The Differences and Adaptations in the 2012 version of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”

There are several differences in The Hound of the Baskervilles 1902 novel and The Hounds of the Baskerville 2012 television series. I am focusing on three differences and adaptations of the two versions.  The situations that evoke a sense of fear today are different than they were in 1902, so they had to make some changes and adaptations to the storyline. The differences portrayed in The Hounds of the Baskerville from the 1902 to 2012 are Holmes’ presence, the hound attack, the title and the tyrant behind it all. The adaptations that stuck out to me were the mire, the light signal and the chase.

The differences between the 1902 novel and the 2012 television series were significant. In the 1902 novel, The Hound of The Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes is not present in the middle part of the story. He is present at the beginning of the story and then doesn’t appear again until towards the end. In the 2012 version, Holmes is present during the entire film. The scene of the hound attack is also different. In the 1902 version, the hound that attacks Sir Henry is an actual dog. In the 2012 version, the hound turns out to be a mentally ill man who conducted drug experiments on himself. This drug causes hallucinations that make him see things that don’t exist. The drug is contained in the fog, and anyone who in the mire will see several hounds approaching them. This vision explains the 2012 title, The Hounds of Baskerville. The tyrant behind the attacks is different in the 1902 version and the 2012 version. In the 1902 novel, the tyrant was Mr. Stapleton, a naturalist who was the most knowledgeable about the moor.  In the 2012 television series, Frankland is the tyrant responsible for the hound attacks. These changes were necessary to adapt to current concepts of fear.

The original story line in 1902 was adapted to fit the 21^st century Gothic. The first adaptation was the mire. In the 1902 version, the mire was a muddy atmosphere that would suck down anything that stepped in it. The mire “ate” ponies when they galloped their way too far on the moor. In the 2012 television series, the mire was adapted to a mine field set up by the military base, Baskerville. The second adaptation was the light signal to Barrymore from the convict. In the 1902 novel, it was a light to signal the location of the convict, so Barrymore could bring him food. In the 2012 television series, it seemed there was Morse code, so Watson follows the light to discover the code. The anticipation Watson felt as he followed the light merely led him to a headlight to a car where Seldon was having sex with a woman. In the chase, rather than being implied that the tyrant drowned in the mire, the tyrant stepped on the mine field that exploded. The mine field, as stated in the last paragraph, was the change in concept of the mire.

The changes between the 1902 and 2012 Hound of The Baskervilles, adds new elements to the classic Gothic tropes. The 2012 television series The Hounds of The Baskerville, adds a new twist on the classic supernatural trope. Animals or people can be mutated by mad scientists. In the television series Dr. Stapleton, who is a woman in this version, was experimenting on monkeys and the antidote made the monkeys glow. Then, we find out Frankland, years before, was involved in experimenting on humans. This antidote made the humans go insane and go on a killing spree. This drug induced insanity is a new addition to my idea of the supernatural being. My schema of the supernatural included a zombie, vampire, spider girl, angel and now mutated being. The aspect of fear has a new addition as well anticipation. The anxiety of anticipation is sometimes just as bad as being afraid. For instance, when I was watching the scene of Watson walking to investigate the light I was thinking what is he going to find. Then he just finds a headlight to a car of a couple making love. I had built up anticipation in my mind about what the light would reveal, but in the end, it led to something humorous or insignificant, not scary. Both versions of the story The Hound of the Baskervilles are captivating, but the new version brings in exciting additions to the supernatural and fear elements of the Gothic.

The Hound of The Baskervilles

In The Hound of The Baskervilles, Doyle depicts two different ways to deal with fear through his two main characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  Sherlock Holmes is logical and science oriented and represents the Freudian “ego” of the group when facing fear.  Dr. Watson believes easily, is action oriented, emotional and represents the Freudian “id” when facing fear.  These two different approaches to fear are evident throughout the story.

When Stapleton released the Hound on Sir Henry, Holmes had thought of a plan to wait behind a rock with Dr. Watson and Mortimer.  The dog was much bigger than they thought so they let the dog pass before they regained their composure.  The Hound had gotten a hold of Sir Henry before Watson, Mortimer and Holmes got to him.   They fired off shots and killed the dog before it killed Sir Henry.  Holmes was “pale and his lips were parted in amazement” as he drew his pistol first.  Watson was paralyzed by fear when he saw the “savage, appalling and hellish” appearance of the hound and drew his gun second.  Both Holmes and Watson had different reactions as they laid their eyes on the Hound.

