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Romantic and Gothic Genres

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Title: Romantic and Gothic Genres


1
Romantic and Gothic Genres
2
Romanticism
  • Late 18th to mid 19th Century movement in
    literature, arts, philosophy, politics
  • Rejects precepts of order, calm, harmony,
    balance, idealization, and rationality that
    typified Classicism in general and late
    18th-century Neoclassicism in particular
    (Romanticism)
  • The Neoclassic period valued reason, formal
    rules, and demanded order in beauty.

3
Romanticism
  • Revolt against restrictions of aristocratic ideas
    of 18th cent.
  • Emphasized imagination, emotion
  • Language of everyday people
  • Idealized nature and natural lifestyles
    (farmers, shepherds) pastoral settings

4
Romanticism
  • (Reaction to industrialization and
    urbanization)Literary settings became more
    exotic
  • Inspired by medieval ballads, courtly tales
    (knights/damsels), and supernatural
  • Believed in the importance of the individual
    daring, rebellious, and free to express emotions.
  • Poets experimented with rhyme, meter, and subject

5
Romaticism
  • Interest in human rights
  • Sentimentality
  • Melancholy
  • Interest in the gothic

6
Romanticism
  • William Wordsworth
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • Lord Byron (George Gordon)
  • John Keats
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • Mary Shelley
  • Emily Bronte
  • Charlotte Bronte
  • Jane Austen
  • Victor Hugo
  • Paul Verlaine
  • Charles Baudelaire

7
Romanticism
  • Victor Hugo called Romanticism liberalism in
    literature. It freed the artist and writer from
    restraints and rules.
  • Walter Pater thought the addition of strangeness
    to beauty defined the Romantic movement.
  • A current definition a psychological desire to
    escape from unpleasant realities.

8
Gothic Literature
  • A genre that creates terror and suspense,
    usually set in an isolated castle, mansion, or
    monastery populated by mysterious or threatening
    individuals (Kennedy and Gioia, G15).

9
Gothic Literature
  • Developed as a genre in 18th century
  • Devoted to tales of horror, the darker,
    supernatural forces
  • English Gothic form originated with Horace
    Walpoles novel The Castle of Otranto (1764).

10
Gothic Literature
  • Derives its name from similarities to medieval
    Gothic architecture
  • Also derives name from a barbaric Germanic tribe,
    the Goths

11
Gothic Architecture
  • Majestic, unrestrained architectural style
  • Savage, often grotesque ornamentation

12
Gothic Architecture
  • Gothic architecture used pointed arches and
    vaults, flying buttresses, narrow spires, stained
    glass windows, intricate traceries, and varied
    details its upward movement was meant to suggest
    heavenward aspiration (Melani)

13
Gothic Architecture
  • Vaulting arches

14
Gothic Architecture
  • Spires reaching to the heavens

15
Gothic Architecture
  • Wild carvings depicting humanity in conflict with
    supernatural forces

16
Gothic Architecture
  • Adam and Eve with the serpent ?

17
Gothic Architecture
  • Saints, Notre Dame,
  • Paris ?

18
Gothic Architecture
  • Saints, Notre Dame,
  • Paris ?

19
Gothic Architecture in Literature
  • exploiting claustrophobic interior
    architecture
  • dungeons, crypts, torture chambers, locked rooms,
    and secret passageways (Kennedy and Gioia, G15)

20
Gothic Architecture Literature
  • Focuses on humanitys fascination with the
    grotesque, the unknown, and the frightening,
    inexplicable aspects of the universe and the
    human soul.
  • Portrays human individuals in confrontation with
    the overwhelming, mysterious, terrifying forces
    found in the cosmos and within themselves.
  • Pictures the human condition as an ambiguous
    mixture of good and evil powers that cannot be
    understood completely by human reason.

21
Gothic Literature
  • The human condition as a paradoxhumans are
    divided in the conflict between opposing forces
    in the world and in themselves.
  • Human natures depravity, the struggle between
    good and evil in the human soul, and the
    existence of unexplainable elements in humanity
    and the cosmos are prominent themes in
    Frankenstein.

22
Motifs in Gothic Literature
  • A motif is a repeated theme, image, or literary
    device. Look for these common supernatural/Gothic
    motifs in Frankenstein.
  • Doppleganger
  • Forbidden Knowledge (Faust Motif)
  • Satanic Hero
  • Multiple Narrative
  • Dreams and Visions
  • Signs and Omens

23
The Doppelganger
  • A second self or alternate identity
  • Represents opposing forces in human nature
  • Suggests humans have a double nature

24
The Faust Motif Forbidden Knowledge or Power
  • Hero attempts to control supernatural powers
  • Ambition leads to fall

Dr. Faustus makes a deal with the Devil ?
25
Monster/ Satanic Hero/ Fallen Man
  • Fallen Hero becomes a Monster
  • Or, confronts a monster who is his double
  • Like Satan, he defies the rules of Gods universe

Frankensteins Monster ?
26
Multiple Narrative
  • Series of secret manuscripts or multiple tales
  • Narrative spirals inward to hidden truth
  • Narrator compelled to speak to captive listener

The Ancient Mariner tells his tale ?
27
Dreams / Visions
  • Reveal hidden truths of the unconscious mind
  • The hidden knowledge of the universe and of human
    nature emerges through dreams because, when the
    person sleeps, reason sleeps, and the
    supernatural, unreasonable world can break
    through.

28
Signs / Omens
  • Reveal intention of cosmic forces
  • Often represent psychological or spiritual
    conflict

29
Other Gothic Motifs
  • Incest and sexual perversion
  • Value reversals
  • Mistaken/secret identities
  • Dichotomies
  • Innocence victimized by evil
  • Magic Talismans
  • Blood
  • Madness
  • Haunted Castle or House
  • Graveyards/Churches/ Ruins
  • Murder
  • Demons/Devils/Witches/ Angels

30
Works Consulted
  • Farris, Speed. English 12 AP Literature.
    Course home page. English Department, La Costa
    Canyon High School, San Dieguito Union High
    School District . 28 Aug. 2008
    lthttp//teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/sfarris/gt.
    Path Information Links Romantic/Gothic Genres
    Powerpoint.
  • Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature
    An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
    9th ed. New York A.B. Longman, 2005.
  • Melani, Lelia. English 79 The Gothic Experience.
    Course home page. 24 Oct. 2002. Dept. of
    English, Brooklyn College, New York. 1 Sept.
    2008 lthttp//academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/me
    lani/index.htmgt. Path English 79 The Gothic
    Experience Gothic Defined.
  • Romanticism. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008 ed.
    Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1
    Sept. 2008 lthttp//britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
    508675/romanticismgt.
  • The Romantic Period. The Norton Anthology
    Norton Topics Online. Ed. Jack Stillinger and M.
    H. Abrams. 2008. W.W. Norton and Co. 1 Sept.
    2008 lthttp//www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael
    /romantic/welcome.htmgt.
  • Unknown. The Gothic and the Supernatural A
    Thematic Approach to Selected Literary Works.
    University of Virginia Library. 31 Aug. 2008
    lthttp//www.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/English/lapt
    op/Materials/Gothic_Supernatural_Presentation.pptgt
    .
  • NOTE This source owes most of its ideas,
    content, notes and images to Prof. Shari Hodges
    and her course on Gothic Literature offered by
    the English Department, University of
    Mississippi and to Franz Potters site on Gothic
    Literature http//members.aol.com/franzpoet/intro
    .html
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