The Severity Of Behavior In Gothic Literature

“The peculiarity of behaviors in gothic literature derive from author intent to explain the perverse, cruel, and murderous tendencies in human nature” (Snodgrass 1). This quote from the Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature by Mary Ellen Snodgrass means that, as humans we know that we are somewhat evil. People that think this way most of the time and around others are considered weird. This quote reminds me of Scooby Doo because every time the gang finds a “monster” it turned out to be a human and the deeper meaning in the popular cartoon was that humans are the real monsters in the world. I believe that authors who write gothic literature write in this genre because they have something they are afraid of and they give this fear a life and characteristics

Throughout history there have been houses and buildings built with a gothic style, we have seen gothic paintings, or have witnessed a person with an everyday gothic clothing style. “In a period of industrialization and rapid social change, according to Punter, Gothic works insistently betrayed the fears and anxieties of the middle classes about the nature of ascendancy” (Watt I). We usually don’t see rich people walking about in a grungy mostly black attire. Nor do we see the poor class wearing jeans and a black jacket. The middle class is where we see most of the gothic style people in society. It seems like the middle class gothics think that it can’t get any worse than where they are at. This style has a I don’t care and I am mad or sad attitude written all over it. Gothic middle class are fascinated with any life other than their own. “Under such circumstances, it is hardly surprising to find the emergence of a literature whose key motifs are paranoia, manipulation, and injustice, and whose central project is understanding the inexplicable, the taboo, the irrational” (Watt 2). Middle class Americans tend to believe that they are manipulated by the system all of the time. The poor don’t pay taxes and the rich don’t pay taxes so the middle class is stuck paying taxes. This quote reminds me of this situation directly. Middle class citizens are always fighting for the social injustice that they face every day.” Most of the works when literary history has classified as “Gothic” actually describe themselves by way of the larger category of “romance” (Watt 3). People are taught of a fantasy life with romance that is almost never seen to exist. The fact that most of these works of gothic literature include or are based upon an unrealistic romance makes people want to read them more. Something about the human race is an unclear