Alyssa Loftus
Topics in Literature
30 September 2013
Definition of the Gothic
Figure 1 Count Olaf’s House
The classification of literature as Gothic leads a knowledgeable reader to anticipate an engaging tale encompassing elements of horror and romance with a dark and dreary setting intertwined with uncomfortable events and drama. In order to achieve this goal, the authors lead the reader through a dark, barbaric and fictitious tale of villains, victims and heroes filled with calamitous events.
The first element to unfold is generally the setting. The setting of a Gothic novel often starts in darkness and often in a confined space such as a tower, dungeon or secluded outdoor space. The architecture includes medieval castles with foliage crawling up walls, dimly lit spaces with eerie furniture and moth ridden curtains with cobwebs at every turn. It often incorporates hidden passage ways, tall and dark staircases going up or down leading to mysterious destinations. In “Raymond: A Fragment,” Juvenis sets the tone for darkness through, “Night had diffused her darkness o’re the earth, and the moon darted her pale rays on the murmuring rivulet, which twined its narrow road through the fertile needs that surrounded the humble cottage of the unhappy Raymond, who was pensively reclining on a bench at the door of his cot” (Juvenis, 23). The darkness and the eeriness described in this quote reiterates a common setting in this literature.
Following the development of the setting, the author introduces the characters: the villain as an oppressor, the victim as a damsel in distress and potentially a hero as a third primary character. These characters integrated into the setting are used to develop plots. The villain dominates the damsel in distress to further his agenda of proving scientific theories, extending his family dynasty or simply exerting his power. The plot consists of a problem presented and concludes with a solution to that problem. Through this process, characters often encounter mystical events such as flying helmets, living paintings and statues and other supernatural characters. Through these plots, social issues of the times including oppression of women, role of religion and the church, political structure and perpetuating their family power are addressed both literally and metaphorically.
The authors engaged us through dark and gloomy settings with elements including thunderstorms, death, mourning and supernatural events that lead us into the Gothic plot. In “The Ruins of Abbey of Fitz-martin,” the tale begins with Sir Thomas arriving at the decaying abbey he inherited that has been abandoned for hundreds of years. The abbey was last inhabited by Vortimer who secretly married a young woman to deceive the nuns at the monastery into turning the abbey over to him. He tells a sister in the abbey that one of their nuns has broken her vow and is pregnant. The monastery then tortures Anna who believes that she will be saved by her stranger, Vortimer, but he doesn’t come and she and her baby die. Vortimer is given ownership of the abbey. Anna’s ghost, carrying her dead baby in her arms, comes back for revenge while Vortimer is sleeping. She threatens that she will haunt him even in the ground and then kills him with the yellow lasers that come out of her eyes. This plot exhibits the supernatural while exploring the role of the church and the villain exerting his power for his own personal gain.
Figure 2 The Fall of The House of Usher
Poe demonstrates many classic gothic tropes in “The Fall of The House of Usher. He takes the narrator into a house that is decaying with moth ridden curtains, foliage crawling up the walls and into the house. The narrator’s friend, Roderick Usher, is mentally and physically ill and is the last of the Usher family to exist. Usher’s sister was very ill and has supposedly already died but Usher talks about burying her while she was still alive. Throughout the story Usher hallucinates about the house shaking, lights going on and off and his dead sister trying to get out of her coffin. In the end, Usher meets his doom when his dead sister falls on him, the house collapses while the narrator runs for cover. The metaphorical issue is the house falling apart being a symbol of the family dying off. The threat or the actual end of a family dynasty is a common theme in many Gothic novels. The literal issue is Usher’s mind and body deteriorating.
In “Raymond: A Fragment”, Juvenis starts her story by telling us that Raymond is mourning the loss of his wife. A thunderstorm comes into the picture and the more miserable Raymond gets, the heavier the storm gets. He is running around in the storm when he hears a shriek. He goes to check it out and there is a tyrant stabbing a young woman. The tyrant flees and Raymond goes to her side, but is too late. He then notices her face and says “It’s Miranda,” his supposedly dead wife. The tropes expressed include darkness, misery, romantic death and torture. The social issue is of Raymond’s perceived persecution and questioning his religion.