When Holmes and Dr. Watson arrive at the mire, Stapleton is sinking into the mire. Holmes and Dr. Watson both approach the mire with caution.  Watson is the Gothic enhancer by describing the scene as “Rank reeds and lush, slimy water-plants sent an odour of decay and a heavy miasmatic vapour into our faces, while a false step plunged us more than once thigh-deep into the dark, quivering mire, which shook for yards in soft undulations around our feet” (Doyle 161).  Holmes is the Gothic wrecker as he casually went into the mire to retrieve the boot.  “Holmes sank to his waist as he stepped from the path to seize it, and had we not been there to drag him out he could never have set his foot upon firm land again. It is worth a mudbath said he.  It is our friend Sir Henry’s boot” (Doyle 161).

Holmes is a symbol of reason when facing fear. Dr. Watson is emotional and action driven when he is facing fear.  When pursuing the Hound and approaching the mire, both Holmes and Watson react differently while experiencing the same set of circumstances. Sherlock Holmes, the detective, approaches fear focusing on logic and reality.  Dr. Watsons, the assistant, approaches fear focusing on the Gothic elements such as darkness, danger and evil.  Holmes and Watson use their unique personalities to face frightening situations for the common goal of solving cases.

Latin America and Magical Realism

In the Latin American Gothic genre, the reader is presented with the classic Gothic tropes. Latin American authors bring a new element to light that is unique to their culture, Magical Realism. This encompasses when the familiar is strange and when the strange becomes familiar. Magical Realism is where the appearance of magical creatures or elements are a natural part in an otherwise ordinary scene. The three Gothic Latin American stories, “The Gospel According to Mark,” “If You Touched my Heart,” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children” incorporate the classic Gothic tropes as well as Magical Realism in their own unique ways.

In “The Gospel According to Mark,” Borges introduces us to a man named Espinosa, who travels to a place in Argentina, where he encountered the Gutres. “The Gutres were three: the father, an unusually uncouth son, and a daughter of uncertain paternity. They were tall, strong, and bony, and had hair that was on the reddish side and faces that showed traces of Indian blood. They were barely articulate. The foreman’s wife had died years before.” (Borges 1) Espinosa reads them the only book around, “The New Testament”, a chapter in The Bible that includes Jesus’s crucifixion. The Gutres had Espinosa read it several times. The Gutres acted like they worshiped Espinosa. This twisted love is another classic Gothic trope. The Gutres kept asking if the Roman soldiers who hammered Jesus to the cross were saved too, and Espinosa said yes. The Magical Realism presented in the story is the Gutres followed the entire process described in the New Testament, even to building the cross and the implied crucifixion. The classic Gothic and character tropes in this story are the tyrants, the damsel in distress and the storm. The tyrants in the story are the Gutres and the damsel in distress is Espinosa. The Gutres were tyrants, because they tortured Espinosa. Espinosa had no idea what the Gutres were planning.  Espinosa thought he was just reading them the story, making him the damsel in distress.

In “If you Touched my Heart,” Allende introduces us to Amadeo Peralta who was brought up to be tough, promiscuous and domineering. Hortensia was a mentally ill fifteen year old girl who Amadeo abducts, imprisons in a cell and rapes. Amadeo keeps her locked up in an underground cell and only comes to give her food, a beating and intimacy once in a while.  Hortensia’s only possessions are her yellow sun dress and her psaltry that she plays often. After she is rescued forty-seven years later by the neighbors, she goes back to the property of her captor and says she “loves him.”  Hortensia, thinking of her oppressor as a lover, is an example of Magical Realism. Amadeo locks her back in the cell. Hortensia’s captivity takes a toll on her, and she is decaying with mushrooms growing on her skin. Her dress has rotted away and she was left naked. Decay and oppression are both classic Gothic tropes. In her dreams, Hortenesia travels to a dream world where she is rescued and free. This is another example of Magical Realism. Amadeo is the classic tyrant: he abducted, imprisoned and tortured Hortensia. Hortensia is the damsel in distress. She doesn’t seem to realize that what is happening is wrong.  

