Gothic Fiction since the XIXth Century :
From History to Horror Stories
Eva Kouchouk, FLSH H2
INDEX
Early Works
>
Female Gothic
>
Introduction
>
Gothic Romance
>
Gothic cinema
>
Gothic & Psyche
>
Pop culture goth
>
Goth music
>
Written exam
>
Sources
>
Chill
>
Final exam
>
01
Introduction to the Gothic Genre
Gothic (adj.)
"of the Goths," the ancient Germanic people, hence its use from 1640s as a term for the art style that emerged in northern Europe in the Middle Ages. Extended early 19c. to literary style that used northern European medieval settings to suggest horror and mystery. The word was revived in 1983 as the name for a style of music and the associated youth culture. (e.g. Bauhaus)
Etymology & semantics
• Ancient Germanic, polytheist tribe from Northern Europe whose origin is uncertain (might have come from Scandinavia). • First accounted by Greek historian Herodotus (484 – 425/ 413 BCE) and often cited for their contribution to the fall of the Roman Empire. • Were invaded by the Huns, which eventually led to the partition of the original tribe into 3 distinct groups: the Visigoths (Western Goths), the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and Crimean Goths, none of which survived to this day. • Historian Herwig Wolfram wrote: ”Anyone in the field of Gothic history must expect to be misunderstood, rejected, even stigmatized. This is hardly surprising, for the subject is burdened with the ideological weight of a readiness throughout the centuries either to reject the Goths as an embodiment of everything wicked and evil or to identify with them and their glorious history.”
Goths
Gothic Art as defined in the XVIIth century
Revolves around 3 art forms : Architecture, Painting and Sculpture Spread in western and central Europe during the Middle Ages. Gothic art is an evolution of Romanesque art which arose from the need to build more stable structures. It lasted from the mid-12th century to as late as the end of the 16th century.
Vault shapes: Roman vs Gothic
Westminster Abbey
Adoration of the Magi (1423), Gentile da Fabriano
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Fiction (n.)
Early 15c., ficcioun, "that which is invented or imagined in the mind," from Old French ficcion "dissimulation, ruse; invention, fabrication" (13c.) and directly from Latin fictionem (nominative fictio) "a fashioning or feigning," From 1590s : meaning "prose works (not dramatic) of the imagination" is (at first) often including plays and poems. By early 19c. : Narrower sense of "the part of literature comprising novels and short stories based on imagined scenes or characters".
Etymology & semantics
The Gothic Genre
An overview
Summary
- Sinister, supernatural horror medieval style of building dedicated to the glory of God.
- The term was coined by the artists of the Italian Renaissance to qualify anything that didn’t come from the civilized world of the Ancient Greece and Rome, something barbaric, wild, gloomy...Thereby dismissing centuries of medieval art and architecture as primitive and worthless.
Origins and meaning
Summary
The MA produced some of the most spectacular cathedrals and churches with visions of heaven and warnings of hell. The Protestant Reformation (VIth century - early 17th century) rejected the language of gothic arts and literature for 3 centuries as being Catholic superstition, until the Georgians fell back in love with it (VIIIth century). New forms of literature and painting, as well as a new taste for terror and weirdness thenceforth emerged.
Gothic art
Summary
The re-emergence of the gothic genre in the arts is symptomatic of an era of tumult marked by the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and new scientific improvements, which were considered taboo subjects. For this reason, the gothic allowed people to express their deepest desires and darkest fears so we can now uncover the secret history of Britain during its greatest age of change.
Relation to History
Activity
Vocabulary
Exercise : The "gothic" lexical field (adjectives)
Gothic or not?
02
Early Works of gothic fiction
The Castle of otranto
A gothic story
• Written by Horace Walpole, son of Sir Robert Walpole (1st Prime Minister of Great Britain) • Published in 1764
Strawberry Hill House
Located in Twickenham, London. Restored in 2010.
The interior and collection of antiques were designed to inspire the "settings of Gothic gloomth"
Bought by Horace Walpole and transformed into a Gothic Revival villa from 1749 onward.
Style inspired by the Gothic medieval architecture. Described as "Georgian Gothic", "Strawberry Hill Gothic" or "Georgian Roccoco.
The Novel
Horace Walpole published the first edition under the pseudonym of William Marshall, an invented character who had supposedly written this story in 1529 based on an even earlier manuscript written by Onuphrio Muralto, a (yet again fictional) Italian Church Minister from the first Crusade era. --> Attempt at making the style easier on the reader (cf. Preface) He later claimed authorship of the novel and added the subtitle "A Gothic Story" (2nd edition), for literature was considered a waste of a gentleman's time in this period, especially in this register. The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first gothic novel that set the standard for the genre.
