Transformation of the Gothic in Nineteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
| Thesis title in Czech: | Proměny gotiky v anglické literatuře a kultuře 19.století |
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| Thesis title in English: | Transformation of the Gothic in Nineteenth-Century British Literature and Culture |
| Key words: | gotika, gotický román, britská literatura, obludnost, Frankenstein, Drákula, viktoriánská gotika |
| English key words: | the Gothic, the Gothic novel, British literature, monstrosity, Frankenstein, Dracula, Victorian Gothic |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2014/2015 |
| Thesis type: | diploma thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 08.06.2015 |
| Date of assignment: | 08.06.2015 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 11.06.2015 |
| Date and time of defence: | 24.05.2016 09:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 03.05.2016 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 24.05.2016 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | PhDr. Zdeněk Beran, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| The original Gothic literature of the eighteenth century, with its gloomy atmosphere, haunted castles, passive spiritual female protagonists, or gothic villains, had been looked down upon by many during its development and age. It was seen as a genre assembled from many different aspects of already existing literature, and its artificiality, naivety and simplicity, as the critics characterized it by, was viewed as a mere means of entertainment for primarily female readers. Nevertheless, during the course of the eighteenth century, the Gothic had undergone a great deal of development at the hands of such writers as Ann Radcliffe, Clara Reeve, or Matthew Gregory Lewis, who established a firmer position for the Gothic genre in literary history. Their writing is what we could now call examples of the “pure,” classical, or traditional Gothic, the Gothic per se, the literary works that formed the foundation on which many future writers built, and are perhaps still building today. After all, there is no clear established end of Gothic writing on which every critic would agree. Melmoth the Wanderer, published in 1820, is perceived by many as the last purely Gothic work of fiction. However, the heritage of the Gothic, as well as its new forms, prevail throughout the whole of the nineteenth century and its influence cannot be denied. We may speak of a Gothic topos, as we can usually identify three main features that can be found in later works, by which we mark a certain work as belonging to the Gothic tradition. These features are the setting (along with the idea of isolation), the character types (heroines and villains), and the supernatural. Naturally, these features manifest themselves differently in various Gothic works, however they usually remain identifiable. Nineteenth century Britain saw two major historical periods: the end of the Georgian era (along with the Regency period) and the Victorian era. After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, Britain experienced a long period of peace and prosperity, disrupted most prominently perhaps only by the Crimean War, and regained its national self-confidence. Why then was Gothic literature revived throughout the century, if we perceive it as a mark of the anxieties and horrors or the unknown amidst the society, a sign that people felt that something was wrong? Naturally, the nineteenth century saw many changes. The population almost doubled and the Industrial Revolution reached its peak. Technology, science and medicine progressed, but at the same time the divide between the classes, the rich and the poor, became rather drastic. Culturally, the Victorians were highly moralistic, but they also furthered their investment in romanticism and mysticism that already the Georgians turned to as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. Romanticism is said to have been at its peak from 1800 to around 1850. Perhaps the Gothic was a reaction to the monstrosities of the whole Europe, before and during the given period, as well as to the changes and development that could produce the feelings of unease. Such monstrosities could have been the fear of the poor, of poverty and ending up in a poorhouse; or the anxieties caused by the Great Famine in Ireland. The later part of the century was marked by the fears of the collapse of the Empire, or the change in thought made by both Charles Darwin and the rise of the concept of New Woman. Even small details about the Victorian life, such as dealing with pea-soupers or creating Memento Mori evoke the air of monstrosity. The nineteenth century Gothic opens up with the publication of Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818, which seems to react to the monstrosities and anarchy within Europe before. Frankenstein also brings forward a very important aspect for the discussion of nineteenth century Gothic – unlike the classical eighteenth century Gothic which focuses rather on the idea of a true heir, class mobility, or even the explained supernatural of Radcliffe, it brings our focus to the monstrosity of the body; a body that is birthed from chaos, is different, becomes the other; perhaps a physical interpretation of the monstrous horrid other. People are always fascinated with that which is outside the norm, something distorted, masked, or disfigured. Michel Foucault even points out that the “monster” was always something or someone to be shown, giving early nineteenth century public performances of lunatic asylums as an example. The Gothic had always been interested in the physicality of that which represented fear, which is most likely why we often read about ghosts, spectres, monsters, and perceive nightmares or the images of blood within the narrative. Already in 1781, Henry Fuseli’s painting The Nightmare, depicting a sleeping woman, an incubus, and a blind horse, fascinated the public. Not only does it embody a physical interpretation of a nightmare – of fear, it also surprised contemporary critics with its overt sexuality. Naturally, visual art had a lot of influence on literature and particularly The Nightmare is said to have been a likely influence on Mary Shelley’s major work. Only a year after Frankenstein’s publication, we encounter Polidori’s short story The Vampyre, which was the first published modern romantic vampire story and naturally becomes the predecessor to other Gothic works with the theme of vampirism to the end of the century – Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Stoker’s Dracula. What all these monsters have in common is that they are unnatural. They are supernatural. No longer mere ghosts or spirits that pass through the halls, but rather something physically present, with a body that is distorted. They all are somehow uncontrollable. We may say that the sense of the loss of control is expressed through supernatural