Gothic
Gothic Period
-The Gothic period was from around 1764 to 1820
-There are texts before and after this era which contain the gothic feature
-These texts played around with the gothic genre and even challenged it.
-The Gothic period was from around 1764 to 1820
-There are texts before and after this era which contain the gothic feature
-These texts played around with the gothic genre and even challenged it.
Gothic Features
-Abbeys - monastery
- Ancestral Curse - a curse from generations before
- Archaism - old language
- Catholic - the idea of God and the devil
- Concealment - people hiding things
- Crypts Cloisters - Crypts (a stone basement in the church filled with dead bodies) Cloisters (where monks walk in a square)
- Doppelganger - look alike
- Dreams
- Embedded Narratives - letters or diaries inside the text
- Escape - successful and failed attempts to escape
- Flickering Candles
- Hyperbole language - over exaggeration
- Incest
- Insanity - this was particularly with women
- Isolation
- Justice
- Labyrinth - Greek methodology (a maze)
- Masks
- Mirrors - for vampires because they have no reflection
- Religious figures
- Monsters
- Multiple narrative voices
- Omen - forewarning
- Oppression
- Orphans
- Persecution
- Portraits
- Maidens - virgins
- Mystery
- The Chase
- Revenge
- Religion
- Ruins
- Secretes
- Sensational Shocking Events
- Sex
- Silence
- Storms
- Threat
- Torture
- Trespass
- Underground Passages
- Villains
- Violence
- Wills
- Wild Remote Places
- Women - young, vulnerable and alone
- Women - young, curious and independent
- Women - seductresses and corruptors (have the ability and power
to change the minds of men)
-Abbeys - monastery
- Ancestral Curse - a curse from generations before
- Archaism - old language
- Catholic - the idea of God and the devil
- Concealment - people hiding things
- Crypts Cloisters - Crypts (a stone basement in the church filled with dead bodies) Cloisters (where monks walk in a square)
- Doppelganger - look alike
- Dreams
- Embedded Narratives - letters or diaries inside the text
- Escape - successful and failed attempts to escape
- Flickering Candles
- Hyperbole language - over exaggeration
- Incest
- Insanity - this was particularly with women
- Isolation
- Justice
- Labyrinth - Greek methodology (a maze)
- Masks
- Mirrors - for vampires because they have no reflection
- Religious figures
- Monsters
- Multiple narrative voices
- Omen - forewarning
- Oppression
- Orphans
- Persecution
- Portraits
- Maidens - virgins
- Mystery
- The Chase
- Revenge
- Religion
- Ruins
- Secretes
- Sensational Shocking Events
- Sex
- Silence
- Storms
- Threat
- Torture
- Trespass
- Underground Passages
- Villains
- Violence
- Wills
- Wild Remote Places
- Women - young, vulnerable and alone
- Women - young, curious and independent
- Women - seductresses and corruptors (have the ability and power
to change the minds of men)
Gothic Concepts
- Horror - is fear generated from physically seeing or experiencing something. E.g. seeing a dead body or monster
- Terror - is fear which is felt from imagining that something is there, usually a shadow or a sound or an uncertain figure. E.g. imagining seeing a shadow of a ghost.
- The Sublime - something which you feel or experience which is indescribable, something which is much bigger than ourselves. It is too big to comprehend (a sense of awe).
- The Uncanny - something which is strange or mysterious in a unsettling way. It is unnatural or unearthly.
- Taboo - It is outside of the cultural norms and values.
- The Supernatural - something which is above nature, mysterious or inexplicable.
- Opposition - One that is in the society and one that is not. E.g. sanity/madness; wild/domesticated; male/female; living/dead; past/present.
- Otherness - Anything that is different from ourselves. E.g. Heathcliff from The Wuthering Heights is different from a normal human being.
- Obscurity - The experience of sublime.
- The Revenant - The return of something e.g. a dead person.
- The Doppelganger - double or a mirror image of someone or something.
- The Liminal - on the boarder of something
- Abhuman - process of becoming monstrous.
- Horror - is fear generated from physically seeing or experiencing something. E.g. seeing a dead body or monster
- Terror - is fear which is felt from imagining that something is there, usually a shadow or a sound or an uncertain figure. E.g. imagining seeing a shadow of a ghost.