Analysis
Read this excerpt from the first chapter of The Castle of Otranto and identify the following elements : 1. Setting - Place - Time - Characters - Plot 2. Gothic elements
Analysis
• Archetypal setting (Characters, time, place) • The supernatural : Giant helmet falling from the sky. • The ancestral legacy : The Law of Primogeniture (estate transmitted by a father to his eldest born son). • The undermining of authority : Manfred, on several occasions in the novel, sees his authority challenged by his servants and supernatural forces.
Gothic elements
Mystery and fear
Atmosphere and Setting
romance
Supernatural and paranormal
Omens & curses
The traditional features of the Gothic genre
Emotional Distress
Damsel in distress
Anti-hero
Villains
Nightmares
Activity
“Tell me a gothic story":With the help of the previous slide, imagine the plot of a gothic story based on this painting : The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.
03
The Female gothic
Who Likes to draw?
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
contextualization
Female Gothic Literature
Although Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is considered to be the first novel of the Gothic genre, the latter was popularized by a woman : Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823)
Female Gothic Literature
Towards the end of the XVIIIth century, the growing popularity of Gothic novels and themes in art coincides with the birth of modern-day feminism (cf. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, both published in 1792)
Female Gothic Literature
Ann Radcliffe's wrote her stories with the aim of developing a female readership at a time when women of all social backgrounds in Britain became more literate, enabling them to participate more and more in the public sphere. A great many similarities can be found between Ann Radcliffe and Mary Wollstonecraft's works, which somehow complete one another.
Female Gothic Literature
Both women shared the deep belief that women had been made feeble objects, trained to rely solely on their sensibility. According to both women, this sensibility which was originally regarded as a flaw, could become women's superpower as long as they also relied on rationality. Ex : A female character finding a rational explanation to supernatural events.
Female Gothic Literature
Ann Radcliffe's works became so popular that the coprights of her books reached sums that hardly any other contemporary female writer would ever see (Ranging from £500 to £800 when the average was £10-20) Among other notable female Gothic writers can be found : Emily and Charlotte Brontë (Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre), Flannery O'Conor, Margaret Atwood and of course... Mary Shelley.
Female Gothic Literature
Overall, the female contribution to the genre enabled the Gothic readership to experience horror and mystery from a more introspective way through the blending of terror, romance, psychology and a prominent taste for the sublime.
Activity
Find your group and together, debate on the relevancy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2024. Gather your ideas in a mind-map (1 per group) + Be ready to explain it to the class.
04
gothic Tales and the Human psyche
Close your eyes and listen...
Reading
1. Read the story once as if the narrator was talking to you in person. How do you feel after his revelations?
The Tell-tale heart
- Short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1843. - Tale of an unnamed narrator who, while trying to convince the reader of their absolute sanity, describes and confesses to the murder they have committed. - Main character likely suffers from monomania (single psychological obsession) and paranoia (delusional and irrational suspicion and fear)
Edgar Allan Poe
- Born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts - American short story writer, poet, critic and editor famous for his cultivation of mystery and the macabre - Despite being a literary genius, Poe likely suffered from recurring depression, suggesting a bipolar disorder or other mental illness, as well as alcohol and drug abuse. - Died in 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland, due to complications related to alcoholism.
History of psychiatry
- The late 18th and 19th century saw the birth of modern psychiatry, as mental illness started being recognized as a disorder and those affected by it were deemed worthy of being treated compassionately. - This new approach focused on providing medical care to the mentally ill was likely the result of 3 historical advancements : The mind then being considered as an entity between the body and the soul in conceptual space, the rejection of humoral theories and the development of asylums.
Psychology and literature
- Around the mid-19th, following in the foosteps of modern psychiatry, psychology became a field of experimental study. - Therefore, it is only logical that literature, and especially works falling into the Gothic genre, would also become a fertile soil for the exploration of the human mind and its oddities, serving as mirrors reflecting the writer and their readers' anxiety, fascinations, fears or distress.
Reading
2. Read the story once again and identify how many of the 10 traditional features of the Gothic genre does this story comprise? What are they?
Reading
3. Observe the structure of the story and identify its narrative outline : - Exposition - Rising action - Climax - Falling action - Dénouement
Activity
Click here!
Rewrite a shortened version of the Tell-Tale Heart, following its original narrative outline, but from the old man's perspective.
