Gothic Novel

Gothic Fiction

Gothic fiction, was largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, it is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto "A Gothic Story". The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. It originated in England in the second half of the 18th century where, following Walpole, it was further developed by Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, William Thomas Beckford and Matthew Lewis. The genre had much success in the 19th century, as witnessed in prose by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens  ‘A Christmas Carol’, and in poetry in the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Lord Byron. The name Gothic, originally referred to the Goths, and then came to mean "German", refers to the medieval Gothic architecture, in which many of these stories take place.

The first Gothic novel is The Castle of Otranto by English author Horace Walpole, which was first published in 1764 which includes threatening mysteries and ancestral curses, as well as countless trappings such as hidden passages and oft-fainting heroines.

Clara Reeve

Clara Reeve, was best known for her work The Old English Baron (1778) it was designed to unite the most attractive and interesting circumstances of the ancient Romance and modern Novel.

Reeve's contribution in the development of the Gothic fiction, therefore, can be demonstrated on at least two fronts. In the first, there is the reinforcement of the Gothic narrative framework, one that focuses on expanding the imaginative domain so as to include the supernatural without losing the realism that marks the novel that Walpole pioneered. Secondly, Reeve also sought to contribute to finding the appropriate formula to ensure that the fiction is believable and coherent.

Ann Radcliffe

Ann Radcliffe developed the technique of the explained supernatural which eventually tracks back to natural causes. Radcliffe has been called both “the Great Enchantress” and “Mother Radcliffe” due to her influence on both Gothic literature and the female Gothic.

She introduced the brooding figure of the Gothic villain (A Sicilian Romance in 1790), a literary device that would come to be defined as the Byronic hero. One of her best-sellers novel is The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794

Combining experiences of terror and wonder with visual description was a technique that pleased readers had set Radcliffe apart from other Gothic writers.

Developments of Gothic Novels

Continental Europe

Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe concurrent with the development of the Gothic novel. The roman noir ("black novel") appeared in France, by such writers as François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard d'Arnaud and Madame de Genlis. These works were often more horrific and violent than the English Gothic novel.

Matthew Lewis' lurid tale of monastic debauchery, black magic and diabolism entitled The Monk (1796) offered the first continental novel to follow the conventions of the Gothic novel. Lewis's portrayal of depraved monks, sadistic inquisitors and spectral nuns—and his scurrilous view of the Catholic Church—appalled some readers, but The Monk was important in the genre's development.

Germany

German gothic fiction is usually described by the term Schauerroman ("shudder novel"). Examples The Robbers (1781) by Friedrich von Schiller, Heinrich Zschokke's ‘Abällino, der grosse Bandit’ (1793)

Romantics

to the Gothic genre were seen in the work of the Romantic poets. Prominent examples include Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel as well as John Keats' La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819) and Isabella, or the Pot of Basil (1820) which feature mysteriously fey ladies.

Percy Bysshe Shelley's first published work was the Gothic novel Zastrozzi (1810), about an outlaw obsessed with revenge against his father and half-brother. Shelley published a second Gothic novel in 1811, St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian, about an alchemist who seeks to impart the secret of immortality.

Victorian Gothic

By the Victorian era, Gothic had ceased to be the dominant genre, and was dismissed by most critics. Penny Blood or "penny dreadful" serial fictions by such authors as George W. M. Reynolds who wrote a trilogy of Gothic horror novels: Faust (1846), Wagner the Wehr-wolf (1847) and The Necromancer (1857)

An important and innovative reinterpreter of the Gothic in this period was Edgar Allan Poe. Poe focused less on the traditional elements of gothic stories and more on the psychology of his characters as they often descended into madness. His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' while revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death, and madness

Elements of Gothic Fiction

·         Virginal maiden – young, beautiful, pure, innocent, kind, virtuous and sensitive. Usually starts out with a mysterious past and it is later revealed that she is the daughter of an aristocratic or noble family.

·         Matilda in The Castle of Otranto – She is determined to give up Theodore, the love of her life, for her cousin's sake. Matilda always puts others first before herself, and always believes the best in others.

·         Adeline in The Romance of the Forest – "Her wicked Marquis, having secretly immured Number One (his first wife), has now a new and beautiful wife, whose character, alas! Does not bear inspection." As this review states, the virginal maiden character is above inspection because her personality is flawless. Hers is a virtuous character whose piety and unflinching optimism cause all to fall in love with her.

