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Fear and tension in gothic literature
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Tension and suspense in gothic texts
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Fear and tension in gothic literature
Character analysis of miss emily
Tension and suspense in gothic texts
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
We will analyse, in this essay, the differences as well as the similarities which exist between Jane Eyre and Incidents in the life of a slave girl written by herself. We will see that they differ in terms of genre, the period of history in which they find themselves, the way the characters are presented and so forth. However, they share some of the main values concerning womanhood, race and some other aspects of life which they both treat in different ways and yet they do so in a specific aim. Charlotte Brontë and Harriet Jacobs present to us two texts which are both based in totally opposite moments in history. While many differences exist between the two texts, they have several aspects in common.
A significant theme that Lynn Hunt explores is representational culture. Specifically, how the family and individual members of the family are depicted through the arts and literature in the advent of the printing revolution. This is a broader theme explored throughout the monograph. Representations of the fallen King, the Band of Brothers, and the Bad Mother through the despised Marie Antoinette. While this is not the main theme of the book, it gives the reader a good idea about the pervading political climate of 18th century France.
In Francoise Sagan’s novel, Bonjour Tristesse, Cecile, the 17-year-old narrator, is on vacation with her father, Raymond, and with all of these other women in Raymond’s love life. The specific physical settings of the novel play significant roles in the development of the story, especially in Cecile’s plan to reunite Elsa and Raymond. One place in the novel that plays a significant role in the plot is the terrace. The terrace is a central location in the novel, where there is an escalation in the emotions of each event that takes place there, as well as the development and revolution of characters.
Ann Radcliffe is normally associated with the school of ‘Conservative gothic’ literature. Her works, laden with aspects of the gothic, are developed in a way that explain the supernatural events and dispel any belief of an ‘otherness’ that is central to most gothic works. Despite this, Radcliffe’s novel ‘The Italian’, can be analysed for its gothic aspects through the ideas and concepts of the Burkean sublime. This essay aims to analyse the work of Radcliffe through the ideas of Burk such as his understandings of how a work is made sublime.
Bronte 's Jane Eyre transcends the genres of literature to depict the emotional and character development of its protagonist. Although no overall genre dominates the novel exclusively, the vivid use of setting contributes towards the portrayal of Bronte’s bildungsroman (Realisms, 92) and defines the protagonist’s struggles as she grapples with her inner-self, and the social expectations of her gender. The novel incorporates Jane’s frequent conflicts, oppression, isolation and self-examination as she defends her identity and independence. Set amongst five separate locations, Bronte’s skilful use of literal and metaphorical landscapes, nature, and imagery, skilfully intertwines with the plot and denotes each phrase of her maturity.
Captivating gothic elements indulge the reader in “The Woman in Black” by Susan Hill. Gothic elements are supernatural effects that create a feeling of dread and mystery. In the novella, Hill uses precise details to add a gothic atmosphere with the London Fog, Crythin Gifford, and the scene at the park. The first chilling detail that gives the novella a gothic element is the London fog.
Though at first the melodrama and overplaying of the imagination scenes may seem to be a typical blunder on the part of the movie makers, they are actually consistent with Catherine’s character and poke fun at the melodrama often portrayed in movies of similar genres to Northanger Abbey. This parody on other films mirrors Austen’s parody of the gothic novel. Still, on the whole, there is something to be desired when looking at how the gothic does and does not find its way into the movies. Though the imagination scenes certainly do portray gothic scenarios as Catherine perceives them, they poke more fun at overdramatized film adaptations of romantic and 19th century novels than they do at the genre’s themselves. Furthermore, the imagination scenes are
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a Bildungsroman, a coming of age story that focuses on the psychological development of the protagonist, Catherine Morland. This essay will analyse the language and narrative techniques of the extract, and discuss how it suggests vicissitudes in Catherine’s personal perspectives and relationships. In addition, it will discuss the ‘domestic gothic’ and abuse ubiquitous in ordinary situations. Furthermore, it will argue how Austen’s rhetorical techniques work to encourage reader interest as well as exercising perception when distinguishing between appearance and reality. Finally, it will conclude by briefly discussing the significance of the extract within the novel’s wider themes.
Her very feelings are changed from hope to dread. Besides this mixture of fear and uneasiness, there is a feeling of suspense and anticipation, for she compares the intermingled branches into an archway like the roof of a church. This comparison suggests something important, maybe coming to Manderley seems like a kind of sacrament to her, something holy. Manderley becomes a sacred place to the narrator and to the reader as well, shrouded in mystery, like a chapel with a long history and a supernatural mystique. By using connotation in describing a picturesque scene, Du Maurier explores her heroine’s feeling of sublimity and her relationship to her natural surroundings.
The literature pieces help explore the subject of female sexuality, as time progress the amount of female sexuality increases. Women can desire, they can have aspirations, even though shown as vampires the text still suggests that they are women. The gothic writing of Victorian era such as Dracula, Carmilla, and Christabel help
This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).
Radcliffe achieves a dazzling success in Europe. In 1970s, she was the best - selling English novelist. Her gothic novels are widely read, imitated and translated.14 Thomas De Quincey, a critic, called her “ the great enchantress” 15 for her power of enchantment and romantic sensibility in describing her characters and landscapes . Although Horace Walpole was regarded , for at least two centuries in the British culture, as ‘inventor’ of the Gothic literary mode in The Castle of Otranto in late (1764), it is Radcliffe who was considered as the perfector of the form by the late 18th- and early 19th-century critics and literary historians.16 Radcliffe was regarded as the founder of the school of terror in gothic literature , in her unfinished
usually associated with important events like the climatic, anticipating moments in the novel or the appearance of the evil figure .84 Thirdly, the Gothic Hero (Protagonist) , in any gothic fiction a vicious character is substantial to establish the atmosphere of horror . However, a gothic hero is not necessarily a gothic villain . As in early gothic novels, specifically Radcliffean gothic fictions, the gothic protagonist is simply a helpless heroine: The very words "Gothic heroine" immediately conjures up a wealth of images for the modern reader: a young, attractive woman running in terror through an old, dark, crumbling mansion in the middle of nowhere, from either a psychotic man or a supernatural demon.
Furthermore, Feminist Criticism provides a better view of literature because it shows that women can be powerful. When Emilia finds out that her husband has been plotting an evil plan she says,” Tis proper I obey him, but not now”(Othello V.2.195). Emilia refuses to help her husband after she finds the cruel intentions he has despite the expectation of women always being submissive to their husbands. Women also have a voice and feelings, they are capable of defying their husbands commands when they know what he expects is simply wrong. In a literary article,The Role of Women in Othello: A Feminist Reading states that,” Society weighs heavily on the shoulders of women; they feel that they must support the men and defer to them, even if the actions of the men are questionable” (Literary Articles).
Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook.