Ian Pierce Professor Christina Morin EH4121 17 October 2014 1. The 1641 Depositions and John Temple’s The Irish Rebellion might be described as ‘proto-Gothic’ (Killeen, Gothic Ireland 31). Describe in detail and with reference to both Depositions and The Irish Rebellion how these texts set the stage for the later emergence of gothic literature in Ireland. The 1641 Depositions are considered some of the earliest pieces of gothic literature in Ireland. They focus on the reports of generally protestant settlers and nobility during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when the Irish Catholic gentry attempted to wrestle control from the English Protestant administration; the accounts themselves retell events that are indeed recorded to have happened, such …show more content…
Words such as notorious, cruelty and massacre are used throughout the book and the Depositions, playing with the fears of the reader. To the reader and quite possibly the author, each act that is described is an act almost unimaginable in a civilised world. Noble, innocent and British people are treated like animals at the hands of wild barbarians who follow a different religion (“Barbarous People” 151). While it may seem laughable for a modern reader to read this and come away shaking in terror, having been desensitised to such violence from an early age, it is not all that difficult to imagine the effect this may have had on the common people of the seventeenth century. Similarly, with this in mind, it is not too difficult to imagine how books such as The Castle of Otranto, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula, may have gripped the nation in a sort of curious fear. People wanting to read about atrocities and massacres that they themselves never even imagined possible would have certainly captivated earlier audiences and it is perhaps even possible that the Depositions and Temple created a niche role for the everyday reader that needed to be filled by …show more content…
They seem simple, basic enough to the modern eye that one can barely take them seriously, it is not until we put ourselves into the shoes of an everyday London labourer that we begin to see the effects that these pieces could have had on people (Canny 55). Similarly, it is a strange experience to read a piece of gothic literature such as The Castle of Otranto and be told that it is in fact a horror story, as some may have read it and mistaken it for an early adventure into black comedy. While the language and imagery during the Depositions and Temple’s work are basic and almost primitive, it is difficult to deny that they have not inspired and been improved upon in future titles that we would eventually come to call gothic
Salem was surprised and scared of what happened during the 1690’s. Rosalyn Schanzer wrote the book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, which is a book that describes the life in Salem during the witch trials. The witch trials was a period of time when people accused others for being witches and using witchcraft. It was a devastating time for the Puritans.
Two southern set stories display the life of both Emily and Hulga who had dealt traumatic changes in their lives that lead to downfalls of retrieving love. Both Faulkner of A Rose for Emily and O’Conner if Good Country People showed readers the southern society back in the early to middle 1900s setting which involved two women of modern yet aged southern towns that both stories seemed to compare the usage of southern gothic , situation irony, and the revealing the protagonist lovers true identities Homer and Manly. Through the similarities of the stories, a variety of differences was brought along with the similarities such as the usage of southern gothic. The usage of southern gothic in the stories which was revealed around the climax of
Early Gothic texts were typically set in continental Europe (especially in France and Italy) because of the supposed differences of beliefs between Southern Europeans and the British. What is more, political implications as well as religious denominations played a significant role in selecting locations for Gothic fiction, since countries with the feudal, Catholic past were perceived as wild and exotic, whereas protestant Great Britain with the developing democracy as rational. According to Reeve (2012: 233): “Gothic is an allusion to or characteristic of the Middle Ages, or, more obliquely, the ‘mediaeval’ or ‘romantic’, both of which are positioned as opposites to the classical”. Pseudo-medieval texts include frequently high feelings, supernatural creatures or events, touches of romance together with such motifs as damsel in distress or woman treated by a tyrannical male. This particular style is not rarely characterised by terror, which involves an atmosphere provoking fear, capturing the reader’s imagination (although literally nothing happens) and horror, which entails an earthy, gory, violent presentation of the macabre.
When Beowulf was written, Pagan rituals, ideas and deities influenced it, but Christianity also had an effect on the poem. Beowulf is a reflection of many Anglo-Saxon ideals and concepts. It was written after the Anglo-Saxons were already Christianized. To understand the fusion of Christian ideas and pagan-heroic characteristics, the development of religion in Britain must first be considered. Originally dominated by the Celtic faith, Britain’s belief structure experienced a significant change with the conquest of the Anglo-Saxons and their Germanic paganism.
Snodgrass’s “Dissipation in Gothic Literature” explains the meaning behind the common themes in gothic literature. Furthermore, she evaluates the role dissipation plays amongst the characters and the genre. Snodgrass discusses the shifty essence of the indiscretions in “The Veldt.” She examines how the desire for fantasy demolishes the personality of characters in gothic literature. Additionally, Snodgrass notes the results the dissipated behavior which “The Veldt” portrays.
Gothic novels dated back to the 18th century. In the
Gothicism In Modern Times Gothic literature is a genre that often focuses on dark, mysterious scenery and supernatural, suspenseful, or melodramatic events. It usually takes place in an ancient building with medieval architecture, such as a castle (Kennedy). The first gothic novel written was The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole in 1764. He combined medieval romance with gothic elements that have been carried on for centuries and are still used to this day for entertainment.
