic novel because of their distinct literary elements. They are often filled with castles, ruins, and vast mysterious landscapes. Each character follows a very specific archetype, such as the damsel in distress or the villain, and drama increases as the reader follows them through their dark, often stormy, journey. In Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle, the traditional elements of gothic literature are prominent. Moreover, with its gothic sense of space, supernatural events, and damsel in distress/hero/villain archetypes, Lady Oracle is a successful example of a gothic novel.
As vampires are extremely adaptable characters they have been used in gothic texts for centuries. In looking at Dracula by Bram Stoker and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer the responder can see how the manipulation of ‘the vampire’ character has played a crucial role in expressing the different fears and insecurities of the era in which the texts were composed. The main way that the fears and insecurities of a modern society have been shown is twilight is through the modernization of gothic themes and elements so that they suit the context of the era that they were produced and create a modern gothic text. Dracula however stays true to the traditional gothic elements, as they are relevant to the era in which the novel was produced. Whilst both Dracula and Twilight explore similar themes they are expressed in different ways to represent different insecurities in society.
The protagonist of the story is known as Ichabod Crane, a very eccentric scientist who was stationed in Sleepy Hollow after being exiled from his town in Northern Connecticut. Throughout the Gothic era the characters have been most important to the story. The characters are written in a way that the reader can relate to them and make them feel like they are actually in the story. The characters of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane are two examples of characters that define the Gothic Literary era. In Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow, the Antagonist is known as the Headless Horseman, a paranormal being that terrorizes the town and beheading all of those who oppose him “…the Headless Horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard.” (Irving) His gruesome and tragic death dates back the American Revolution.
Partly, this is due to the fact that his works were “lost” until the 1800’s. To this day, they only exist in a single manuscript, the Cotton MS Nero A.x., which was in a private collection for a couple hundred years. When it resurfaced in the late 1800’s, this manuscript was noted for its poetic prowess and entered academic circulation. The man behind this, though, is entirely unknown – there isn’t even a widely accepted speculation. Hence, this is the reason for the