The Gothic Tradition

GHOSTS IN ENGLISH FICTION

• Flourishes in the latter half of the 18th century• Reacts against neoclassical art• Values “sensibility” over “sense”• Engages readers’ imaginative sympathies through the

device of terror• Connects to Romantic literature (broadly)—the emphasis

on emotion and imagination rather than reason

GOTHIC NOVELS

INFLUENCES ON THE GOTHIC TRADITION

• Genre in poetry and prose that arose in reaction against the “realist” mode that was prevalent in the first half of the 18th c.

• Common genre in the medieval period and up to late 1600s, e.g. King Arthur tales

• Considered outdated by the neoclassicist novel writers: Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding

“ROMANCE”

• Interest in medieval history• Arose out of a new found respect for medieval art• Contextualized romance literature in terms of its

historical position• Teased out the use of allegory and symbolism to criticize

power structures.

ANTIQUARIANISM

• Catholicism dominated during the medieval period; Anglican Protestantism dominated during 18th c. onward

• A way to denigrate the romance was to suggest its adherence to Catholic-like superstition.

• The realist novel was considered a more appropriate fictional form for an “enlightened” Protestant culture.

• Anne Radcliffe introduced the “explained supernatural” in order to accommodate both Protestant moderation and readers’ fascination with terror.

RELIGION

• Used elements from superstitious beliefs to meditate on mortality (most popular in 1740s)

• Is influenced by concept of “sublime” by Longinus A.D. 50

• Is characterized by nobility and grandeur, impressive, exalted, raised above ordinary human qualities)

“GRAVEYARD SCHOOL” OF POETRY

• Mental and intellectual laziness occurs when we expose ourselves only to the familiar.

• Beauty, which produces positive pleasure, helps but is limited in its effectiveness.

• The Sublime is more effective: painful emotion mixed with delight when distanced through the aesthetic. It’s the apprehension of danger in nature or art without the immediate risk of destruction (terror).

• The Sublime is produced by high mountains, violent storms, ruins, vast foreboding castles.

EDMUND BURKE’S A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR

IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL (1757)

PIRANESIIMAGINARY PRISONS-1750

PIRANESIROMAN RUINS

HENRY FUSELITHE NIGHTMARE-1781

HUBERT ROBERTLOUVRE IN RUINS-1796

PHILIP JAMES DE LOUTHERBOURGCOALBROOKDALE BY NIGHT-1801

• Macbeth-banquet scene, vision of the dagger, visit to the cave of the witches

• Richard III-dream scene in tent on battle field• Hamlet-ghost scenes of Hamlet’s father*

SHAKESPEARE

CONVENTIONS OF THE GOTHIC NOVEL

• “Exotic” locales e.g. Italy• Antiquated spaces—most often castles• Wild landscape• Catholic or feudal society

SETTING

• Heroine that possesses strong “sensibility”• Impetuous lover• Tyrannical older man • Garrulous servants

CHARACTERIZATION

• Discontinuous and intricately plotted• Use of framing devices e.g. incorporating tales within

tales, changes of narrators, found manuscripts

FORM

• supernatural elements• priesthood and monastic institutions• sleeplike and deathlike states• subterranean spaces and live burial• doubles• discovery of obscure family ties• affinities between narrative and pictorial art• possibilities of incest• unnatural echoes and silences• unintelligible writings, and the unspeakable• poisonous effects of guilt and shame• nocturnal landscapes and dreams• apparitions from the past• Faust- and Wandering Jew-like figures• civil insurrections and fires• effects of the madhouse

THEMES AND TROPES