- The Sublime - something which you feel or experience which is indescribable, something which is much bigger than ourselves. It is too big to comprehend (a sense of awe).
- The Uncanny - something which is strange or mysterious in a unsettling way. It is unnatural or unearthly.
- Taboo - It is outside of the cultural norms and values.
- The Supernatural - something which is above nature, mysterious or inexplicable.
- Opposition - One that is in the society and one that is not. E.g. sanity/madness; wild/domesticated; male/female; living/dead; past/present.
- Otherness - Anything that is different from ourselves. E.g. Heathcliff from The Wuthering Heights is different from a normal human being.
- Obscurity - The experience of sublime.
- The Revenant - The return of something e.g. a dead person.
- The Doppelganger - double or a mirror image of someone or something.
- The Liminal - on the boarder of something
- Abhuman - process of becoming monstrous.
The Romance of the Forest - Ann Radcliffe (1791)
She stepped forward, and having unclosed it, proceeded with faltering steps along a suite of apartments resembling the first in style and condition, and terminating in one exactly like that where her dream had represented the dying person; the remembrance struck so forcibly upon her imagination that she was in danger of fainting; and looking round the room, almost expected to see the phantom of her dream. Unable to quit the place, she sat down on some old lumber to recover herself, while her spirits were nearly overcome by a superstitious dread, such as she had never felt before. She wondered to what part of the abbey these chambers belonged, and that they had so long escaped detection. The casements were all too high to afford any information from without. When she was sufficiently composed to consider the direction of the rooms, and the situation of the abbey, there appeared not a doubt that they formed an interior part of the original building.
As these reflections passed over her mind, a sudden gleam of moonlight fell upon some object without the casement. Being now sufficiently composed to wish to pursue the inquiry, and believing this object might afford her some means of learning the situation of these rooms, she combated her remaining terrors, and, in order to distinguish it more clearly, removed the light to an outer chamber; but before she could return, a heavy cloud was driven over the face of the moon, and all without was perfectly dark: she stood for some moments waiting a returning gleam, but the obscurity continued. As she went softly back for the light, her foot stumbled over something on the floor, and while she stooped to examine it, the moon again shone, so that she could distinguish, through the casement, the eastern towers of the abbey. This discovery confirmed her former conjectures concerning the interior situation of these apartments. The obscurity of the place prevented her discovering what it was that had impeded her steps, but having brought the light forward, she perceived on the floor an old dagger: with a trembling hand she took it up, and upon a closer view perceived that it was spotted and stained with rust.
- In The Romance of the Forest, the lexical field includes; dream, phantom, imagination and danger.
- This novel was set in the 1760s when women were not considered to be as bright as men. Ann Radcliffe was not a famous writer, she was considered to be a writer for women.
- This text fits the gothic criteria because it has the concept of horror, terror, sublime and obscurity.
- The gothic elements of setting include; chamber, concealment, abbey, superstitious dread, casements and the interior part of the building.
- Women are portrayed as- weak, curious, escaping, and vulnerable, as she trespasses ' long escaped detection' .
She stepped forward, and having unclosed it, proceeded with faltering steps along a suite of apartments resembling the first in style and condition, and terminating in one exactly like that where her dream had represented the dying person; the remembrance struck so forcibly upon her imagination that she was in danger of fainting; and looking round the room, almost expected to see the phantom of her dream. Unable to quit the place, she sat down on some old lumber to recover herself, while her spirits were nearly overcome by a superstitious dread, such as she had never felt before. She wondered to what part of the abbey these chambers belonged, and that they had so long escaped detection. The casements were all too high to afford any information from without. When she was sufficiently composed to consider the direction of the rooms, and the situation of the abbey, there appeared not a doubt that they formed an interior part of the original building.
As these reflections passed over her mind, a sudden gleam of moonlight fell upon some object without the casement. Being now sufficiently composed to wish to pursue the inquiry, and believing this object might afford her some means of learning the situation of these rooms, she combated her remaining terrors, and, in order to distinguish it more clearly, removed the light to an outer chamber; but before she could return, a heavy cloud was driven over the face of the moon, and all without was perfectly dark: she stood for some moments waiting a returning gleam, but the obscurity continued. As she went softly back for the light, her foot stumbled over something on the floor, and while she stooped to examine it, the moon again shone, so that she could distinguish, through the casement, the eastern towers of the abbey. This discovery confirmed her former conjectures concerning the interior situation of these apartments. The obscurity of the place prevented her discovering what it was that had impeded her steps, but having brought the light forward, she perceived on the floor an old dagger: with a trembling hand she took it up, and upon a closer view perceived that it was spotted and stained with rust.
