University of Algiers 02 Course: Literature

Faculty of Foreign Languages Teacher in charge: Dr Z.Yousfi

Department of English Groups: 06 (2nd year)

Academic year: 2020/2021

GOTHIC LITERATURE

Literature 4.0 Gothic Literature - 2nd year English Group 06 - Dr. Z. YOUSFI
 Gothic Literature

Similar to Romanticism, most critics consider the Gothic genre a reaction to the Age
of Reason.

Gothic novelists aimed to represent the dark side that accompanied the Victorian
industrial era; a time of apparent human industrial progress. Gothic novelists portrayed
human beings as woefully imperfect and at the mercy of far more powerful forces,
such as nature and death.

In its attention to the dark side of nature and that of the human nature, gothic literature
provides for readers some insight into the social climate (industrialisation) of the time
in which the literature was produced and how it affected the unconventional
individual/character.

English Victorian Gothic literature is marked primarily by the domestication of Gothic

figures, settings and themes; horrors become explicitly located within the world of the
late 18th- early 19th century reader, filled with criminals, maniacs and mad scientists,
and disturbing settings. The genre became popular in the U.S.A through multiple
literary works like those of Edgar Allan Poe; an American poet and author known as
The King of the Macabre which refers to the dark evil atmosphere found in gothic
literature, it fosters different genres such as Horror fiction, the Ghost story, the
Cthulhu Mythos,etc.

Gothic literature established its main themes years before the publication of Mary
Shelley’s famous gothic novel Frankenstein(1818). Works such as Horace Walpole’s
The Castle of Otranto, and Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, set out the key
elements of the genre. In these books, exiles roam sublime foreign landscapes and
characters are trapped in ruined castles in nightmarish tales of abuse, tyranny, and
murder.

Romanticism gave a great importance to nature. The Romantics showed a strong

connection to the natural world admitting its beauty, purity and freedom. Nature
embodies the ideal escape for the Romantics. Similarly, Gothicism found interest in
nature as well recognising both its beauty, easiness, and its dark side which evokes
pleasure and terror.

Gothic literature shows a fascination with the destructive power of nature and
Alienation/exile/isolation of the unconventional individual in the world.

At the heart of early Gothic fiction was a combination of Romantic preoccupations 2

with the power of the mind, the unconventional individual, and of emotions, coupled
with Gothic tropes of evil villains, gory deaths, and gloomy settings.

Literature 4.0 Gothic Literature - 2nd year English Group 06 - Dr. Z. YOUSFI
 Gothic Literature: Characteristics

Gothic Literature introduced new conventions of the genre: an intricate plot; stock
characters; subterranean labyrinths; ruined castles; and supernatural occurrences.
We distinguish 6 major characteristics in Gothic Literature:

The Gloomy Setting: an environment which accentuates eeriness, uneasiness

and fear such as crumbling old castles, dark forests, mysterious towers, wild
and remote places, graveyards, tombs.

Stock Characters: are unchanged and easily recognizable Gothic characters

such as the evil monk or nun, the evil king, the femme fatale.

The Foreboding Signs: signs that indicate or foreshadow bad things are to
come such as omens, portents, visions, dreams/nightmares, storms, full moon.

Overwrought Emotions: are exaggerated, excessive and impassioned emotions

such as terror, madness, passion, fury, mental anguish, screams.

The Supernatural: In his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, American

author H.P Lovecraft argued that “the eldest and strongest emotion of mankind
is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”. The
supernatural breeds fear due to the unexplained manifestations associated with
it. It is an important feature either present or referenced in the gothic story.

“The Victorians from different social classes seemed to be fascinated by the

supernatural which took different forms and shapes though they were
witnessing scientific advancement…The scientific progress did not merely
empower the country’s economy, but has stimulated the Victorian imagination
as well. Believers or non-believers, the Victorians sought explanations to
supernatural manifestations that ranged from natural causes to unnatural ones…
The ghost story succeeded to survive and develop. It is a universal genre,
appreciated by those whose minds are always sensitive to its weirdness and
terror.”

From “A Dickensian Supernatural: Spectres, Carols, and Realism” an article by Dr

Yousfi, Zakia published in Aleph.Langues, médias et sociétés 7, no 2 (June 2020).

Themes: the themes revolve around the destructive power of nature and
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Alienation/exile/isolation of the unconventional individual.

Literature 4.0 Gothic Literature - 2nd year English Group 06 - Dr. Z. YOUSFI
 Frankenstein by Merry Shelley(1818)

 Frankenstein is a unique novel in the canon of Gothic English literature.

 Frankenstein tells the story of the Victor Frankenstein; the scientist who creates a
monster using bits from corpses and brings him to life. Frankenstein and the monster
live in alienation both socially and psychologically.

 Through Frankenstein; the scientist, the artist, the creator, Shelley reworks the gothic
theme of monstrosity in the form of the exiled or wandering outsider and focuses on
the rejection of the unconventional and the strange.

 The horror of Frankenstein lies not with its monster but rather—in its melding of key
gothic tropes of haunting, exile, and isolation—with the anxieties of the period that so
preoccupied the Romantics, such as the unconventional character and individualism.

 Frankenstein questions ethics and religion versus science; two powers that marked
the preromantic era and the Victorian industrial era.

Some Gothic Elements

(traced and illustrated in Frankenstein)
Gloomy setting:

“In a solitary chamber, or rather a cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the
other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation”
-Frankenstein’s words-

Decay and Isolation are communicated through this description of the chamber.

Nature:

The influence of nature on mood is evident throughout the novel. Mired in depression and
remorse after the death of his brother, Victor Frankenstein heads to the mountains to lift his
spirits. Likewise, after a hellish winter of cold and abandonment, the monster feels his heart
lighten as spring arrives.

“My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature, the past was blotted
from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and
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anticipations of joy.”

-The Monster’s words-

Literature 4.0 Gothic Literature - 2nd year English Group 06 - Dr. Z. YOUSFI
Alienation:

Frankenstein suggests that social alienation is both the primary cause of evil and the
punishment for it. Both Frankenstein and the Monster compare themselves to the character of
Satan in Paradise Lost: alienation from God is both Satan’s crime and his punishment.
“I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed.”
-Frankenstein’s words-

Frankenstein blames his isolation from his family for his scientific obsession and disastrous
decision to create the Monster.

“Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary
and abhorred.”

-The Monster’s words-

The Monster feels that he is alienated from human society because he looks monstrous.

Homework:
Read The Tell- Tale Heart a short story by Edgar Allan Poe
A PDF Format of the Short Story is available for download on both Moodle&your Group FB
Page.

N.B. Avoid Plagiarism. Use your own words, style and ideas (you have plenty! And they
need to be expressed, heard, and read!)
Plagiarism is NOT ALLOWED. It will result in serious penalties.
Presentations & Papers (homework, test, and exam) won’t be corrected or accepted if
any sign of plagiarism is detected.

Literature 4.0 Gothic Literature - 2nd year English Group 06 - Dr. Z. YOUSFI