Gothic literature

Gothic literature

Introduction

This file gathers is composed with two different documents, an iconographic paper and a sound extract concerning the Gothic literature.

• Woman afraid, a painting  by George Gross, 1969.
• Sleepy Hollow, a movie realized by Tim Burton, 2000.

Firstly I will contextualize and describe this movement, so you will be able to see what are the singularities.

In second time I will present the recurring themes in a Gothic novel,  so I can formulate the following problématic :  « What elements show that these works belong to the Gothic movement ? »

History

Originally the term Gothic refers to médiéval architecture. In literature the word « gothic » refers to terror and horror or fantastic, magical and supernatural things.

The Gothic Novel was born in England towards the end of the 18th century, when Horace Walpole published in 1764, The Castle of Otranto, subtitled « A Gothic Story ». It had a considerable influence on fiction afterwards and still today, and developed the taste for ghost and horror stories. It combined elements of both horror and romance.

Matthew G. Lewis published to end of the century, in 1769, The Monk, a book with a scandalous plot. Gothic novels became darker, more macabre and violent.

In the 19th this literary genre remained popular throughout but their nature changed.

A new type of villains appeared like scientists and criminals. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, published in 1818, a scientist creates a human being and constructs a monster instead. Moreover, the same years, Jane Austen with Northanger Abbey wrote an amusing parody of all the exaggerations found in a traditional Gothic Novel.

In the United States, the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe explore paranormal phenomena as the protagonist doubt  and are confronted not so much with vampires and spectres, as with their own obsessions, délirium or madness.

Today this genre remained popular but take on a variety of forms, for example, science fiction, horror or fantastic tales,  magic realism. It has become particularly successful in the cinema.

Recurrent themes

• The story is usually macabre, fantastic, and supernatural with a touch of terror.
• A number of elements are essential to form a Gothic novel

        - The story must be set admits isolated haunted castles, cemeteries, ruins and                 wild landscapes.

        - There must be a young, kind, beautiful, innocent and virtuous virgin maiden.

        -  A witty and brave young hero who will set the maiden free.

        - An unfair villain tyrannical.

        - Very often, a secret is revealed, there are a few death but a happy end.

Woman afraid, Georges Gross, 1969.

In the foreground we can see a dead tree and a young woman who seems frightened and afraid. She has got brown hair, the skin blade and she is wearing a yellow dress with white motives at the level of the pass and at the size. Her position physical is in opposition with her bearing, because she seems to be ready to run but she is watching back her. I mean that she is pursued by a villain.

In the background there is a sea unchained, a rocky quotation and a cliff with a manor. This one overhangs the scene. And from the big windows comes the only hot light of the painting. The sky only consist of nuances of black and grey. This landscape seems disturbing, mysterious end dangerous.

As you can see this illustration is a perfect representation of a Gothic Novel since there is a young beautiful and innocent maiden. She is in an isolated place with a manor and her expression of fear reminded that she is pursued by an unfair villain.

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