Destruction In The Castle Of Otranto

Kelly Hurley recognised “within this genre one may witness the relentless destruction of the human”. (Hurley, 1996) The ‘destruction’ of the characters minds, alongside the exposure of repressed thoughts and passions is a prevalent and crucial facet of gothic texts. I agree to a certain extent that the novels I have read and studied on this module explore and demonstrate the release and escape of concealed anxieties and desires that characters bury deep in their unconscious. The inevitable release of these anxieties, passions and desires creates a climatic and eventful, often terrifying story, which the gothic novel usually revolves around. However, I struggle to completely agree with this statement as the gothic investigates more than just

hidden desires and many gothic texts investigate societal issues, laws and many more themes. In this essay I will endeavour to critically discuss whether there is more to Gothic novels than the exploration of the unconscious anxieties or whether, the gothic investigates and demonstrates more issues.
The theme of the repressed fleeting the human is an imperative trope utilised in Gothic texts and has been since the very inception of the genre. The evidence of this lies with the ‘original’ (Sue Chaplin 2011) gothic tale, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. The return of the repressed in Walpole’s story was the archetype that all gothic texts would later follow. This is arguably the most pivotal trope applied in the novel, Manfred declares ‘Hippolita is no longer my wife; I divorce from her this hour. Too long has she cursed me by her unfrutifulness. My fate depends on having sons; and this night, I trust, will give a new date to my hopes.’ (Walpole 34) This exposes that Manfred, deep, monomaniac lust and desire for power and control has caused him to spiral into a path of incestuous desire, tyranny and familial betrayal. The resurfacing of this hidden desire usurps Manfred ability to reason, he becomes riddled with madness in his quest for power.
Whilst hidden desires and passions is significant, the novel explores much more than repressed desires.

The Castle of Otranto is an immensely nationalistic text, which focuses on and discusses inheritance laws. The story denotes an ancient prophecy and law, saying that the castle ‘should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.’ (Walpole, 1998: 8). The inheritance laws present in 1764 when the story was published meant that the issue of heirs and inheritance was a tricky process. Sue Chaplin stated that the gothic text arose from ‘societal trauma’ (Chaplin 2011). Manfred, although a typical gothic villain, evil and cruel, could have experienced trauma in his inability to continue his familial lineage with his wife’s inability to produce an heir. It is likely and probable for men such as Manfred, men of property and wealth, that this would have caused great stigma and had the potential to damage his reputation. This could potentially explain Manfred’s madness and his desires manifesting into cruelty, incest and betrayal. Thus, it would be incorrect to generalise and argue that the gothic is solely and primarily a method of exploring repressed passions, as the investigation of societal issues and laws is much more key in ‘The Castle of