Figure 3 Rappuccini’s Daughter: Beatrice and Giovanni in the garden
The Gothic also presents the idea of science being evil and opposed to the church and God. In “Rappuccini’s Daughter,” Hawthorne presents this as the main literal problem when his character, 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.”(Hawthorne, 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. The issue of drawing boundaries in science is also addressed in Stetson’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Else is mentally ill and her husband John and his sister Jane confines her to a decaying house in the middle of nowhere. He insists that she stay in a room with the yellow wallpaper and rest which he believes will cure her mental illness. The pattern in the yellow wallpaper and confinement to the room adds to her insanity. The narrator then escapes into her own mind and becomes the woman in the yellow wallpaper. She tells John, “I’ve got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”(Stetson, 263) His conviction in this method of treatment actually does more harm than good and reinforces the need to not be led blindly by science.
Figure 4 Shrek saving Princess Fiona
Gothic tropes are also seen in movies including Shrek, Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events. In Shrek, Princess Fiona was a damsel in distress who was trapped in a castle guarded by a fire breathing dragon. There have been many knights that have tried to rescue her from the castle but none prevailed. Shrek is considered a hero because he succeeds in saving Princess Fiona from the castle. In Harry Potter, Voldemort is known as the tyrant throughout the series. He is trying to track down Harry to kill him. In A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Bauldelaire children’s parents die in a fire. They have an uncle named Count Olaf, the tyrant, who takes custody of them and he tries to find different ways to kill the children and make it look like an accident. The tropes expressed were the castle, damsel in distress, hero, tyrant and death.
When exploring the definition of the Gothic, it is beneficial to note both similarities and differences to other genres. The Gothic is very closely related to horror in that they both contain blood, gore and tyranny. They also have differences because horror is more focused on the action of violence and the Gothic is more about the drama in unfortunate situations. Romance is also closely related to the Gothic in their expression of intense emotions. Romance and the Gothic differ in that Gothic romance includes an element of horror and mystery that is not present in romance literature. .
Gothic is not uplifting, true or highly aesthetic however, a reader can use their knowledge of the definition of the Gothic to delve into irrational fears, because the mystical characters in this genre are exaggerated and barbaric. Gothic literature is also a unique opportunity to explore both literal and metaphorical meaning. The reader can escape to a fictitious world filled with mysterious intrigue, fear and hidden meaning. Gothic literature stimulates the imagination and allows the reader to travel back to the medieval times.
Work Cited
Baldick, Chris. The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. 1993. Reprint. Oxford [etc.: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
“i’m a hufflepuff – Lemony Snicket’s “A series of unfortunate events”: houses..” i’m a hufflepuff. N.p., 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2013. <http://dotheyreally-ish.tumblr.com/post/4958037529/lemony-snickets-a-series-of-unfortunate-events>.
Caristi, Michael . “Gothic Literature Structure by Michael Caristi on Prezi.” Prezi – Ideas matter.. N.p., 3 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Sept. 2013. <http://prezi.com/jp2lanpssiew/gothic-literature-structure/>.
Lindsey, Brian. “ECCENTRIC CINEMA | Cult Movies, Movie Reviews, Downloads.” ECCENTRIC CINEMA | Cult Movies, Movie Reviews, Downloads. N.p., 18 June 2001. Web. 28 Sept. 2013. <http://www.eccentric-cinema.com>.
Corbett, Andrea C.. Rappuccini’s Daughter. N.d. Rappuccini’s Daughter , n/a. andagora.deviantart.com . Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Dir. David Heyman. Perf. Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson. Warner Home Video, 2002. DVD.
Shrek. Dir. Andrew Adamson. Perf. Mike Myers,Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy. DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 2001. DVD.
Lemony Snicket’s A series of unfortunate events. Dir. Bradley Silberling. Perf. Jim Carey, Emily Browning,Liam Aiken, Kara and Shelby Kaufman. Paramount Pictures, 2005. Film.
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