Dark Romantic Literature

1
Dark Romantic Literature

• 1840-1860
• The grotesque, gloomy, morbid and fantastic

2
The Writers

• Herman Melville
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Interested in human psychology and the deep, dark
  workings of the subconscious mind.
• Dark Romantics acknowledged the evil in men and
  the horror of evil.
• Rooted in French, German, and English Gothic lit.

3
Literature elements

• Settings wild, haunted landscapes.
• Supernatural events and mysterious
  Gothic/medieval castles.
• Relied heavily upon symbolism terror is often
  given a concrete form in a symbol

4
The Characters

• Haunted, alienated, isolated, and obsessed
  characters
• Protagonists pitted against unknowable dark
  fates that in some mysterious way grow out of
  their deepest unconscious selves
• Alienation from society as a result of
• Pride
• Selfishness
• Coldness of heart
• Emergence of secret sin into the world