05
gothic Romance
Activity
In groups of 2-3, do research about your novel and its author and get ready to present your findings to the class :
1. Basic info (Title, author, date of publication) + Plot summary
2. The author’s historical background (Life + Historical elements of interest related to the period in which they lived)
3. Why is this work categorized as Gothic romance ?
Gothic or Dark Romance
Gothic romance is both a sub-genre of Romance fiction and Gothic fiction. It appeared with Ann Radcliffe's novel A Sicilian Romance in 1790, but the genre's popularity actually took off around the mid-XIXth century. Gothic Romance is often called Dark Romance, a term which emerged as an attempt to separate the genre from Gothic horror, although it may be less appealing to the public.
Gothic or Dark Romance
Gothic Romance stories rely on the traditional features of the Gothic genre established by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, yet focuses on characters battling with both the supernatural and their love struggles. This is what separates this genre from Gothic horror.
A female-dominated genre
It is to be noted that, unsurprisingly, Gothic romance is a much female-dominated genre, both in terms of authorship and readership. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is the novel that actually started the tradition of having female characters as lead characters and not just supporting roles, an empowering initiative that has, so far, managed to secure the genre's popularity.
Debate
“Romance is often categorized as a female genre" Do you agree with this statement?
06
gothic Cinema
The Devil's Castle
George Méliès (1896)
A History of Cinema
Cinematography is about recreating movement through the recording and fast projection of still pictures on a screen. The first machine to recreate this illusion was the Kinetoscope, presented to the public by the Edison Company in 1891. Then in 1895, the Lumière brothers organized the first screening of moving pictures for an audience of spectators in Paris, using the Cinématographe, a 3-in-1 device including a camera, a projector and a film printer.
A History of Cinema
Early movies were in black and white, but not actually "silent" per say, as the screenings were accompanied by music or lectures. Color was added as soon as the early 20th century with the Kinemacolor and later on Technicolor processes. Synchronized dialogues started being added towards the 1930s, which marked the rise of the Golden Age of cinema with the development of Hollywood.
Activity
After a quick reminder of Dracula's original narrative by Bram Stoker (1897), watch the 3 movie adaptations and compare them using the table "Similarities & Differences". - Dracula, Tod Browning (1931) - Dracula, Terence Fisher (1958) - Bram Stoker's Dracula, F.F Coppola (1992)
Dracula
The story begins as Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer, travels to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula in order to finalize a property transaction. Harker soon realizes that his host is a vampire but gets trapped in the castle while count Dracula flees to England. The wave of new victims there, including Lucy, a friend of Mina (Harker's fiancee), sparks the attention of Dr Seward and Dr Van Helsing.
Dracula
Meanwhile, Harker has managed to escape the castle, and returns to England to marry Mina. Upon his return, he encounters Dr Seward and Dr Van Helsing and the group soon embarks on a restless hunt to find and kill Count Dracula, which they eventually do by cutting his head an planting a stake through his heart, leaving him to crumble into dust.
Tod Browning (1931)
Starring Bela Lugosi as dracula
Terence Fisher (1958)
Starring Chrisptopher Lee as Dracula
F.F. Coppola (1992)
Starring Gary Oldman as Dracula
Other adaptations of gothic novels
Other major movie adaptations of Gothic works include : - Frankenstein - The Picture of Dorian Grey - Wuthering Heights - Jane Eyre - The Phantom of the Opera - Several works by Tim Burton : Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow... and even the Addams Family among others !
Activity
Vocabulary
What is your favorite Gothic movie and why? Alt. What is your favorite Dracula version?
Find different ways to express one's opinion.
07
goth Music
Blind Test
Go to : Kahoot.it and enter the pin OR scan the QR code to play!
Reading
Read the lyrics of "Spellbound" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. What is your interpretation of it?
Listening
Listen to the audio, how does the vocal and musical performance change your perception of the song?
Drawing
Illustrate this song based on your interpretation of the lyrics and music.
Viewing
Watch the video clip. How does it complement the lyrics and vocal/musical performance?
How has your understanding of the song evolved between the reading of the lyrics, the listening and the viewing of the video clip?
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound
"Spellbound" was released in 1981 by British Post-Punk Band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Widely regarded as one of the band's masterpieces because of its intoxicating rythms and Siouxsie Sioux's unique vocal performance, the interpretation of the lyrics is however divisive : - Vulnerability of childhood/Child abuse ? - Mental illness ? (Hitchcock, Spellbound, 1945) - Comment on conformity ? - Hypocrisy of Religion ? - Love ?
