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Themes in gothic fiction
19th century american literature religion
Importance of gothic themes in literature
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According to Nicole Bown, the author of “Fairies in nineteenth-century art and literature” ghosts and vampires, spirits of the dead, angles as well as Gods of other cultures were extremely interesting for 19th century society, who was deeply fascinated about them. It was quite unsurprising, people have turned to the persistence of the dead and occulted methods of communicating with them, considering it was a time, when religion was losing it power and was a subject of doubt among people. Nevertheless, that time society was aware of its modernity; lure of the past was not gone and was heavily felt by numerous people. In addition, huge influence of the empire as well as its diversity of faith and gods, made many to search for enlightenment far beyond Christian traditions. (Bown, 2001)
All of these factors affected the interest in supernatural that meant interest in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, extraordinary human abilities, and other fantasy creatures. Supernatural cannot be explained by rational or scientific means. In this chapter supernatural is analyzed as a part of the Gothic novel connecting it with possibly the most popular supernatural beings of modern day - Vampires that have inspired more books and films than all other mythical creatures together.
Supernatural literature uses persistent themes, images, and symbols to picture the human condition. Supernatural appears throughout literature but it is best-known in the literary genre called “Gothic,” which developed in the late eighteenth-century with the publication of Horace Walpole's novel “The Castle of Otranto” (1765), which Walpole called a “Gothic story”. Gothic genre deals with stories of the irrational aspects of human existence. Gothic or supernatural features ap...
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...s considered to be of supernatural origin, such as ghosts;
Supernatural is something everybody wants to have in their everyday routine even if they are skeptically disposed about it. Supernatural is something that fascinates, excites and makes people lives colorful. One of the genre were supernatural features are most common is Gothic novel and vampire stories. Vampire lives are full of supernatural events and characteristics. They themselves are supernatural.
By reading vampire fiction, people recklessly drop into the abyss of darkness and magic that cannot be explained and understood in natural or scientific way. This supernatural atmosphere attracts the readers and makes them to wish to see it by their own eyes even if it frightens. Supernatural is something that is missing in people`s everyday life and people desperately try to get it at least from the books.
Gothic literature, such as The Night Circus, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “Masque of the Red Death”, are known for incorporating gothic elements such as the supernatural, death, and fascination with the past.
Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.
Romantic literature, as Kathy Prendergast further claims, highlighted things like splendor, greatness, vividness, expressiveness, intense feelings of passion, and stunning beauty. The Romantic literary genre favored “parts” over “whole” and “content” over “form”. The writer argues that though both the Romantic literary genre and the Gothic art mode were medieval in nature, they came to clash with what was called classical conventions. That’s why, preoccupations with such things as the supernatural, the awful, the dreadful, the repulsive and the grotesque were the exclusive focus of the nineteenth century Gothic novel. While some critics perceived the Gothic as a sub-genre of Romanticism, some others saw it as a genre in its own right (Prendergast).
Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the supernatural but the interpretation which we can start with is Shakespeare’s. Everyone of Shakespeare’s time found the supernatural fascinating. Shakespeare interpreted the supernatural as witches, magic, unnatural and evil and he expressed his beliefs in the play, “Macbeth” very clearly, as he portrayed the three deformed women with control over the weather and the ability to predict the future. These three evil witches with magical powers were the creation of Shakespeare’s interpretation of the supernatural. Shakespeare’s contemporaries believed in the supernatural very strongly and a majority of them were frightened of it, including the king of that time, King James I of England.
...ssible engagement with the text, it is also an invited one, because a great deal of the value of the text lies in presenting an unsettling and subtle variation upon a known theme or situation. Mastery of the literary genre depends upon a clear knowledge not only of recurrent themes and styles of the form (which exist to be perpetuated in continually evolving manner, much more so than in other genres), but of human nature and the psychological triggers which create in readers a spirit of curiosity. One might think that such a device was inherent to any form of writing of any quality, and whilst this is true, there is a much more marked difference between formulaic uncanny and gothic fiction than that of other genres.