In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” an angel appears in the Petayo’s backyard. They lock up the angel with decaying wings, in the chicken coop without food, which are classic Gothic tropes. The Petayos collect money from people wanting to come see the angel. The Patayo’s son is very sick and when he goes into the chicken coop, he is cured by the angel’s powers. The angel is an example of Magical Realism because he is a magical creature appearing in an ordinary event.  The Petayos build a second story with the money they collected from the angel to prevent crab infestation. The crab infestation is another example of Magical Realism. The angel is then transported to a fair, and is rejected by people who are more interested in the girl who was turned into a tarantula for disobeying her parents. The girl’s transformation to a tarantula is an example of Magical Realism. There is a leper who sprouts sunflowers out of his sores, displaying Magical Realism. The tyrant parents, an angel as the damsel in distress,the decay of the angel and the angel’s imprisonment are all classic Gothic tropes.  

“Bake Neko”(Goblin Cat) and “The Suicide Forest”

In “Bake Neko” and “The Suicide Forest,” they present different natures of death. The presentation of death in “Bake Neko,” is homicide. In “The Suicide Forest,” the presentation of death has two different paths. The first path is suicide and the second is homicide.

In “Bake Neko,” the presentation of death is homicide. The Sakai clan was preparing their daughter, Mao, for marriage to the Shiono clan. The Sakai clan had made an agreement with the Shiono clan to clear up their debts. As Mao walked to the altar she got stabbed. The Sakai clan brought Mao into the house and the medicine peddler started to secure the house with barriers and salt against the Onryo. This would only last them a short while. The Peddler had to quickly find out the shape, reasoning and truth of the Onryo. The shape of the Onryo was a Goblin Cat and was angry because Yoshikuna slayed all the cats in town. The Onryo was also mad because the previous wife of the Shiono clan died from abuse. Mao’s parents were going insane with grief. The Onryo killed all the people in the house except Kayo and the Sasaoka. They dealt with Mao’s death by trying to protect themselves against the Onryo.

In “The Suicide Forest,” the presentation of death is both suicide and homicide. This story is about a man who broke up with his co-dependent girlfriend, Masami, who then killed herself in the Aokigaharah forest. The three main characters display three ways of dealing with loneliness. Alan is an expatriate and a foreigner. The reason he is isolated is because he broke up with his girlfriend, Masami, who then came back from the dead and killed Alan’s friends, leaving him alone. Alan deals with alienation by seeking the company of a whore.

Masami is a co-dependent who was abandoned by her family. On top of that, her boyfriend broke up with her. She deals with alienation by killing herself in the forest and coming back as an Onryo to haunt Alan. This is where the presentation of homicide comes in. Masami kills Alan’s friends because she wants him to feel as lonely as she did. 

Ryoko is a brave forester and Shinto practitioner. Her father was also a forester who killed himself in the forest after getting lost. Whenever she is in the forest she tries to find her father’s Onryo to free his soul. Ryoko is isolated because of her religious beliefs. She performs a ritual that puts the Onryo’s at peace. She deals with this isolation due to her father’s death through her ability to help people trapped in the forest. She is also able to help the Onryo’s in the forest.

In “Bake Neko” and “The Suicide Forest,” they had to deal with similar situations. The living both were being haunted by Onryo’s. Both were homicide tales.

In my family, we deal with death by attending the funeral of the person who died. We present a slideshow of photos of their life at the visitation. Then we have a gathering to celebrate life. We make soul food and share a meal together.   Then we approach grieving process by thinking of the fond memories we had with that person. We try to carry on traditions that person started. Then we visit that person’s grave on special dates and holidays so that they are not forgotten.

Western and Japanese Gothic

            Gothic literature is taken in two different perspectives when the reader looks at Western and Japanese cultures.  In the western view of the Gothic, the author shares events with redundancy for perspective and emphasis. The American way of Gothic tells the reader that certain events happen in non-subtle ways and then tells them again. They also will begin with the background story and then tell the reader the main story.  The Japanese may tell the reader the main story and then the background story or flip flop between the main and background stories.  The Japanese tells the reader what is happening in vague detail.  This approach leaves the reader guessing throughout the story to keep the reader engaged and in suspense.