- In The Romance of the Forest, the lexical field includes; dream, phantom, imagination and danger.
- This novel was set in the 1760s when women were not considered to be as bright as men. Ann Radcliffe was not a famous writer, she was considered to be a writer for women.
- This text fits the gothic criteria because it has the concept of horror, terror, sublime and obscurity.
- The gothic elements of setting include; chamber, concealment, abbey, superstitious dread, casements and the interior part of the building.
- Women are portrayed as- weak, curious, escaping, and vulnerable, as she trespasses ' long escaped detection' .
The Mysteries of Udolpho - Ann Radcliffe (1794)
![Picture](/uploads/2/3/7/2/23722901/8962148_orig.jpg)
Anne Radcliffe
Biography
Born July 9, 1764 in Holborn, London. Growing up, Ann Ward was a very shy young woman from Bath, she had a great love for literature and nature. She developed an interest for romance and for the supernatural. On January 15, 1787, she married William Radcliffe, a student at Oxford, and they moved to London. Her husband use to come home late so to occupy her time she started to write. She received £500 for 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' and later she with her husband and her dog travelled outside the UK. Ann died on 7 February 1823, her husband claimed that she died of an asthma attack.
Summary of 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'
The Mysteries of Udolpho, 16th century novel, opens in setting of Emily St. Aubert's home in La Vallee, where she lives with her parents. When her mother dies, she moves to the Pyrenees with her father. There she falls in love with Valancourt. Soon Emily's Father dies too and pressurised by his wish she has to stay with her aunt Madamme Cheron who shows very little affection to her. Cheron marries Montoni, although he wants her for her money. Valancourt follows Emily to her aunts house but Montoni sends Valancourt away. Later Montoni takes Emily and his wife to the castle Udolpho. During her stay at Udolpho Emily experiences many frightening and seemingly supernatural events, which are later explained rationally by her. Madamme Cheron dies because of her husband harshness and Emily escapes from Udolpho. Montoni had been found guilty for stealing Emily's Land in La Vallee so he is now in jail and all her possessions are returned to her. When she meets Valancourt she rejects him because she has heard that he turned bad. Later she marries Valancourt when she find out that all those rumours were untrue and they live happily ever after in La Vallee.
Themes
- inescapable past
- search for truth
- virtue over villainy
Extract
Emily gazed with melancholy awe upon the castle, which she understood to be Montoni's; for, though it was now lighted up by the setting sun, the gothic greatness of its features, and its mouldering walls of dark grey stone, rendered it a gloomy and sublime object. As she gazed, the light died away on its walls, leaving a melancholy purple tint, which spread deeper and deeper, as the thin vapour crept up the mountain, while the battlements above were still tipped with splendour. From those too, the rays soon faded, and the whole edifice was invested with the solemn duskiness of evening. Silent, lonely and sublime, it seemed to stand the sovereign of the scene, and to frown defiance on all who dared to invade its solitary reign. As the twilight deepened, its features became more awful in obscurity, and Emily continued to gaze, till its clustering towers were alone seen, rising over the tops of the woods, beneath whose thick shade the carriages soon after began to ascend.
The gothic features (underlined)
The gothic Concepts (in bold)
Biography
Born July 9, 1764 in Holborn, London. Growing up, Ann Ward was a very shy young woman from Bath, she had a great love for literature and nature. She developed an interest for romance and for the supernatural. On January 15, 1787, she married William Radcliffe, a student at Oxford, and they moved to London. Her husband use to come home late so to occupy her time she started to write. She received £500 for 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' and later she with her husband and her dog travelled outside the UK. Ann died on 7 February 1823, her husband claimed that she died of an asthma attack.