devices. If the supernatural bodies represent the fear of losing control, why then do they keep appearing again and again to the end of the nineteenth century? Perhaps as a reaction to the fear of more unknown, such as the Second Industrial Revolution, more conflicts in the world, or maybe even Jack the Ripper murders in London. However, it is not only the ostentatiously supernatural that falls within the parameters of Gothic writing. Distinct features of the Gothic appeared in some Victorian novels that were otherwise categorized as literary realism. This is true for the Bronte sisters, as their novels often carry a certain air of the Gothic, a sense of darkness and mystery within them. Naturally, we may only speak of elements or aspects of the Gothic in their case, as their novels are written primarily in a different genre, however the influence of the Gothic cannot be overlooked. Jane Eyre, Villette, or Wuthering Heights are all an example of this. One of the aspects that binds them to the aforementioned Gothic works is also the monstrosity within the body. At some points, it almost seems vampiric in a sense, as Rochester’s insane wife bites another man on the neck and causes him to bleed, Mr Lockwood in his dream viciously slices open the wrists of the ghostly Catherine, who attempts to enter the room through a broken window, and Heathcliff wants to dig out the body of Cathy from her grave after the burial. Moreover, both Heathcliff and Rochester stand physically apart from others. They are different, in a way – or literally - masked and disfigured, which again corresponds to what was mentioned above about the fascination with that which is out of the norm. The close focus on the body itself also brings forth sexual aspects. This of course would not be an explicit topic within the novels, given that we are dealing with Victorian morality for the most part. Perhaps that is why the novels of the Bronte sisters appear to be expressing the monstrosity or otherness through what could almost be perceived as sexual tension, involving those bodies, maybe even showcasing the fear of such notions. In the case of the other mentioned works, vampirism in itself always carries a level of this tension just as well. The monstrous bodies that were mentioned all seem to have one major feature in common: they became almost a myth. What this means is that they are bodies so famous that they are alluded to in later works and contexts, bodies that people recognize even without studying the given text they originated from. This is true for Frankenstein and his monster (albeit often misnamed), Dracula, Van Helsing, Heathcliff, or the mad woman in the attic. More such examples could be drawn from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or The Picture of Dorian Gray. Interestingly enough, such recognizable bodies often come from the realm of the Gothic. This thesis would concentrate on observing the development and transformation of the Gothic and its aspects in selected works. It would explore the Gothic topos - the setting, the character types and the supernatural aspects, with a more pronounced focus on the image of the monstrous body. It would attempt to observe how these features changed in their different manifestations and show to what extent the Gothic was still following its predecessors and where it differed, and explore the different versions of the monstrosity and what they stood for. Firstly, the thesis would establish the grounds for the thesis. It would explain the term Gothic and what it entails. It would visit the history of the Gothic genre and install the Gothic topos. Then it would look more closely at the historical and social setting and situations of nineteenth century England. It would also incorporate the aesthetics and perhaps observe some of the art of the period, in order to see how Gothic images circulated in the culture of the time. This would be followed by an overview of the Victorian Gothic, what are the recurring themes and how they correspond to what we have learned about the history and social situations of the century. This is where the thesis would introduce the topic of the monstrous body. It would lead us to the discussion of the Gothic topos and the monstrous body primarily within the selected literary works, which would be divided into three main categories: the unnatural monster (Frankenstein), the vampire monster (Vampyre, Carmilla, Dracula), and the human monster (Jane Eyre, Villette, Wuthering Heights). Here the thesis would attempt to identify what is the meaning behind these monstrous interpretations of the body and what they achieved. |
| References |
| Bibliography: Alexandre, Christine. ‘ “That Kingdom of Gloom”: Charlotte Brontë, the Annuals and the Gothic.’ Nineteenth-Century Literature March 1993, 409-436. Baldick, Chris. In Frankenstein’s Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-century Writing. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1996. Blake, Andrew. Reading Victorian Fiction: The Cultural Context and Ideological Content of the Nineteenth-century Novel. Macmillan, 1989. Craft, Christopher. ‘ “Kiss Me with those Red Lips”: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.’ Representations Autumn 1984, 107-133. Gilbert, Sandra. Gubar, Susan. Madwoman in the Attic. Yale University Press, 2000. Gordon, Jan B. “Gossip, Diary, Letter, Text: Anne Brontë’s Narrative Tenant and the Problematic of the Gothic Sequel.” ELH winter 1984, 719-745. Herbert, Christopher. ‘Vampire Religion’ Representations Summer 2002, 100-121. Hogle, Jerrold E. ed. Gothic Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Hume, Robert D. “Gothic versus Romantic: A Revaluation of the Gothic Novel.” PMLA March 1969, 282-290. Ingelbien, Raphael. ‘Gothic Genealogies: "Dracula", "Bowen's Court", and Anglo-Irish Psychology’ ELH Winter 2003, 1089-1105. Kilgour, Maggie. The Rise of the Gothic Novel. London: Routledge, 1997. Mellor, Anne K. Romanticism & Gender. New York: Routledge, 1993. Miles, Robert. Gothic Writing, 1750 – 1820, A Genealogy. London: Routledge, 1993. Moers, Ellen. Literary Women. Anchor Press, 1997. Pritchard, Allan. “The Urban Gothic of Bleak House” Nineteenth-Century Literature March 1991, 432-452. Punter, David ed. A Companion to the Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of their own. Princeton University Press, 1999. Spencer, Kathleen L. ‘Purity and Danger: Dracula, the Urban Gothic, and the Late Victorian Degeneracy Crisis’ ELH Spring 1992, 197-225. Vránková, Kamila. Aspects of Gothic Novel in the 19th and the 20th Century Fiction. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, 2001. Wein, Toni. ‘Gothic Desire in Charlotte Bronte’s “Villette.” ’ Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 autumn 1999, 733-746. Wolstenholme, Susan. Gothic (Re)Visions: Writing Women as Readers. Albany: State University of New York, 1993. Wright, Angela. Gothic Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. |