            The Western and Japanese view of the Gothic have similar elements. They both have the tropes of darkness, damsel in distress, tyrant and hero.  The plots are presented differently, but contain a series of unfortunate events.  The Japanese and Western culture are evident in their respective Gothic literature. The supernatural influence is intertwined in both Western and Japanese Gothic writings. 

The western view of the Gothic is different from the Japanese. When we perceive the Gothic, the main element is death, while the Japanese focus on the suffering.  Western Gothic is filled with detailed visual descriptions of dark medieval settings and character descriptions. The hidden spaces and dark passageways are described in detail.  The inner thoughts and desires of the characters are expressed and shared with the reader. The characters in the western Gothic accept failure. The hero doesn’t always reach the damsel in distress in time, and the hero can’t always keep their promise.

The Japanese bring new cultural differences to the Gothic genre. For example, in “The Surgery Room,” the countess does not want anesthesia because she is worried about disclosing her private thoughts and actions.   In Japan, extreme caution is taken when expressing personal emotions and desires.  Extreme self-control is seen as mature and honorable.  Sharing your innermost thoughts is considered childish and unacceptable.   Unfortunately, during the surgery, the countess confesses her strong longing for the surgeon, Takamine, and then is filled with extreme shame and remorse.  “At this instant, she grabbed the scalpel from Takamine’s hand and plunged it into her body, just below her breast.  Takamine, his face ashen, stammered, “I haven’t forgotten!”(Gekashitsu 17)  Upon her death, they share a moment alone, unaware of anyone or anything beyond themselves.  The Japanese also consider suffering as the main element in the Gothic while Western Gothic focus on death. The Japanese believe that life’s trials are the center of the Gothic and death is just a part of life.  Japanese believe that death is sometimes the honorable or responsible course of action.  In “The Chrysanthemum Vow,” Akana goes on a trip and gets detained, so he kills himself to travel home as a ghost to be able to honor the promise he made to his boyfriend Samon.  Then, Samon goes to Tomita castle to kill Akana’s captor and avenge the love of his life.  Honoring your loved ones is more important than their own life.

            The Japanese Gothic tales we read added a new perspective on what I perceive as Gothic.  The infusion of Japanese culture adds new elements to what is important and honorable in their culture. Honor and loyalty to their family is more important than life itself. The depth of the descriptions of suffering gives me a new perspective on fear.  In Japanese culture, death is not the ultimate fear and is often viewed as an honorable and responsible alternative. The primary fear of death and the unknown expressed in Western Goth is expanded to the fear of suffering and losing honor in the Japanese Goth.     

“The Sound of Her Wings” Blog

In Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes,” my perception changed because this is a graphic novel. The reader is given an illustration in addition to the written words to get a visual of events and characters in the Gothic novel.   This presentation makes the story more vivid. The reader is able to see the castle, slime and tyrants with their eyes as well as in their mind.  

In the chapter, “The Sound of Her Wings,” the creepiest visual to me was the woman lying on the floor in her own pool of blood, while blood is seeping out of her neck. I found this creepy because she is lying at the bottom of the stairs. There is also a figure standing at the top of the stairs just staring at her.   I perceived the figure as her murderer. There is also a psychological trope going on in this page. When Dream and his sister, Death, are going on the quests to make people face mortality, Dream says” You have taught me something I had forgotten. Thank you, my sister.” Dream realizes that he can’t just sit around and wallow in his feelings.  Dream comes to terms with his oppression and himself. He is ready to go help save his home from turmoil.

The creepiest idea developed in this chapter, in my opinion, is the volleyball player. At the beginning, he comes up to Death because he thinks she is cute.  Then, he asks if he can see her again and she says, “Sure, Franklin. You’ll see me again. Soon.”  I found this creepy because the reader is now aware that Franklin is going to die and the character has no idea. I also find it creepy because Franklin didn’t even say his name and Death already knew his name. This goes into a broader idea of the scene.  Death knows who is going to die, when and how they are going to die, while the person is clueless.  In real life, people don’t know when and how they are going to die. I think this mystery of the unknown is what frightens people the most about death. Death sees Franklin again on the last page of the book when he gets hit by a car. This lightened the mood a little bit because he thinks he lived and says, “Wow! When I came out I thought I was gone for sure!” Then, Death breaks the news to him that he did die.

