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Gothic Literature Analysis

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Mention the gothic, and many readers will probably picture gloomy castles ... However, the truth is that the gothic genre has continued to flourish and evolve … producing some of its most interesting and accomplished examples in the 20th century-in literature, film and beyond – Carlos Ruiz Zafon.1 1.1. Gothic Meaning and Definition Notoriously, Gothic is hard to confine. This term signifies variety of meanings. As a historical term, Gothic derives from “Goth,” the name of one of the northern Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire. As an architectural and artistic term, Gothic is used to refer to the medieval art of painting and architectural style which expands through Europe between twelfth and sixteenth …show more content…

It was fear that establishes the concepts of religion and faith. Angela carter suggests that “the singular moral function of the gothic is that of provoking unease”4 this unease is imputed to the gothic’s representation of the horror and terror, whether in physical form like pain, imprisonment and violent attacks, or in psychological torture like the fear of the unknown. Moreover, Sigmund Freud asserts in his essay “ The uncanny ” that the gothic novels are full of such uncanny, mysterious events which arouse the feeling of fear and astonishment. The uncanny is related to what is frightening, it coincide to affirm what thrills fear in general.5 Elizabeth MacAndrew, the famous Gothic fiction critic, defines this English genre, Gothic fiction, as a “literature of nightmare”: Among its conventions are found dream landscapes and figures of the subconscious imagination. Its fictional world gives form to amorphous fears and impulses common to all mankind, using an amalgam of materials, some torn from the author’s own subconscious mind and some stuff of myth, folklore, fairy tale, and romance. It conjures up beings - mad monks, vampires, and demons ... Gothic fiction gives shape to concepts of the place of evil in the human mind …show more content…

The Gothic seems to be disordered and a self - contradictory form, without a clear determination of its aim or implication. Many criticisms were denoted concerning the gothic, which reflected its contradictory nature. Some modern critics assert the psychological influence of the gothic ,as Robert Keily who points out that the subordination of the character to the setting enables the gothic “ to explore the whole concept of individual identity”, to view “human personality as essentially unstable, inconsistent ” 7,or revealing the dark side of human nature and destructive, primitive

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