Summary The Gothic - context and notes for English Literature
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Course
The Gothic
Institution
OCR
This document provides a multitude of information on the Gothic theme, which is critically important for the entirety of English literature, studied in depth at A-Level.
It discusses themes and motifs with in detail analysis.
Gothic context notes:
What actually is the gothic?
The gothic genre consists of:
- Sublime horror
- Constricted environments – In our time podcast- gothic BBC 1
- Persecuted heroine- beset on all sides by fear, real or imaginary- murder, rape, forced
marriage.
- 'The Gothic, 'makes me think that the text will be 'disturbing', whether describing
actual events or psychological ones. It conjures up ideas of things buried, or
hidden. It hints at everything that we can't quite grasp, everything that's beyond
our reason'.
- As a literature of transgression and excess ‘The Gothic’ unsettles literary conventions
and decorum. Gothic texts also tend to explore the ‘repressed’. Generally, we think of
ourselves as becoming more civilized and rational overtime and less superstitious;
the gothic likes to constantly remind us that we have not necessarily, as a society,
done so.
- Tends to represent psychological interior forms of dread.
- Archetypes= very typical example of a certain thing= vulnerable female, tyrants,
villains, baryonic heroes, femme fatal.
- Pushing boundaries and showing progression.
Challenging the status quo. And the societal norms
- Made to make the readers feel slightly uncomfortable
Typical gothic setting notes:
- Old houses/ mansions- The Bloody Chamber, Tiger’s Bride, The Courtship of Mr
Lyon, The Lady of The House of Love. Frankenstein set in the houses to begin with.
- Decayed buildings- Frankenstein’s living space, during the creation of the creature.
The Courtship of Mr Lyon, when the girl returns. The actual chamber in The Bloody
Chamber.
- Woodland- The company of wolves, the Erl-King, Wolf- Alice, The werewolf.
Frankenstein when the lightning flashed and he saw the creature as he was travelling
home after William’s death.
- Isolated landscapes- the bloody chamber mansion, Frankenstein’s house, the De
Lacey’s after being ousted out from society.
- The natural world= inspiring as well as threatening. Often an open landscape and
often produced feelings of the sublime. Open landscapes are often desolate and
associated with isolation. Contrasts between open natural landscapes and
towns/cities.
- The rural= the woods= somewhere often enchanted or magical. Where mysterious
creatures live. Somewhere impenetrable where people ca be lost or captured.
Sanctuary or hiding place. Represents the unknown or difficult to understand.
- Castles or houses- trapped or prisoned. Places for secrets.
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