The chapter, “The Sound of Her Wings,” is Gothic because the reader sees some of the Gothic tropes. One trope is illustrated on the first page by the ornate archway. The damsel in distress and hero are the same person. Dream is both the damsel in distress and hero. Then, his mentor is Death, who leads him to the message he needs to receive. There are also two forms of oppression. Dream is oppressed by his depression. The people that Death visits are oppressed by the fear of seeing Death.  “The Sandman” is Gothic in addition to horror, because of the tropes and underlying concepts involving fear and death. 

Kafka

Kafka has many ways of showing the elements of fear, repression and transgression in his Gothic writing. In “The Hunger Artist,” the artist performs a show by fasting for forty days in a cage within public view. Then he is presented with food from an audience member.   In “A Hunger Artist,” he portrays the nature of fear as the animalistic desires of being human. The hunger artist is afraid of succumbing to the animalistic desire for food. The on lookers are frightened when they see his grotesque and emaciated form. The hunger artist isolates and tries to suppress his need and desire for food. The repression in “A Hunger Artist,” is the human need for food and the artist’s mortality. The transgression is when the hunger artist pushes the starvation beyond his limit and dies.

In “The Judgment,” Kafka demonstrates fear as losing the approval of others.  The main character, George, has written a letter to a long-time friend that now lives in Russia, informing him of George’s engagement and successful business.  George wants to convince his friend to come home, because his friend’s business and health are deteriorating. George is worried about his friend’s reaction to the letter and consults everyone around him about whether to send the letter.  He is incapable of making the decision due to his fear of rejection.  Kafka depicts parental repression.  George’s father expresses his disapproval of his son when he sentenced George “to death by drowning!”(Kafka 14).   George takes his dad’s comment literally and tries to kill himself by falling off a bridge into the water. The transgression in the story was George attempting suicide.

In “The Castle,” Kafka presents fear as being the pressure of the bureaucratic requirement of acquiring permission from the castle to stay in the town. When K, a supposed land surveyor, got to the village, he was offered a place to sleep by the landlord. Then, he was awakened by the castellan’s son who tells K that he doesn’t have a permit from the castle to stay in the village. K, disrespectfully shrugs him off and goes back to sleep. The son calls the castle and asks about a land surveyor letting K know the castle is in charge.  K unsuccessfully tries to find the castle to fight the bureaucracy.  The repression depicted in this story is free will. The town’s people can’t come and go as they please. K’s continual pursuit down dead end paths that supposedly lead to the castle leads to total frustration and helplessness.  The transgression in the story is K continuing to try to stand against a bureaucracy that is inaccessible.

Kafka adds a new twist on the classic Gothic story. Unlike other Gothic literature, in “The Hunger Artist,” the artist chooses to enter the cage, a confined space, to isolate himself from the outside world. Although he is in a cage, he is out in the open where others can see him and he desires public resect.  In most Gothic novels, being isolated involves being out of touch with the outside world and that the isolation is forced.  In “The Castle,” Kafka brings in the concept of bureaucratic requirements that restricted the freedom of the people in the town with unknown rules.  In the other Gothic stories, the limited freedom involves a singular damsel in distress that was being oppressed. In “The Castle,” there isn’t just one person being controlled, it’s all the people around the castle. Kafka adds new concepts to the Gothic genre. Kafka incorporates elements that people go through in real life such as: approval from parents, self-confidence and our own mortality. Kafka also intertwines indirect personal experiences from his own life into the plots of his Gothic stories.

Progress on Essay

I have completed the draft for my analysis on “the Lady of the House of Love” by Carter.  I wrote my essay on Tuesday and Wednesday night when I had the most time to work on it. I discussed how the setting and characters of the story fit in the Gothic Literature. I also talked about the oppression and transgression in the story. I also wrote about the literal and metaphorical meanings in the story. 

