Gothicism: Study of Form and Content

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Gothicism Study of Form and Content
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Gothicism combination of horror and romance

• Must contain some of the following criteria
• a castle, ruined or intact, haunted or not
• ruined buildings which are sinister or which
  arouse a pleasing melancholy
• dungeons, underground passages, crypts, and
  catacombs which, in modern
• houses, become spooky basements or attics,
• labyrinths, dark corridors, and winding stairs

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Elements continued

• shadows, a beam of moonlight in the blackness, a
  flickering candle, or the only source of light
  failing (a candle blown out or an electric
  failure)
• extreme landscapes, like rugged mountains, thick
  forests, or icy wastes, and extreme weather
• omens and ancestral curses
• magic, supernatural manifestations, or the
  suggestion of the supernatural
• a passion-driven, willful villain-hero or villain
• a curious heroine with a tendency to faint and a
  need for frequent rescue

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Elements continued

• a hero whose true identity is revealed by the end
  of the novel
• horrifying (or terrifying) events or the threat
  of such happenings
• Use of the grotesque (twisted, mutated features
  and/or the intertwining of comedy and tragedy
  esp. in Southern American Gothic)
• Use of the Dopplegangers (ghostly double or
  counterpart of a living person)
• Contains both melodrama and parody

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First Gothic Novel

• Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto (1764)
• His goal was to combine medieval romance (which
  he considered to be overly fanciful) with strict
  realism (which he considered to be confined)

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Ann Radcliffes Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

• Formed the gothic villain
• Most popular novel of the time
• Looked down upon by the well-educated as
  sensationalist womens entertainment
• Frequent allusions to the text throughout
  Northanger after reading the novel, Catherine
  envisions her life in Gothic terms as her
  imagination runs wild

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Plot Overview

• Emily St. Aubert only child whos orphaned when
  father dies
• Forced to live with aunt who marries the evil
  Italian businessman Montoni
• Montoni wants Emily to marry his friend Morano,
  but she is in love with another man (Valancourt)
• Aunt dies after other twists and turns, Emily
  escapes the castle and ends up marrying
  Valancourt, her true love.

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• So whats the difference between Gothic and
  horror?
• Ann Radcliffe describes the difference as Gothic
  being high literature and horror being low
  literature
• Works of Gothic terror are generally obscure when
  dealing with events - both in the description and
  perception of what is occurring. These works
  encourage the reader/character to discover a
  plausible and rational explanation for the event.
  When an explanation is discovered, the terror
  dissipates and a means of escape can be found
• Horror Works of horror appeal not to the
  intellect, but to more immediate physical and
  mental reactions such as fear, shock, revulsion,
  and disgust. These reactions are induced by
  detailed descriptions. There can be no rational
  explanation for the events and the inability to
  find such resolution causes an unending feeling
  of obscure fear