Gothic Music
The term "Gothic" as an adjective used to describe a song was first heard from a critic named John Stickney to refer to The Doors' music as early as 1967. The somber topics inspired from Gothic literature, heavy bass and low vocals were characteristic of this emerging music genre of the Post-Punk scene in the late 70s (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division...) Among the early influences can be namde : The Doors, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop...
Gothic Music
By the 80s, Gothic rock had become a lucrative market thanks to bands like Bauhaus, The Cult or The Cure for example, which paved the way for other, less remembered bands such as Flesh for Lulu, Play Dead, Rubella Ballet, Gene Loves Jezebel, among others. The "Goth" scene also inspired artists in other registers like Kate Bush (Wuthering Heights), Björk...
Gothic Music
In the 90s and Early 2010s, the aesthetic of the genre was then harnessed and developed in the USA with a harder and more punk-rock sound known as Deathrock (e.g. Christian Death). The movement also developed a perhaps more trashier image with artists such as Marilyn Manson, yet secured its popularity through the ages thanks to its iconic visuals and the melding with genres such as metal (Nightwish, Epica, Evanescence...).
08
goth POP CULTURE
The Goth Stereotype
What does the archetypal goth person look and behave like?
Comic
Original comic panel by Charles Addams. Published in The New Yorker between 1938 and 1988.
Television
1964 "The Addams Family" television series' cast. Other adapatations include : several other TV shows (animated or live-action), a musical, video games and movies.
The ADDAMS Family (1991)
Wednesday
The Addams Family Values (1993)
the Gothic purpose
“[…] the manner in which each of these critical stances conceives the Gothic as a code of contradiction and transformation; a composite and unstable genre arising from time to time to account for the intangible space of tension between fear and desire, and more specifically, between the anxiety of chaos derived from the destruction of the old order and the enlivening drive of change.” (F. Perazzini, University of Rome)
the Gothic purpose
a complex reaction to “economic, historical, and technological changes” (M. Gamer, University of Pennsylvania) - The Enlightenments (H. Walpole, A. Radcliffe...) - The 19th century and the Industrial Revolution (E.A. Poe, The Brontë sisters...) - The early 20th century (B. Stoker, G. Leroux : The Phantom of the Opera) - The '70s (Goth subculture)
Influences
Music-subcultures : punk, new wave, and glam. B-movies, Gothic literature, horror films, vampire cults and traditional mythology (Celtic mythology, Christian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and traditions of Paganism). Figures of the movement : Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844‒1900), Salvador Dalí (1904‒1989) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905‒1980). Writers that have had a significant influence on the movement include Ann Radcliffe (1764‒1823), Edgar Allan Poe (1809‒1849), Bram Stoker (1847‒1912), Oscar Wilde (1854‒1900), H. P. Lovecraft (1890‒1937), among others.
Influences
Swans Reflecting Elephants (Dali, 1937)
Ophelia (Millais, 1851-2)
Commercialization
Like the Punk movement, which the '70s Goth subculture is partly derived from, the Gothic movement has evolved alongside the mass consumer society. - Music - Cinema/TV shows - Clothing - Bod-mod/accessories/hair products ...
Commercialization & Pop culture
Activity
Imagine a new member of the Addams Family who would reflect our society in 2024.
Written exam
Creative writing
Written ExpressionTarget level : C1 Instructions : Write a 500-word Gothic story that includes the following elements : ??? (to be revealed on exam day Criteria : Vocabulary, Grammar & Syntax, Spelling & Punctuation, Creativity & Relevance Scheduled on : Wednseday, November 6th (in class)
Sources :
- Online Etymology Dictionary - "The Art of Gothic - Intro", BBC Select (Youtube, Nov. 2022) - BBC News Magazine - Gutenberg.org - Encyclopaedia Britannica - US National Library of Medicine - UK Science and Media Museum
Final exam
Final exam
Oral ExpressionTarget level : C1 Instructions : You have a chance at getting your Gothic short story adapted into a movie. Prepare yourself for an interview with the production team. Criteria : Vocabulary, Grammar, Phonology, Fluency, and Creativity & Relevance Scheduled on : ?
Instructions
Watch the video document and identify : • The origins and early meanings of the term "gothic" • What is Gothic Art • Its relation to History
Draw Frankenstein on the board.
Information check :
Find your partner and discuss your understanding of the document together in order to fill the gaps in your notes.
