Gothic Literature

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Gothic Literature

• By
• Mike Roy, Sarah Idler, and
• Brittany Johnson

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What is Gothic Literature

• The standard Gothic paraphernalia (haunted
  castles, creaking staircases, vampire bats, and
  zombies) are only the trappings that may or may
  not be present.
• More substantial characteristics of Gothic are
• An oddly romantic relationship
• Labyrinths
• Extreme weather, rugged landscapes
• Omens and ancestral curses
• A passion-driven villain-hero or villain
• Ruined buildings and/or castles which threaten
  life

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Gothic Literature

• There are two different styles of Gothic
  Literature
• Revival of the medieval especially in
  architecture Manor houses were built in the
  style of the Tudor castles of the Middle Ages
  because this were thought to be an indigenous
  English style that symbolized the English
  values of tradition.
• Another aspect of medievalism the mysterious and
  spooky world of the Catholic church at the time
  of the Inquisition and the bright jewel-like
  colors, flat perspective, and sometimes gory
  piety of fifteenth-century church painting.

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Gothic Architecture

• By the 18th Century in England, Gothic had become
  one in the same with the Middle Ages, a period
  which was in disfavor because it was perceived as
  chaotic, unenlightened, and superstitious.
• The words Goth and Gothic also described the
  Germanic tribes (e.g., Goths, Visigoths,
  Ostrogoths) which ravaged the rest of Europe in
  the third, fourth, and fifth centuries.
• Because of these tribes and their actions, the
  words Gothic and Goth also came to mean
  barbarian, barbarous, and barbaric.
• Gothic architecture tends to lean towards the
  grandiose and extravagant.

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Architecture cont
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Terror vs. Horror

• TERROR the feeling of unknowing feelings of
  uncertainty and doom associated with shadows and
  a presence in the night threats of happiness
• HORROR the physical gore of a murder blood,
  guts, and at times unnecessary. This would also
  be

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Gothic Movement

• Divided into two categories High Aesthetic and
  Low Aesthetic
• High Aesthetic works were concerned with
  supporting society as a whole (gender roles,
  class structure, etc)
• Low Aesthetic works were considered to be
  corrosive because they went against the norms of
  that time period
• The Gothic Movement was considered as Low
  Aesthetic because it contradicted many of the
  notions of that time.

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Responses to the Gothic Movement

• Excerpts from Gothic Threats Andrew Cooper
• Examinations of eighteenth-century critics
  condemnations of the Gothic reveals more than a
  widespread belief that the literature of terror
  threatened the social order in terrifying ways
  it also reveals that critics took the task of
  defending society upon themselves, using their
  condemnations in an effort to shield the social
  order from the most dangerous Gothic texts. A
  strong political agenda either overtly or
  covertly informs the supposedly aesthetic
  judgements of these critics-as-social-defenders
  (18)
• While anxiety of the potential pernicious
  influence of certain kinds of art itself, the
  vehemence with the British critics condemned most
  Gothic novels in the politically and socially
  turbulent 1790s that the peak of the early
  Gothics popularity marked the beginning of a new
  era for the fear of literatures generative
  potential (18).
• It is not difficult to see that Gothic literature
  would not have been seen as popular at that time.
  According or Markmen Ellis For most of its
  history the institutions of literary criticism
  have largely ignored the Gothic novel (12).

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The Mysteries of Udolpho

• Another gate delivered them into the second
  court, grass-grown and more wild than the first,
  where, as she surveyed through the twilight its
  desolation its lofty walls, overtopt with
  briony, moss and nightshade, and the embattled
  towers that rose above, - long-suffering and
  murder came to her thoughts. One of those
  instantaneous and unaccountable convictions,
  which sometimes conquer even strong minds,
  impressed her with its horror.

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The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole
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Anaconda
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The Monk
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Gothic vs. Romanticism

• Gender Relations
• Class Structure

• Ideals of Virtue
• Polarized Stereotypes

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Gothic vs. Amatory Fiction

• Gender Relations
• Class Structure

• Ideals of Virtue
• Polarized Stereotypes

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Status of Women

• Before

• After

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Modern Gothic