·         Older, foolish woman

·         Hippolita in The Castle of Otranto – Hippolita is depicted as the obedient wife of her tyrant husband who "would not only acquiesce with patience to divorce, but would obey, if it was his pleasure, in endeavouring to persuade Isabelle to give him her hand". This shows how weak women are portrayed as they are completely submissive, and in Hippolita's case, even support polygamy at the expense of her own marriage.

·         Madame LaMotte in The Romance of the Forest – naively assumes that her husband is having an affair with Adeline. Instead of addressing the situation directly, she foolishly lets her ignorance turn into pettiness and mistreatment of Adeline.

·         Hero

·         Theodore in The Castle of Otranto – he is witty, and successfully challenges the tyrant, saves the virginal maid without expectations

·         Theodore in The Romance of the Forest – saves Adeline multiple times, is virtuous, courageous and brave, self-sacrificial

·         Tyrant/villain

·         Manfred in The Castle of Otranto – unjustly accuses Theodore of murdering Conrad. Tries to put his blame onto others. Lies about his motives for attempting to divorce his wife and marry his late son's fiancé.

·         The Marquis in The Romance of the Forest – attempts to get with Adeline even though he is already married, attempts to rape Adeline, blackmails Monsieur LaMotte.

·         Vathek – Ninth Caliph of the Abassides, who ascended to the throne at an early age. His figure was pleasing and majestic, but when angry, his eyes became so terrible that "the wretch on whom it was fixed instantly fell backwards and sometimes expired". He was addicted to women and pleasures of the flesh, so he ordered five palaces to be built: the five palaces of the senses. Although he was an eccentric man, learned in the ways of science, physics, and astrology, he loved his people. His main greed, however, was thirst for knowledge. He wanted to know everything. This is what led him on the road to damnation."

·         Bandits/ruffians

They appear in several Gothic novels including The Romance of the Forest in which they kidnap Adeline from her father.

·        Clergy – always weak, usually evil

·         Father Jerome in The Castle of Otranto – Jerome, though not evil, is certainly weak as he gives up his son when he is born and leaves his lover.

·         Ambrosio in The Monk – Evil and weak, this character stoops to the lowest levels of corruption including rape and incest.

·         Mother Superior in The Romance of the Forest – Adeline fled from this convent because the sisters weren't allowed to see sunlight. Highly oppressive environment.

·        The setting

The plot is usually set in a castle, an abbey, a monastery, or some other, usually religious edifice, and it is acknowledged that this building has secrets of its own. This gloomy and frightening scenery sets the scene for what the audience has already come to expect. The importance of setting is noted in a London review of the Castle of Otranto. Thus, without the decrepit backdrop to initiate the events, the Gothic novel would not exist.

Elements found especially in American Gothic fiction include:

·         Night journeys are a common element seen throughout Gothic literature. They can occur in almost any setting, but in American literature are more commonly seen in the wilderness, forest or any other area that is devoid of people.

·         Evil characters are also seen in Gothic literature and especially American Gothic. Depending on either the setting or the period from which the work came, the evil characters could be Native Americans, trappers, gold miners etc.

·         American Gothic novels also tend to deal with a "madness" in one or more of the characters and carry that theme throughout the novel. In his novel Edgar Huntly or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, Charles Brockden Brown writes about two characters who slowly become more and more deranged as the novel progresses.

·         Miraculous survivals are elements within American Gothic literature in which a character or characters will somehow manage to survive some feat that should have led to their demise.

·         In American Gothic novels it is also typical that one or more of the characters will have some sort of supernatural powers. In Brown's Edgar Huntly or Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, the main character, Huntly, is able to face and kill not one, but two panthers.

·         An element of fear is another characteristic of American Gothic literature. This is typically connected to the unknown and is generally seen throughout the course of the entire novel. This can also be connected to the feeling of despair that characters within the novel are overcome by. This element can lead characters to commit heinous crimes. In the case of Brown's character Edgar Huntly, he experiences this element when he contemplates eating himself, eats an uncooked panther, and drinks his own sweat. The element of fear in female gothic is commonly portrayed through terror and supernatural fears, while the male gothic uses horror and physical fear and gore to create feelings of fear in the reader.

·         Psychological overlay is an element that is connected to how characters within an American Gothic novel are affected by things like the night and their surroundings. An example of this would be if a character was in a maze-like area and a connection was made to the maze that their minds represented.