Instructions
Watch the video document and identify : 1. The characters 2. The plot
Instructions
Listen and take notes about the following topics : • Mary Shelley’s childhood and family • The context of writing of Frankenstein • Publication • Issues raised in the book : Gender roles, Man’s ambition, Humanity/Monstrosity, Revenge, Nature and the Sublime
FLSH H2 Gothic Fiction
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Transcript
Gothic Fiction since the XIXth Century :
From History to Horror Stories
Eva Kouchouk, FLSH H2
INDEX
Early Works
>
Female Gothic
>
Introduction
>
Gothic Romance
>
Gothic cinema
>
Gothic & Psyche
>
Pop culture goth
>
Goth music
>
Written exam
>
Sources
>
Chill
>
Final exam
>
01
Introduction to the Gothic Genre
Gothic (adj.)
"of the Goths," the ancient Germanic people, hence its use from 1640s as a term for the art style that emerged in northern Europe in the Middle Ages. Extended early 19c. to literary style that used northern European medieval settings to suggest horror and mystery. The word was revived in 1983 as the name for a style of music and the associated youth culture. (e.g. Bauhaus)
Etymology & semantics
• Ancient Germanic, polytheist tribe from Northern Europe whose origin is uncertain (might have come from Scandinavia). • First accounted by Greek historian Herodotus (484 – 425/ 413 BCE) and often cited for their contribution to the fall of the Roman Empire. • Were invaded by the Huns, which eventually led to the partition of the original tribe into 3 distinct groups: the Visigoths (Western Goths), the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and Crimean Goths, none of which survived to this day. • Historian Herwig Wolfram wrote: ”Anyone in the field of Gothic history must expect to be misunderstood, rejected, even stigmatized. This is hardly surprising, for the subject is burdened with the ideological weight of a readiness throughout the centuries either to reject the Goths as an embodiment of everything wicked and evil or to identify with them and their glorious history.”
Goths
Gothic Art as defined in the XVIIth century
Revolves around 3 art forms : Architecture, Painting and Sculpture Spread in western and central Europe during the Middle Ages. Gothic art is an evolution of Romanesque art which arose from the need to build more stable structures. It lasted from the mid-12th century to as late as the end of the 16th century.
Vault shapes: Roman vs Gothic
Westminster Abbey
Adoration of the Magi (1423), Gentile da Fabriano
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Fiction (n.)
Early 15c., ficcioun, "that which is invented or imagined in the mind," from Old French ficcion "dissimulation, ruse; invention, fabrication" (13c.) and directly from Latin fictionem (nominative fictio) "a fashioning or feigning," From 1590s : meaning "prose works (not dramatic) of the imagination" is (at first) often including plays and poems. By early 19c. : Narrower sense of "the part of literature comprising novels and short stories based on imagined scenes or characters".
Etymology & semantics
The Gothic Genre
An overview
Summary
- Sinister, supernatural horror medieval style of building dedicated to the glory of God. - The term was coined by the artists of the Italian Renaissance to qualify anything that didn’t come from the civilized world of the Ancient Greece and Rome, something barbaric, wild, gloomy...Thereby dismissing centuries of medieval art and architecture as primitive and worthless.
Origins and meaning
Summary
The MA produced some of the most spectacular cathedrals and churches with visions of heaven and warnings of hell. The Protestant Reformation (VIth century - early 17th century) rejected the language of gothic arts and literature for 3 centuries as being Catholic superstition, until the Georgians fell back in love with it (VIIIth century). New forms of literature and painting, as well as a new taste for terror and weirdness thenceforth emerged.
Gothic art
Summary
The re-emergence of the gothic genre in the arts is symptomatic of an era of tumult marked by the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and new scientific improvements, which were considered taboo subjects. For this reason, the gothic allowed people to express their deepest desires and darkest fears so we can now uncover the secret history of Britain during its greatest age of change.
Relation to History
Activity
Vocabulary
Exercise : The "gothic" lexical field (adjectives)
Gothic or not?
02
Early Works of gothic fiction
The Castle of otranto
A gothic story
• Written by Horace Walpole, son of Sir Robert Walpole (1st Prime Minister of Great Britain) • Published in 1764
Strawberry Hill House
Located in Twickenham, London. Restored in 2010.
The interior and collection of antiques were designed to inspire the "settings of Gothic gloomth"
Bought by Horace Walpole and transformed into a Gothic Revival villa from 1749 onward.
Style inspired by the Gothic medieval architecture. Described as "Georgian Gothic", "Strawberry Hill Gothic" or "Georgian Roccoco.
The Novel
Horace Walpole published the first edition under the pseudonym of William Marshall, an invented character who had supposedly written this story in 1529 based on an even earlier manuscript written by Onuphrio Muralto, a (yet again fictional) Italian Church Minister from the first Crusade era. --> Attempt at making the style easier on the reader (cf. Preface) He later claimed authorship of the novel and added the subtitle "A Gothic Story" (2nd edition), for literature was considered a waste of a gentleman's time in this period, especially in this register. The Castle of Otranto is regarded as the first gothic novel that set the standard for the genre.