Summary of 'The Mysteries of Udolpho'
The Mysteries of Udolpho, 16th century novel, opens in setting of Emily St. Aubert's home in La Vallee, where she lives with her parents. When her mother dies, she moves to the Pyrenees with her father. There she falls in love with Valancourt. Soon Emily's Father dies too and pressurised by his wish she has to stay with her aunt Madamme Cheron who shows very little affection to her. Cheron marries Montoni, although he wants her for her money. Valancourt follows Emily to her aunts house but Montoni sends Valancourt away. Later Montoni takes Emily and his wife to the castle Udolpho. During her stay at Udolpho Emily experiences many frightening and seemingly supernatural events, which are later explained rationally by her. Madamme Cheron dies because of her husband harshness and Emily escapes from Udolpho. Montoni had been found guilty for stealing Emily's Land in La Vallee so he is now in jail and all her possessions are returned to her. When she meets Valancourt she rejects him because she has heard that he turned bad. Later she marries Valancourt when she find out that all those rumours were untrue and they live happily ever after in La Vallee.
Themes
- inescapable past
- search for truth
- virtue over villainy
Extract
Emily gazed with melancholy awe upon the castle, which she understood to be Montoni's; for, though it was now lighted up by the setting sun, the gothic greatness of its features, and its mouldering walls of dark grey stone, rendered it a gloomy and sublime object. As she gazed, the light died away on its walls, leaving a melancholy purple tint, which spread deeper and deeper, as the thin vapour crept up the mountain, while the battlements above were still tipped with splendour. From those too, the rays soon faded, and the whole edifice was invested with the solemn duskiness of evening. Silent, lonely and sublime, it seemed to stand the sovereign of the scene, and to frown defiance on all who dared to invade its solitary reign. As the twilight deepened, its features became more awful in obscurity, and Emily continued to gaze, till its clustering towers were alone seen, rising over the tops of the woods, beneath whose thick shade the carriages soon after began to ascend.
The gothic features (underlined)
The gothic Concepts (in bold)
Romanticism
- Romanticism was an artistic and literary movement originated in Europe towards the end of 18th century. It was a reaction to Industrial Revolution, a rise against aristocratic, social and political norms of Enlightenment.
- The main concepts Romantics which they were concerned about was individualism, intuition and imagination.
- During the period of romanticism God started to die and people started to look for logical answers. Poets started to find God in nature. These writers were looking for things which imaginative and not logical.
- Major writer of romanticism are Walt Whitmen, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley.
- The main concepts Romantics which they were concerned about was individualism, intuition and imagination.
- During the period of romanticism God started to die and people started to look for logical answers. Poets started to find God in nature. These writers were looking for things which imaginative and not logical.
- Major writer of romanticism are Walt Whitmen, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley.
My gothic version of Jack and Jill
As the rayless sky cried, Jack and Jill got dragged up the solitary hill, to get the blood drained from their fatigued bodies by the three enchantresses. Thunder and lightening was all to be heard with the screams of Jack and Jill. Black clouds crept up the hill, chilled breeze struck Jack and Jill. Both were awestruck and curious about what was up the hill. Jack resisted to go up, the uncanny witch pulled him from his head with such a force ripping his head apart from his body like a rose from its stamp. 'Pails of blood we could get from him' said the barbaric witch. Covered in Jack's blood, Jill peacefully sat next to him as they witches surrounded them.
My aim was for this was to develop Gothic features and concepts into this text and try to make it sound as dark, mysterious and sublime as possible. We deconstructed an extract from Ann Radcliffe's 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' which helped me understand how to put gothic features and concepts in a text. I also tried to create isolated and dark atmosphere.
My aim was for this was to develop Gothic features and concepts into this text and try to make it sound as dark, mysterious and sublime as possible. We deconstructed an extract from Ann Radcliffe's 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' which helped me understand how to put gothic features and concepts in a text. I also tried to create isolated and dark atmosphere.
Gothic Heroine
Towards the end of the 18th century many gothic novels were written and mostly read by women. In a Gothic novel there is always a heroine and she is subjected to unimaginable terrors. She tends to be young and timid and sually unable to bear all the supernatural/dangerous situations taking place. Gothic heroines are stereotypes, they are tarpped in situations from which they can not escape.
Regina Roche in her novel Clement gives us an amazing portrait of a Gothic heroine:
She was tall and delicately made, nor was the symmetry of her features inferior to that of her bodily form. Her eyes, large and of the darkest hazel, ever true to the varying emotions of her soul, languished beneath their long silken lashes with all the softness of sensibility and sparkled with all the fire of imation; her hair, a rich auburn, added luxuriance to her beauty, and by a natural curl, gave an expression of the greatest innocence to her face; the palest blush of health just tinted her dimpled cheek and her mouth, adorned by smiles, appeared like the half-blown rose when moistened with the dews of early morn...
