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American Gothicism (AKA Dark Romanticism) 1800-1850 What does “gothic” mean? • Originally named for the German “goths.” • belonging to or redolent of the Dark Ages; portentously gloomy or horrifying. • Architecture, focus on the medieval, death, decay The Gothic Novel • Themes/motifs: Castles, darkness, madness, secrets, ghosts, mystery, haunted houses • The Characters: tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the and the Devil himself. Examples of the Gothic Novel • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein • Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera • Bram Stoker’s Dracula • Many works by Edgar Allen Poe * • Nathanial Hawthorne • Poe and Hawthorne as pioneers in the American Gothic Tradition • In fiction, a character is usually considered a grotesque if he induces both empathy and disgust. (A character who inspires disgust alone is simply a villain or a monster.) Obvious examples would include the physically deformed and the mentally deficient, but people with cringeworthy social traits are also included. The reader becomes piqued by the grotesque's positive side, and continues reading to see if the character can conquer his darker side. • Example: Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Grotesque CONTENT • sublime and overt use of the supernatural • individual characters see themselves at the mercy of forces our of their control which they do not understand • motif of the "double": an individual with both evil and good characteristics • often involve the persecution of a young woman who is forced apart from her true love STYLE • short stories and novels • hold readers' attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities • feature landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, depressed characters • today in literature we still see portrayals of alluring antagonists whose evil characteristics appeal to one's sense of awe • today in literature we still see stories of the persecuted young girl forced apart from her true love EFFECT