Analysis
Read this excerpt from the first chapter of The Castle of Otranto and identify the following elements : 1. Setting - Place - Time - Characters - Plot 2. Gothic elements
Analysis
• Archetypal setting (Characters, time, place) • The supernatural : Giant helmet falling from the sky. • The ancestral legacy : The Law of Primogeniture (estate transmitted by a father to his eldest born son). • The undermining of authority : Manfred, on several occasions in the novel, sees his authority challenged by his servants and supernatural forces.
Gothic elements
Mystery and fear
Atmosphere and Setting
romance
Supernatural and paranormal
Omens & curses
The traditional features of the Gothic genre
Emotional Distress
Damsel in distress
Anti-hero
Villains
Nightmares
Activity
“Tell me a gothic story":With the help of the previous slide, imagine the plot of a gothic story based on this painting : The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.
03
The Female gothic
Who Likes to draw?
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
contextualization
Female Gothic Literature
Although Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is considered to be the first novel of the Gothic genre, the latter was popularized by a woman : Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823)
Female Gothic Literature
Towards the end of the XVIIIth century, the growing popularity of Gothic novels and themes in art coincides with the birth of modern-day feminism (cf. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, both published in 1792)
Female Gothic Literature
Ann Radcliffe's wrote her stories with the aim of developing a female readership at a time when women of all social backgrounds in Britain became more literate, enabling them to participate more and more in the public sphere. A great many similarities can be found between Ann Radcliffe and Mary Wollstonecraft's works, which somehow complete one another.
Female Gothic Literature
Both women shared the deep belief that women had been made feeble objects, trained to rely solely on their sensibility. According to both women, this sensibility which was originally regarded as a flaw, could become women's superpower as long as they also relied on rationality. Ex : A female character finding a rational explanation to supernatural events.
Female Gothic Literature
Ann Radcliffe's works became so popular that the coprights of her books reached sums that hardly any other contemporary female writer would ever see (Ranging from £500 to £800 when the average was £10-20) Among other notable female Gothic writers can be found : Emily and Charlotte Brontë (Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre), Flannery O'Conor, Margaret Atwood and of course... Mary Shelley.
Female Gothic Literature
Overall, the female contribution to the genre enabled the Gothic readership to experience horror and mystery from a more introspective way through the blending of terror, romance, psychology and a prominent taste for the sublime.
Activity
Find your group and together, debate on the relevancy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2024. Gather your ideas in a mind-map (1 per group) + Be ready to explain it to the class.
04
gothic Tales and the Human psyche
Close your eyes and listen...
Reading
1. Read the story once as if the narrator was talking to you in person. How do you feel after his revelations?
The Tell-tale heart
- Short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1843. - Tale of an unnamed narrator who, while trying to convince the reader of their absolute sanity, describes and confesses to the murder they have committed. - Main character likely suffers from monomania (single psychological obsession) and paranoia (delusional and irrational suspicion and fear)
Edgar Allan Poe
- Born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts - American short story writer, poet, critic and editor famous for his cultivation of mystery and the macabre - Despite being a literary genius, Poe likely suffered from recurring depression, suggesting a bipolar disorder or other mental illness, as well as alcohol and drug abuse. - Died in 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland, due to complications related to alcoholism.
History of psychiatry
- The late 18th and 19th century saw the birth of modern psychiatry, as mental illness started being recognized as a disorder and those affected by it were deemed worthy of being treated compassionately. - This new approach focused on providing medical care to the mentally ill was likely the result of 3 historical advancements : The mind then being considered as an entity between the body and the soul in conceptual space, the rejection of humoral theories and the development of asylums.
Psychology and literature
- Around the mid-19th, following in the foosteps of modern psychiatry, psychology became a field of experimental study. - Therefore, it is only logical that literature, and especially works falling into the Gothic genre, would also become a fertile soil for the exploration of the human mind and its oddities, serving as mirrors reflecting the writer and their readers' anxiety, fascinations, fears or distress.
Reading
2. Read the story once again and identify how many of the 10 traditional features of the Gothic genre does this story comprise? What are they?
Reading
3. Observe the structure of the story and identify its narrative outline : - Exposition - Rising action - Climax - Falling action - Dénouement
Activity
Click here!
Rewrite a shortened version of the Tell-Tale Heart, following its original narrative outline, but from the old man's perspective.