The supernatural culture has been in our society for decades and as it looks it will be part of our society for a long time to come. The supernatural has greatly influenced our society by entertaining, creating an unrealistic ideal life for individuals and the supernatural theme is so popular businesses take advantage of it and are able to make profit out of it.
The definition of the Horror genre differs completely to the Gothic genre. This idea of how the Gothic novel transformed from various architectures based around impending castles and morality tales, to the idea of monsters, fear, and repugnance. Therefore, it is interesting to notice the change from how the genre has developed from arguably the 17th century to the 20th century, where vampires, werewolf’s, and other monsters are very popular with teen audiences especially.
First, it’s important to understand the definition of “gothic literature.” At its most basic level, gothic literature is a genre that incorporates themes that are important to the human condition (relationships, gender, patriarchy, nostalgia, and the supernatural) and tend to look from the present back into the past (Gothic Literature, 2007). Gothic literature is known for their mysterious or sensational plots. It’s also important to note that the terms “gothic literature” and “gothic horror” are used somewhat interchangeably among people (Gothic Literature, 2007).
Gothic literature was developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth century of the Gothic era when war and controversy was too common. It received its name after the Gothic architecture that was becoming a popular trend in the construction of buildings. As the buildings of daunting castles and labyrinths began, so did the beginning foundation of Gothic literature. The construction of these buildings will later become an obsession with Gothic authors. For about 300 years before the Renaissance period, the construction of these castles and labyrinths continued, not only in England, but also in Gothic stories (Landau 2014). Many wars and controversies, such as the Industrial Revolution and Revolutionary War, were happening at this time, causing the Gothic literature to thrive (“Gothic Literature” 2011). People were looking for an escape from the real world and the thrill that Gothic literature offered was exactly what they needed. Gothic literature focuses on the horrors and the dark sides to the human brain, such as in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Gothic literature today, as well as in the past, has been able to separate itself apart from other types of literature with its unique literary devices used to create fear and terror within the reader.
The term ‘Gothic’ conjures a range of possible meanings, definitions and associations. It explicitly denotes certain historical and cultural phenomena. Gothicism was part of the Romantic Movement that started in the eighteenth century and lasted about three decades into the nineteenth century. For this essay, the definition of Gothic that is applicable is: An 18th century literary style characterized by gloom and the supernatural. In the Gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a wide range of issues are explored. Frankenstein represents an entirely new vision of the female Gothic, along with many other traditional themes such as religion, science, colonialism and myth.
Looking onto the novel, there is a perfect gothic look presented to us with its every aspect. Infact every single concept covered comes deep from mythology. It talks about blood and fire, death and love, good and bad, fantasy and magic. And the Count; who sometimes happens to be an atrocital monster, a romantic lover… No doubt, these make the novel even...
... a vampire and daemon on many occasions and thus an aspect of the supernatural does surround this character. Clery ( 2000 ) sees the supernatural as “..an opportunity for asserting poetic vision beyond the mundane for the writer, and achieving a sublime experience of terror for the audienceâ€( p8 ) which is how it can be seen as functioning in Frankenstein. ( Byron, 1998 : p71)
Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.
This fetish has been manifested in the movies I view, the television shows I watch, and the books I read. When my obsession with reading is crossed with my obsession with monsters, the result is a bookshelf containing more vampire novels than most people would consider healthy. I have discovered that every vampire novel varies vastly; no two books are ever alike. For example, the Twilight Series, the Anita Blake Series and the Vampire Chronicles Series have different legends and lore, different relationships between vampires and society, and different genres, theme, and purpose; this array of novels displays most clearly the range of audience the vampire genre can cater. The Twilight series is a bestselling series written by Stephanie Meyer that has captivated millions of teenage girls.
...he supernatural is one element in Macbeth that was used cleverly by Shakespeare to get various messages across to the audience. The messages are brought across between the lines of the plays which requires audiences to reflect critically to get the underlying meaning of his play. Shakespeare did not merely show ghosts and witches in the supernatural as a thriller, but also tied in the political and religious aspects of the society during his time.