Outline

1. Definition of the Gothic Literature
2. Setting of Gothic Literature
3. Character and plot
4.  Examples from the text

5-6. Examples of the text showing how science is evil and goes to far

7. Gothic tropes in movies

8. Gothic Literature versus Horror, Gothic Literature versus Romance

9. What Goth is and isn’t

10. Setting of “the Lady of the House of Love”

11. Character identity and Gothic purpose

12. Identity of oppression and transgression

13. Metaphorical and Literal Meaning

14. Conclusion

“Rappuccini’s Daughter” :Blog 4

In “Rappuccini’s Daughter”, Hawthorne uses both literal and metaphorical issues in the story. The problem posed in the story is that the garden is poisonous and has caused Beatrice to be poisoned. A literal issue is Rappuccini’s commitment to his experiments is more important to him than human life.

In “Rappuccini’s Daughter”, Hawthorne starts the story when Giovanni comes from Italy to stay at a little hotel in Padua. He sees this garden under him where the flowers are overwhelmingly beautiful and fragrant. He sees Rappuccini working in his garden and he is sick. His Daughter Beatrice is both beautiful and dangerous. She has been poisoned by her father since birth making her the most poisonous thing in Rappuccini’s experiments. Giovanni learns this through a series of events. He himself eventually turns into a poisonous person from contact with Beatrice and this makes him angry. In the end, Beatrice is given an antidote by Giovanni from Baglioni and she dies.

The main metaphorical problem is the garden and how it is considered the modern day Garden of Eden. Both gardens were beautiful and appear to be like a paradise.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were banned when they ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge after being warned by God not to eat this fruit. In contrast, Beatrice was confined to her garden and shut off from the rest of the world, having been poisoned by her father.  Hawthorne draws a further comparison when Giovanni wonders, “Was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world? And this man, with such a perception of harm in what his own hands caused to grow-was he the Adam?”(135).In both cases within the gardens, boundaries were crossed that caused tragic harm to humans. 

The main literal problem is that Rappuccini cares more about his experiments than he does mankind and his own daughter. This is displayed when Baglioni states, “ He would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or whatever else was dearest to him, for the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge.”(138)The loss of Beatrice shows the consequences of taking science too far. Hawthorne expressed the necessity for drawing boundaries to limit harm along the quest for furthering knowledge and science.  This is a principle that needs to be applied today.

Principle Gothic Tropes of the 18th Century

In the 18^th Century there are several principle Gothic tropes that are presented in most if not all of the Gothic stories I have read so. Some of the most apparent Gothic tropes in these stories are secret marriages,thunderstorms, coming to a scene late and revenge.  The authors convey several ways of how to respond to these challenges.

Secret marriages are common in the Gothic genre especially in the 18^th century.  In The Ruins of The Abbey Fitz-Martin, Anna, before her death, thought she was married to a stranger.  They never announced their marriage and he left and she went to the monastery. The monastery is told that one of their nuns had broken her vow of celibacy and that she is pregnant.  The monastery then tortures her and makes her miscarry. This is similar to Alfonso’s marriage in The Castle of Otranto.  The author is suggesting that if the couples had just announced their marriages, then they would not have experienced these misfortunes in their lives.

Thunderstorms are a frequently used Gothic trope. In Raymond: A Fragment, Raymond is walking around in a thunderstorm mourning his dead wife and then he hears shrieking coming from one of the towers. He gets up to the tower and a tyrant is killing a swooning damsel in distress. This damsel in distress is Miranda, his wife, whom he presumed to be dead.  This also happens in The Castle of Otranto. Theodore is hiding Isabella from incoming knights, thinking they are from the evil Manfred. Theodore fights one of the knights and it turns out to be Isabella’s father, Fredric. Both authors are suggesting that when there is a thunderstorm you should just stay home and that it is just not worth the risk to roam around in a thunderstorm.  Another point is had he gotten the tower sooner, he may have been able to save her life and live happily ever after. The author is suggesting that getting to a scene too late is horrible because your mind asks the what if question which is torturous to any mind.

Revenge is a trope represented in Gothic stories. In The Ruins of the Abbey of the Abbey Fitz-Martin, Anna’s ghost comes back to have revenge on the Baron for using her.  She appears at his bedside with her dead baby in her arms. Anna’s eyes glow yellow with anger and she kills the Baron with the laser beams that shoot out of her eyes. The author is suggesting there is a consequence for villains.