05
gothic Romance
Activity
In groups of 2-3, do research about your novel and its author and get ready to present your findings to the class : 1. Basic info (Title, author, date of publication) + Plot summary 2. The author’s historical background (Life + Historical elements of interest related to the period in which they lived) 3. Why is this work categorized as Gothic romance ?
Gothic or Dark Romance
Gothic romance is both a sub-genre of Romance fiction and Gothic fiction. It appeared with Ann Radcliffe's novel A Sicilian Romance in 1790, but the genre's popularity actually took off around the mid-XIXth century. Gothic Romance is often called Dark Romance, a term which emerged as an attempt to separate the genre from Gothic horror, although it may be less appealing to the public.
Gothic or Dark Romance
Gothic Romance stories rely on the traditional features of the Gothic genre established by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, yet focuses on characters battling with both the supernatural and their love struggles. This is what separates this genre from Gothic horror.
A female-dominated genre
It is to be noted that, unsurprisingly, Gothic romance is a much female-dominated genre, both in terms of authorship and readership. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is the novel that actually started the tradition of having female characters as lead characters and not just supporting roles, an empowering initiative that has, so far, managed to secure the genre's popularity.
Debate
“Romance is often categorized as a female genre" Do you agree with this statement?
06
gothic Cinema
The Devil's Castle
George Méliès (1896)
A History of Cinema
Cinematography is about recreating movement through the recording and fast projection of still pictures on a screen. The first machine to recreate this illusion was the Kinetoscope, presented to the public by the Edison Company in 1891. Then in 1895, the Lumière brothers organized the first screening of moving pictures for an audience of spectators in Paris, using the Cinématographe, a 3-in-1 device including a camera, a projector and a film printer.
A History of Cinema
Early movies were in black and white, but not actually "silent" per say, as the screenings were accompanied by music or lectures. Color was added as soon as the early 20th century with the Kinemacolor and later on Technicolor processes. Synchronized dialogues started being added towards the 1930s, which marked the rise of the Golden Age of cinema with the development of Hollywood.
Activity
After a quick reminder of Dracula's original narrative by Bram Stoker (1897), watch the 3 movie adaptations and compare them using the table "Similarities & Differences". - Dracula, Tod Browning (1931) - Dracula, Terence Fisher (1958) - Bram Stoker's Dracula, F.F Coppola (1992)
Dracula
The story begins as Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer, travels to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula in order to finalize a property transaction. Harker soon realizes that his host is a vampire but gets trapped in the castle while count Dracula flees to England. The wave of new victims there, including Lucy, a friend of Mina (Harker's fiancee), sparks the attention of Dr Seward and Dr Van Helsing.
Dracula
Meanwhile, Harker has managed to escape the castle, and returns to England to marry Mina. Upon his return, he encounters Dr Seward and Dr Van Helsing and the group soon embarks on a restless hunt to find and kill Count Dracula, which they eventually do by cutting his head an planting a stake through his heart, leaving him to crumble into dust.
Tod Browning (1931)
Starring Bela Lugosi as dracula
Terence Fisher (1958)
Starring Chrisptopher Lee as Dracula
F.F. Coppola (1992)
Starring Gary Oldman as Dracula
Other adaptations of gothic novels
Other major movie adaptations of Gothic works include : - Frankenstein - The Picture of Dorian Grey - Wuthering Heights - Jane Eyre - The Phantom of the Opera - Several works by Tim Burton : Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow... and even the Addams Family among others !
Activity
Vocabulary
What is your favorite Gothic movie and why? Alt. What is your favorite Dracula version?
Find different ways to express one's opinion.
07
goth Music
Blind Test
Go to : Kahoot.it and enter the pin OR scan the QR code to play!
Reading
Read the lyrics of "Spellbound" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. What is your interpretation of it?
Listening
Listen to the audio, how does the vocal and musical performance change your perception of the song?
Drawing
Illustrate this song based on your interpretation of the lyrics and music.
Viewing
Watch the video clip. How does it complement the lyrics and vocal/musical performance?
How has your understanding of the song evolved between the reading of the lyrics, the listening and the viewing of the video clip?
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound
"Spellbound" was released in 1981 by British Post-Punk Band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Widely regarded as one of the band's masterpieces because of its intoxicating rythms and Siouxsie Sioux's unique vocal performance, the interpretation of the lyrics is however divisive : - Vulnerability of childhood/Child abuse ? - Mental illness ? (Hitchcock, Spellbound, 1945) - Comment on conformity ? - Hypocrisy of Religion ? - Love ?
