A Study in Gothic Literature
Written for LIThium, Anderson Junior College, 2014
Believe it or not, at one point or another,
almost everyone has picked up a novel belonging or related to the Gothic
fiction genre before. But what exactly constitutes a Gothic novel?
Contrary to
popular belief, one cannot simply force a vampire into a romance story and
happily call it ‘Gothic’ literature. While true than vampires and other
supernatural creatures do crop up in the odd Gothic novel, simply the presence
of such creatures alone is insufficient to determine whether or not a story
makes the Gothic fiction pile.
The genre was almost single-handedly
invented by Horace Walpole in the 18th century following the
publication of The Castle of Otranto
and developed in popularity through to the 19th century. It had much
in common with the Romantic Movement that briefly dominated the 19th
century; amongst the traits the two shared were a mutual rejection of
authority, a captivation with the unexplained and a profound regard for man’s
insignificance in the face of nature’s forces.
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Elements of the Gothic Style
Much like the race against time to the
airport is a trope commonly seen in romantic comedies, the Gothic fiction genre
also has its fair share of easily recognized – and sometimes overused – tropes.
Take for example ‘Sturm und Dang’, German for ‘Storm and Stress’,
whereby conflict, be it internal or otherwise, is often foreshadowed or
represented by raging thunder storms. These storms tend to coincide with the
appearance of a major antagonist (as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula) or with a
sudden outburst of emotional conflict (as seen with Elsa’s ice-themed powers in
the recent Disney movie Frozen, where said character inadvertently
unleashes an eternal winter on her homeland). Is that ominous cloud on the
horizon growing steadily bigger with every passing minute? Surely it’s simply a
figment of your imagination…
Gothic fiction also tends to follow the
pattern of ‘flight and pursuit’, where characters alternate between chasing and
being chased by the antagonist. This is especially obvious in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,
since Frankenstein’s monster is consecutively chasing and being chased by the
people around him. Often, rather than a chase scene in the physical sense, the
‘pursuit’ aspect of the Gothic novel tends to refer to the pursuit of
information, lending the Gothic novel an investigative element. Indeed,
detective stories are closely related to the Gothic style; the first detective
story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, was by Edgar Allan Poe, an
American Gothic writer. Hence, the pursuit segments in Gothic novels frequently
feature the characters taking part in an intense investigation of the villain
and uncovering information that could prove vital in his imminent defeat.
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Themes
What discursive literature essay would be
complete without thematic analysis? When looking at the characterization
decisions of Gothic writers, one has to keep in mind the social climate of
their time. Today we will be examining the themes of isolation and distrust of
authority.
Isolation
Gothic stories are usually set in far-off
exotic lands cut off from the rest of the world by a lack of communication,
preventing the protagonists from running away or seeking help. Often, the
protagonists are unable to speak the native language there and require a
translator to navigate the land. This creates the impression that the
characters are ‘on their own’, left without the familiar safety net that
civilization provides. Many stories open with the protagonist travelling to the
location where the story unfolds, usually by train or by carriage. The train
ride then becomes a metaphor for the spiritual journey the characters undergo as
they enter a strange new world.
Isolated from their friends and family –
and sometimes unable to form new alliances – our protagonists are forced to
rely on their own skills and survival instincts in order to outwit their
adversaries. Indeed, not even authority figures like the police or town leaders
tend to be of much help, for reasons that will be discussed in the following
segment.
Distrust of Authority
Authority figures in Gothic novels are
very rarely of any help. Rather, they are often the very source of the protagonist’s problems. Many of the villains in
Gothic novels tend to be in positions whereby they can abuse their authority.
This is not without reason; at the time of the genre’s birth, Gothic fiction
was certainly not considered ‘the development of the printing press had only just made books available to classes
below the aristocracy. Previously, only the crème de la crème of society could
afford to buy books; as literacy became more accessible to the masses however,
publishing houses quickly learnt that Gothic literature was popular. Why was this so? Simply because
the books put what was merely a vaguely palpable public consensus onto paper;
that the mysterious haughty aristocrats holed up in their dusty old castles
were not to be trusted.
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So now that you know a
little bit more about Gothic fiction, now what? For those interested to find
out more, read on to find some examples of the genre in action.