This is an essay written in the 2.5 hour English Literature A Level 'Comparative and Contextual Study' exam where you are given a gothic unseen passage and have to analyse it. I received top marks for this essay where the unseen passage was "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" by M.R James. This will hel...
“Write a critical appreciation of the passage, relating your
discussion to your reading of the gothic.” (The Treasure of
Abbot Thomas – M.R James) – DARCY MCDERMOTT
Being published in 1904 makes “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas” one of the first novels of the
modern gothic era, having a more psychological focus, alongside others such as Doyle’s “The
Hound of the Baskervilles”. Being published only seven years after Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
however, also means that it comes off the back of the Victorian gothic era. This extract includes
many tropes typical of the gothic genre including the unreliable narrator, terror and the
opposition of light versus dark, which are made clear to the reader through what emerges from
the cavity and the narrator’s reaction to this. All of the tropes combine together to accentuate
the tension in the extract.
The stereotypical trope of the unreliable narrator is used to create doubt and uncertainty in the
mind of the reader surrounding what really happened when the creature came out of the cavity.
Immediately it is clear that the narrator’s mental state is not completely sound and confident as
he “waited for several minutes” but “(he doesn’t) know why”. This shows that even before the
creature emerged from the cavity, the narrator was anxious and scared, meaning that what the
narrator later describes may not be exactly what happened. Furthermore, it is clear that his
anxiety is controlling his subconscious and making him do things he is not fully aware of. This
means that even though he may think that his recall of events is the truth, his apprehension
may causes his memory to be blurred, therefore making him unreliable. The narrator’s request
for a “glass of cognac” before being able to continue, shows how fearful and uneasy he is,
being reliant on the alcohol to calm his nerves. This shows his already unstable state of mind
as he needs the cognac to feel like he can think more clearly. This consumption of alcohol
however may lead to the narrator being more unreliable as the alcohol can cloud his judgment.
The author’s use of ellipses demonstrates the narrator’s doubt as he dwells on and delays what
he is going to do, saying he will “go on in a moment, Gregory…” not straight away. This shows
that he needs time to settle his nerves and prepare himself for what he is about to do. Similarly
the use of hyphen breaks throughout the extract demonstrates the uncertainty of the narrator
as he is unable to clearly recall what happened, pausing as he tries to remember. This
demonstrates the lack of clarity that he has, making the reader doubt if what he is saying is the
truth. The narrator’s imprecise language as he describes what “(he) believe(d)” to have
happened shows his unreliability as he “(doesn’t) know” exactly and feels he “was in no state”
to explain. This shows similarities to Bram Stoker’s character Jonathan Harker in “Dracula”
after his ordeal with the three female vampires, as he is unsure and unable to recall or explain
what happened. The disrupted narrative of this extract adds to the image of an unreliable
narrator as the extract moves from past tense to the present and back to the past tense,
showing a lack of fluidity in the extract similar to the lack of fluidity in the thoughts of the
narrator. This shows the narrator to be unreliable as he is not able to maintain a rational train of
thought.
James’ use of terror is commonly seen throughout the gothic to increase tension and fear in
both the characters and the reader over what “the thing” really is. In some cases terror is more
effective than horror in increasing anxiety, as ‘fear of the unknown’ leads to the human mind
imagining the worst possibilities and situations. This is evident in this extract as the ambiguous
language of “it” and “thing”, used by the narrator to describe what emerges from the cavity, may
lead the reader to imagine a worse version of the creature than what it really is. The fear of the
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