Critically assess the extent of Christian and Latinate influence on Beowulf. When first reading Beowulf it would appear that the Christian references within it superimpose onto the essentially pagan view that makes a huge body of the poem. Therefore, within this assignment, there will be investigations of inconsistencies. Sources clearly show that Beowulf was written by Germanic pagans that had been debauched by some leftist ecclesiastic wordsmith , to the insistence that the author designedly created the Christian allegory along the lines of Book 1 of The Faerie Queen. It is know that Germanic traditions and techniques were used by Anglo-Saxons to frame Christian literature, just as it was with the poet of Beowulf.
Influenced heavily by such texts as The Bible, the works of Shakespeare, sermons and graveyard poetry, the Gothic is a genre that is laced with both horror and history. It is a genre that includes topics on taboo subjects such as gender inequality, ‘lust, murder, incest, and every atrocity that can disgrace human nature’ . Therefore Gothic novels were not typically received well within a religious and patriarchal society; this did not stop Walpole, Lewis, Bronte, Dickens and the many other authors of Gothic texts. Within these texts there is a consistent theme of madness, especially in women, but what does it mean to be mad in Gothic novels and does gender really play a part in madness or is it all just coincidental? The definition of ‘madness’
The Portrayal of Gothic Elements in A Sicilian Romance 2.3.1 The Setting Radcliffe wrote A Sicilian Romance after visiting the beautiful Island of Sicily. She was fascinated by the magnificent remains of a castle which belongs to the house of Mazzini . In the preface of A Sicilian Romance , she describes her journey and how these places inspired her to write about the past time when these ruins were enormous buildings teeming with life : As I walked over the loose fragments of stones which lay scattered through the immense area of the fabric, and surveyed the sublimity and grandeur of the ruins, I recurred, by a natural associations of ideas, to the times when these walls stood proudly in their original splendor, when the halls were the scenes of hospitality and festive magnificent, and when they resounded with the voices of those whom death had long since death swept from the earth.
Early Religious Influences on the Tales of King Arthur While the story of King Arthur of Britain has captivated audiences for hundreds of years, many different versions of this tale have survived through the ages, including Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work, Historia regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), and Sir Thomas Mallory’s epic, Le Morte d’Arthur, among a plethora of others. Both of these accounts of Arthur Pendragon portray him as a valiant king and hero, yet many wonder if his legends, often associated with the roots of the Christian faith, were built more upon Christianity or Celtic Pagan foundations. One problem that many face when trying to discern the religious influences of these stories is the scarceness of historical documents of Celtic Paganism beliefs and practices, as Christianity eradicated the majority of their practices or blended in some of their traditions. Yet, in spite of a lack of resources, enough knowledge of Celtic Paganism still survives that allows many to claim that King Arthur’s tale is either primarily Christian or primarily Pagan. However, it is much more likely that the stories are, in
The famous author, Liam O’Flaherty uses quintessential literary devices such as, situational irony, to bring to light the atrocities of the Irish CIvil War in his short story, “The Sniper”. An example of said atrocities, would be how the Irish Civil War literally divided the families of Ireland turning brother against brother where the end’s cost was that of the lives of family members. O’Flaherty’s story is premised during the Battle of Dublin, where his protagonist must grow into a man in the period consisting of three pages{O’Flaherty 436-439}. Through the uses of bildungsroman, O’Flaherty provides his reader a case study into these atrocities, specifically that of division among sanguine members. O’Flaherty accomplishes his intentions filled with propaganda concerning the Irish Civil War through his exquisite use of these three literary devices; situational irony, dynamic character, and tone.
A classic element of gothic fiction typically involves a threatening atmosphere and it is very important that this is not just part of the background, but forms a crucial part
Gothic Literature is a genre that was popular between 18th to 19th centuries in North Germany. It is always being associated with Dark Romanticism which the emphasize was more on nature, terror and death, horror and many more. It involves dark and gloomy setting and also unexplainable things that are beyond human senses and reason such as ghosts and monsters. The main characters, on the other hand, are always ineffectual which they do not give much effect on the story plot. This can be seen through Washington Irving’s “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” which can be considered as American gothic work in terms of its description of setting, the involvement of supernatural element in the story and also the characteristics of the main character.
In the early 18th century a new genre of fiction prose, named "Gothic Novel" was introduced. The term ”Gothic” used to refer to the German tribe of the Goths. The Gothic novel spread over the 19th century and had the popular theme of haunted places such as castles, crypts, gloomy monasteries; supernatural elements having the role to intensify the atmosphere. The characteristic motifs of the gothic genre were the strange places, the supernatural, magic objects, monsters, demons, science used for bad purposes. And many of them appear also in "The Picture of Dorian Gray".