Gothic Music
The term "Gothic" as an adjective used to describe a song was first heard from a critic named John Stickney to refer to The Doors' music as early as 1967. The somber topics inspired from Gothic literature, heavy bass and low vocals were characteristic of this emerging music genre of the Post-Punk scene in the late 70s (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division...) Among the early influences can be namde : The Doors, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop...
Gothic Music
By the 80s, Gothic rock had become a lucrative market thanks to bands like Bauhaus, The Cult or The Cure for example, which paved the way for other, less remembered bands such as Flesh for Lulu, Play Dead, Rubella Ballet, Gene Loves Jezebel, among others. The "Goth" scene also inspired artists in other registers like Kate Bush (Wuthering Heights), Björk...
Gothic Music
In the 90s and Early 2010s, the aesthetic of the genre was then harnessed and developed in the USA with a harder and more punk-rock sound known as Deathrock (e.g. Christian Death). The movement also developed a perhaps more trashier image with artists such as Marilyn Manson, yet secured its popularity through the ages thanks to its iconic visuals and the melding with genres such as metal (Nightwish, Epica, Evanescence...).
08
goth POP CULTURE
The Goth Stereotype
What does the archetypal goth person look and behave like?
Comic
Original comic panel by Charles Addams. Published in The New Yorker between 1938 and 1988.
Television
1964 "The Addams Family" television series' cast. Other adapatations include : several other TV shows (animated or live-action), a musical, video games and movies.
The ADDAMS Family (1991)
Wednesday
The Addams Family Values (1993)
the Gothic purpose
“[…] the manner in which each of these critical stances conceives the Gothic as a code of contradiction and transformation; a composite and unstable genre arising from time to time to account for the intangible space of tension between fear and desire, and more specifically, between the anxiety of chaos derived from the destruction of the old order and the enlivening drive of change.” (F. Perazzini, University of Rome)
the Gothic purpose
a complex reaction to “economic, historical, and technological changes” (M. Gamer, University of Pennsylvania) - The Enlightenments (H. Walpole, A. Radcliffe...) - The 19th century and the Industrial Revolution (E.A. Poe, The Brontë sisters...) - The early 20th century (B. Stoker, G. Leroux : The Phantom of the Opera) - The '70s (Goth subculture)
Influences
Music-subcultures : punk, new wave, and glam. B-movies, Gothic literature, horror films, vampire cults and traditional mythology (Celtic mythology, Christian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and traditions of Paganism). Figures of the movement : Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844‒1900), Salvador Dalí (1904‒1989) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905‒1980). Writers that have had a significant influence on the movement include Ann Radcliffe (1764‒1823), Edgar Allan Poe (1809‒1849), Bram Stoker (1847‒1912), Oscar Wilde (1854‒1900), H. P. Lovecraft (1890‒1937), among others.
Influences
Swans Reflecting Elephants (Dali, 1937)
Ophelia (Millais, 1851-2)
Commercialization
Like the Punk movement, which the '70s Goth subculture is partly derived from, the Gothic movement has evolved alongside the mass consumer society. - Music - Cinema/TV shows - Clothing - Bod-mod/accessories/hair products ...
Commercialization & Pop culture
Activity
Imagine a new member of the Addams Family who would reflect our society in 2024.
Written exam
Creative writing
Written ExpressionTarget level : C1 Instructions : Write a 500-word Gothic story that includes the following elements : ??? (to be revealed on exam day Criteria : Vocabulary, Grammar & Syntax, Spelling & Punctuation, Creativity & Relevance Scheduled on : Wednseday, November 6th (in class)
Sources :
- Online Etymology Dictionary - "The Art of Gothic - Intro", BBC Select (Youtube, Nov. 2022) - BBC News Magazine - Gutenberg.org - Encyclopaedia Britannica - US National Library of Medicine - UK Science and Media Museum
Final exam
Final exam
Oral ExpressionTarget level : C1 Instructions : You have a chance at getting your Gothic short story adapted into a movie. Prepare yourself for an interview with the production team. Criteria : Vocabulary, Grammar, Phonology, Fluency, and Creativity & Relevance Scheduled on : ?
Instructions
Watch the video document and identify : • The origins and early meanings of the term "gothic" • What is Gothic Art • Its relation to History
Draw Frankenstein on the board.
Information check :
Find your partner and discuss your understanding of the document together in order to fill the gaps in your notes.
Instructions
Watch the video document and identify : 1. The characters 2. The plot
Instructions
Listen and take notes about the following topics : • Mary Shelley’s childhood and family • The context of writing of Frankenstein • Publication • Issues raised in the book : Gender roles, Man’s ambition, Humanity/Monstrosity, Revenge, Nature and the Sublime