Comparing Gothic Literature In Vathek, The Italian, And Wuthering Heights

Gothic literature just continues to get better and better! Since the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto in 1764, gothic literature has persistently flourished and has been altered over time. The changes are prominent in the excerpts from Vathek, The Italian, Frankenstein, and Wuthering Heights. Over many years, the expansion of gothic literature has displayed an increase in the amount of modern vocabulary, the literature itself has become darker and more unnatural, and the literature has incorporated further character development. All of these factors have transformed gothic literature in a way that has both complimented The Castle of Otranto and progressed away from it as well. Over many years, the expansion of gothic literature has

In The Castle of Otranto, dark and unnatural situations occur, but they are not described at all how they are in later literature. Thirty-three years after The Castle of Otranto was written, The Italian was added into gothic literature. Unlike The Castle of Otranto, where various giant body parts are spotted throughout the castle, The Italian describes unnatural scenes in a darker way. For example, The Italian states, “Here were the vest and scapulary, rent and stained with blood… “Signor! that should be the garment of the demon who led us hither”” (16). The Castle of Otranto was not a graphic novel which discussed blood or demons like The Italian does. Another example of a gothic piece of literature which is also much darker and unnatural than The Castle of Otranto is Frankenstein, written in 1818. Frankenstein is even more dark, graphic, and frightening than The Italian. For example, Frankenstein states, “…I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” and “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to

In The Castle of Otranto, there are many characters such as Manfred, Matilda, Theodore, Isabella, etc. However, the novel only truly portrays Manfred’s personality, and briefly shows the others’ true characters. In a gothic piece of literature which was written in 1847, Wuthering Heights, character development is a large portion of the excerpt. This is created is through the narration in first person point of view. Through a first person point of view narration, the audience is able to see what the character is thinking throughout the story. For example, Wuthering Heights states, “This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple: a circumstance observed by me when awake, but forgotten (29). Through the first person point of view, the reader can understand what the character is experiencing and how he/she feels, which shows the reader a more in depth image of who the character truly is. Wuthering Heights goes in a different direction from The Castle of Otranto because it strays from the third person point of view, into the first person point of