Otranto’.
The return of the dead and the presence of ghosts in the castle expose the hidden, repressed passions in the other characters as well as Manfred. Jaquez says to Manfred that he and Diego were ’apprehensive they might meet the ghost of my young lord’. (Walpole 1764) The reference to Conrad’s ghost could be evidence of ‘the uncanny’ (Chaplin 2011). Julian Wolfreys references Freud in his description of the uncanny ‘Freud defines the uncanny as a sensation of unease, dread and terror’. (Wolfreys 2002) This uncanny arises directly from the anxieties and passions the characters bury, they then resurface and this cathartic liberation of these anxieties results in disturbing events, such as the presence of ‘spectres’ and ‘ghosts’ in the castle. (Walpole 1764) This, although crucial in solidifying the text as a truly ‘gothic’ story, is not the most primary issue explored.
Furthermore, throughout gothic literature, many themes and tropes are used in order to examine and explore varied issues. Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ indeed explores the theme of repression. The novel was written during the height of ‘The Enlightenment’, a time of great religious and scientific uncertainty. Victor Frankenstein exclaims that is looking to “seek one who fled from me." (Shelly) A psychoanalytical reading of this could be that Victor is referring to the monster escaping not just from his physical control, but is a symbolic reference for his repressed passions escaping from his unconscious. Victor Frankenstein’s passion for knowledge or as he describes ‘It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn’ (Shelly) escape from his unconscious and usurp all logic and reason - resulting in the creation of a grotesque creature. This suppression links closely with another significant gothic trope- ‘doubling’, (Strengell 1990) where a character, animal or object mirrors that of another with his or her actions. The concept of the creature being connected to Frankenstein in a spiritual sense is supported in chapter 4, where the creature comes to life. Victor Frankenstein is described as having ‘a low fever’ (Shelly p45) and he refers to himself as becoming ‘alarmed at the wreck I had become’. (Shelly p45) However throughout the process of creation, the creature is noted as growing stronger and having a ‘gigantic stature’ (Shelly) as Frankenstein grows weaker. This could be symbolic for a mother carrying a child as often in pregnancy a woman can become weaker as the foetus grows stronger. Many critics have recognised that the description of the laboratory being a ‘workshop of filthy creation’ (Shelly) is a metaphorical symbol for the womb. This is because, Frankenstein is repulsed at his creation and criticises the birthplace of his creature. Overall, these two arguments, demonstrate the mother and child relationship Frankenstein and the Creature initially have. Therefore, ‘Frankenstein’ does investigate the nature of repressed desires and anxieties to a great extent, through its application of archetypal gothic themes.
On the other hand, I believe that ‘Frankenstein’ to an even great extent deals with much more than just repressed passions and anxieties. The monster in Frankenstein is defined as possessing ‘yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath’. The fragmented texture and appearance of the creature’s body alongside, it being created from several bodies from ‘charnel houses’ and cemeteries could be indicative of the creature being a psychical embodiment of society. The creature’s head symbolises knowledge, his arms, strength. The creature’s features are beautiful individually and Frankenstein marvels at his invention, ‘his limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful’ (Shelly) However, when the scientist views his invention as an entirety, he becomes horrified ‘breathless horror and disgust filled my heart’. (Shelly) This could be representative of each industry in society working coherently and efficiently, but as a whole, society during ‘The Enlightenment’ was awful and corrupt. This therefore demonstrates that although repression is a key theme explored in gothic literature, there are other themes and societal issues explored.
On the other hand, unlike Frankenstein and The Castle of Otranto, Bram Stoker’s Dracula greatly explores and primarily focusses on repressed urges and desires escaping from the unconscious.

Critic Stephanie Demetrakopoulos argued that ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula embodies a collective dream reflecting Victorian sex roles and repression’. (Stephanie Demetrakopoulos 1977) Victorian society was a period where sexuality and sexual fantasy were taboo subjects and prostitution was rife. Stoker primarily focuses on classic gothic motifs such as Vampirism, The Abject to present and demonstrate the several types of hidden sexuality’s that are repressed in Dracula. The controversies, rejections and invectives surrounding Stoker’s novel arose because of the silence and refusal to discuss sexuality in Victorian England. Dracula in Victorian culture, was scandalous and many members of Victorian society refused to read the novel, supressing their interest and curiosity in correspondence to the principles and social expectations of what was acceptable. The vast range of sexualities repressed in Dracula include bisexuality, heterosexuality and homosexuality. It has debated that the male characters ‘white fangs’, (Stoker) are phallic representations as they graphically penetrate the skin. This is supported with the vampires physically biting another whilst drinking their blood, this is symbolic for the act of sexual intercourse as it brings them life and they exchange bodily fluids. This also can

be seen where each of Lucy’s suitors are exchanging their blood in a blood transfusion. Many have also suggested that this is also a metonymic reference to sexual intercourse as they are also exchanging fluids. Marjorie Howes argues that ‘Dracula uses the feminine to displace and mediate the anxiety-causing elements of masculine character, representing the forbidden desires men fear in themselves as monstrous femininity.’ (Howes 1988) Several other critics have referred this phenomena as ‘Feminaophobia’ - the male fear of being overtly feminine. This results in the repression of any female urges and desires in the male characters. Many academics have cited that, Dracula, is an allegorical analogy of a homosexual man repressing his sexuality due to his seduction of characters such as Harker. This demonstrates that to a great extent, Dracula is indeed an exploration and examination of the human unconscious and supressed sexual desire. The liberation of these supressed passions results a monstrous annexation of the human, and results in the birth Vampires and seductresses.
Stoker applies juxtaposition to differentiate between the characters Mina and Lucy, to emphasise and reiterate women’s obligatory roles and position in Victorian society. Whilst Lucy’s character possesses great beauty and openly discusses sexuality, Mina’s character is reserved and would have been the acceptable, Victorian Woman