The Gothic - English literature

Gothic literature

        The first author to apply the word « gothic » to a novel was Horace Walpole, in his novel The castle of Otranto, a gothic novel in 1764. At this time, the using of the word gothic was to talk about a barbarous or about something derived from de middle age. The gothic movment appeared in the end of the 18th  and the 19th century, in reaction to the dominance of the enlightement on reason of rationalism. Moreover, the question about gender inspired a lot of authors, so we can see in the novels the important place of women wether they are victims or predator. As far as religion is concerned, the desire of opposition to religion pushed the gothic artists to an « anti-catholic » inspiration, and the people started bieliving in physiognomy : physical appearance and blood make people's personality. Finaly, the French revolution affected the gothic because of the reinterpretation of the notions of class.

        With the gothic, came another notion : the transgression. This concept is central to gothic because it is a tool for writers to interrogate existing categories, limits and anxieties. Also, trangression exist through the female characters. We usually see the female character as weak, blond, young, beautiful and a bit ingenuous. But in fact, they can be really good predators. The fact that they are young, beautiful make them full of charm. Plus, as predators, they're not ingenuous at all, on the contrary, they're are decidedly smart. Actually they are much more creatures of desire than only monsters.

        These creatures of desire lead us to another part of Gothic: The fascination. The quote “ […] evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive [...]”, totally illustrates this idea. Desire, beauty when they're mixed with evil ARE attractive so this is creating fascination. Just like Edward Cullen, who can bite you anytime but his so attractive that you can't stay away from him. “I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell.” Edward Cullen. This is almost a morbid fascination for these beautiful evil creatures.

“Gothic signifies a writing of excess. It appears in the awful obscurity that haunted 18th century rationality and morality.” Fred Botting's Gothic (1996). Writings and gothic films are works full of stereotypes. As I already said, the young, beautiful blond, candid girl, faced to her darkest fear(s) and usually she dies at the end. But the excessive is not only marked with litterature but also in the gothic culture that is really important. Just by seeing the look of gothic people, we can tell objectivly that they are excessive. For exemple Marilyn Manson is full dressed with dark colors, and wears a dark makeup andhas extravagant clothes. But that does not mean is terrifying, at least, not for everyone!

        The terrifying, the horror has two faces in gothic. Terror and Horror. Actually it can be considered as two schools. Horror may be represented by Matthew Lewis and Terror by Anne Radcliffe. Terror seeks to evoke by suggestion, by dreadful suspense, veils a potentially ghastly unknown and tempts the reader to advance cautiously and with anticipation, while marches the reader through a landscape of unmistakable taboo and atrocity. Terror remains discreet and seeks unity of tone. Horror has an appetite for the sudden and crude, for the blatantly comic, for the grotesque.

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