OTHER GOTHIC TEXTS

‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ by Radcliffe

- Concept of murder and death: despite the gothic dealing with the unknown and
supernatural, it has also much relevance to real life fears and threats. The
melodrama serves only to multiply this prevalent fear of murder, loss of life
- Emily delves into the unknown even though she is terrified
- The use of pathetic fallacy contributes to the feeling of claustrophobia
- Melodrama helps readers to stretch their imagination
- Emily represents the stereotypical early gothic heroine: weak, fragile yet have the
courage to follow through, she is determined to solve the mystery driven by her
curiosity
- Emily can be described as weak and defenceless, a view prominent in 1794, but
she also has a daring and ambitious side to her personality.

Frankenstein Comparison

- The use of pathetic fallacy often acts as a warning when used in the Gothic genre,
that horror and devastation is about to occur.
- The ‘breathless horror’ Victor experiences the moment he brings his creation to
life is preceded by a description of the dull weather, ‘the rain pattered dismally
against the panes’ on a ‘dreary night of November’. As well as reflecting
Victor’s dismay, the description forewarns the reader that the awakening of the
‘miserable monster’ may fill Victor’s life own gloom and darkness.

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‘The Birthmark’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1843)

- ‘The Birthmark’ is based on describing one man’s obsessive pursuit in seeking a

remedy to remove a birthmark off his wife.
- The storyline can be considered gothic as Aylmer’s strive for perfection becomes
obsessive and alarmingly dangerous.
- Gothic traits include delving into the unknown, ‘alchemy’, ‘elixir of immortality’,
arises the question of science and mystery.
- Immortality  delving into the forbidden and stretching the boundaries of
science ‘to acquire the power’ so he can effectively twist of ‘produce a discord in
Nature’.
- Aylmer represents the stereotypical character of the ‘mad scientist’. [Early
gothic]
- Georgiana portrayed as a meek, submissive, fragile female, she conforms to the
typical early gothic heroine.
- Despite her anxiety, she does not oppose Aylmer, reflecting the patriarchal view
of the later eighteen hundreds where men were seen as a dominant figure.
- He trifles with ethical issues regarding not only to do with the conducts of science
experiments, but humans morals as well.
- His ambition is ‘beautiful to the eye’, and this correlates with the idea of blurring
illusion and reality together. Does his love go skin deep? Doesn’t he care for her
life?
- Power liberalises man’s imagination, where it only leads to destruction in the end.
‘Martha Peake’ by Patrick McGrath

- ‘Martha Peake’ is a haunting portrait of human frailty, courage and redemption.

- ‘Drogo Hall’ is described as ‘vast’ and ‘dark’, portraying the building as
formidable and intimidating, reinforced by the use of personification ‘loomed’.
- It evokes insecurity, mystery and obscurity

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‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte

- For us, ‘Wuthering Heights’ is above all, a story of transcendent, death – defying
love. For Victorians it was a tale of illicit passion between a man and woman who
for different reasons marry elsewhere and yet do no relinquish their hold on each
other.
- As Lyn Pykett recently pointed out, ‘Wuthering Heights’ deftly combines the two
traditions of Gothic romance and the novel of domestic realism; the love of
Catherine and Heathcliff belongs to the first, while the marriage of Catherine and
Linton provides the standard denouement of the second.
- When Catherine marries Edgar and moves to the Grange, she feels as if she were
in PRISON.
- The dichotomy between the first and second halves of the novel and between the
love stories of Catherine and Heathcliff, and Cathy and Hareton are two
manifestation of a whole complex of dualism in the novel.
- Not only do we have two halves, two love stories, two houses, and two houses
but also two narrators, two heroines, two heroes (Heathcliff and Linton) and two
villains (Hindley and Heathcliff)
- The moral ambiguity of the novel is evident in Heathcliff’s double role as hero in
the first half, and villain in the second.
- ‘Wuthering Heights’ is pre-eminently a love story but it is also a novel about
male power and female powerlessness, about abandonment, betrayal,
overweening jealousy, and revenge.
- It is in the darker side of the novel, in the machinations of Heathcliff’s elaborately
worked out revenge, that we realise what a subversive novel ‘Wuthering Heights’
is.

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‘The Bloody Chamber’ by Angela Carter

- Angela Carter likes to take a legend, folklore, fairytale and then twist it, subvert
it.
- Fairytales are cliché: beautiful princess, handsome prince, wicked stepmother etc
they are about morals.
- Carter, a feminist of early 90s, a time where women were fighting to earn the
same rights as men, she makes her female characters DANGEROUS
- The men in her stories are brutal, disgusting, and grotesque. She depicts many of
her women as sexual, have the ability to protect themselves throughout the story.
- Carter is not saying that sexuality is the only way women can get what they want,
she wants to point out that women should not be reduced to doing that
- Carter often mixes her tenses, loves motifs, symbolism and imagery. She often
writes in the present though.
- You have to look at Carter’s work symbolically.
 The Company of Wolves

- (Bible – not even God is going to save you)

- Society is patriarchal – women always going to be vulnerable, where as men are
considered dominant.
- The Grandma – not fertile, or beautiful or sexual, the wolf diminishes her, does
not even attempt to seduce her
- Old woman represents wisdom, wise, but Carter shows how the wolf gets rid of
that.
- Setting & Location: Forest, mountain evokes isolation, entrapment, it is a man’s
world. The forest – eerie, quiet, sense of foreboding, ‘worst time of the year for
wolves’
- Robin ties in with the motif of red. You got something beautiful, innocent and
singing.
- The use of past tense: Carter directly speaking, the actions are immediate; you are
in the moment of the story, very effective and create a large impact. The writer
brings you straight into the action and creates the tension. In the present, you do
no know what could happen – unpredictable.
- No speech marks  readers feel part of the conversation, rather than being aware
that there is one. It does not limit the conversation to just between the wolf and
girl.
- Carter is trying to keep with the tradition that fairytales were told orally. Lack of
speech marks also gives Carter more control as it is still her voice that continues
the narrative.

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‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker

- Dracula, like Frankenstein’s monster, is a supernatural being and challenges the

natural nature of humankind. The interesting aspect though is both of them are in
some ways akin or derived from the image of humans.
- Dracula is able to convert other human beings into his kind. Does this perhaps
suggest Dracula was once human too? And Frankenstein is in fact made up of
dead human body parts, and therefore is still a human being with feelings and
emotions.
- This blurring of mortal and immortal

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‘Holy Thursday’ by William Blake

- ‘Evil thenceforth became my good’ essentially captures how knowledge can lead
to corruption, judging on how one uses it.
- Blake detested organised religion and in his poem ‘Holy Thursday’ from
‘Innocence’, he suggested that what people think they are doing might well be
leading to destruction and suppression.
- Similarly, in ‘Frankenstein’, the Monster uses his knowledge gained from
observing the De Laceys and reading books such as ‘Paradise Lost’ to understand
his emotions and the relationship between humans.
- He learns to label his emotions and develop a moral understanding of his
situations. What he learns is important in how he deals with the brutal rejection of
the De Laceys.