She was tall and delicately made, nor was the symmetry of her features inferior to that of her bodily form. Her eyes, large and of the darkest hazel, ever true to the varying emotions of her soul, languished beneath their long silken lashes with all the softness of sensibility and sparkled with all the fire of imation; her hair, a rich auburn, added luxuriance to her beauty, and by a natural curl, gave an expression of the greatest innocence to her face; the palest blush of health just tinted her dimpled cheek and her mouth, adorned by smiles, appeared like the half-blown rose when moistened with the dews of early morn...
This quote gives us an idea about the charcateristics of a gothic heroine; it tell us that a gothic heroine is fragile, pretty, innocent and pure. Usually one of the heroines parents die when she is young. Afterwards she is kept by a heinous, vicious and evil male individual, very often her own father, and is locked up in a room. where she experiences supernatural things which terrorise her. Or sometimes nothing supernatural takes place but she is still horrified by the totures of the person keeping her. However, afer many adventures she manages to escape from evil man's prison. Most of the time she marries her love and lives happily ever after. Though sometimes marriage turns out to be another trap of domesticity.
BBC4 Programme ‘The Art of Gothic’: Britain’s Midnight Hour - Review
The word ‘gothic’ comes from ‘The Goths’ which was an Eastern Tribe in the early centuries known for pillaging and raiding against the Roman Empire. The word ‘gothic’ was implied as an insult originally because the Goths were synonymous with barbarism. The first gothic novel was written in 1764 called the ‘The Castle of Otranto’ by Horace Walpole. Since at that time gothic fiction was considered to be shameful so many authors did not write their real names and it was only until the publication of the second edition in 1765 of Walpole’s book when he decided to attach his own name to the book. Furthermore, there has been a movement in gothic architecture from 12th century to 16th century. Gothic buildings are arched, pointed and full of flourishes. These buildings were seemed to have ‘Northern’ crude and vulgarity, lacking the ‘Southern’ European art. So the word ‘Gothic’ became old fashioned. Walpole created a Gothic mansion in Strawberry Hill. Although the mansion was Gothic, it was very pleasant. It was unconventional for him because he came from the English aristocracy, where they build mansions in the classical ancient Greek and Roman style, and Walpole's was outside with nature. Lord Cobam revived the Gothic, by remodelling his ancestral house and creating a building based on his Anglo-Saxon roots, called the 'Stowe House'. At that time the Gothic architecture was used to decorate the English country sides. Though, castles in gothic plots seem to be the home for supernatural adventures since there are many secret doors, passages, monasteries and hidden rooms in a castle to conceal secrets and the truth. Also, many artists even went to the glorious abbeys to paint picturesque.
The word ‘gothic’ comes from ‘The Goths’ which was an Eastern Tribe in the early centuries known for pillaging and raiding against the Roman Empire. The word ‘gothic’ was implied as an insult originally because the Goths were synonymous with barbarism. The first gothic novel was written in 1764 called the ‘The Castle of Otranto’ by Horace Walpole. Since at that time gothic fiction was considered to be shameful so many authors did not write their real names and it was only until the publication of the second edition in 1765 of Walpole’s book when he decided to attach his own name to the book. Furthermore, there has been a movement in gothic architecture from 12th century to 16th century. Gothic buildings are arched, pointed and full of flourishes. These buildings were seemed to have ‘Northern’ crude and vulgarity, lacking the ‘Southern’ European art. So the word ‘Gothic’ became old fashioned. Walpole created a Gothic mansion in Strawberry Hill. Although the mansion was Gothic, it was very pleasant. It was unconventional for him because he came from the English aristocracy, where they build mansions in the classical ancient Greek and Roman style, and Walpole's was outside with nature. Lord Cobam revived the Gothic, by remodelling his ancestral house and creating a building based on his Anglo-Saxon roots, called the 'Stowe House'. At that time the Gothic architecture was used to decorate the English country sides. Though, castles in gothic plots seem to be the home for supernatural adventures since there are many secret doors, passages, monasteries and hidden rooms in a castle to conceal secrets and the truth. Also, many artists even went to the glorious abbeys to paint picturesque.