The task set for your response was: 1) How has the Poe story you have read today compare with the earlier ones you looked at this week? 2)What characteristics seem so essential to Gothic; even over time?
The PowerPoint presentation and the work of Yuliya and Fran successfully addressed the first section of the task, but the second part wasn't as developed. Can you spend some time building a reflection on this second point and posting it through this week. I will add these into my Milestone judgements for the following week.
Thanks,
Mr. D
4 comments:
EVALUATION OF GROUP PRESENTATION
In our group presentation we each did separate slides and joined them together to make the final powerpoint. We all read our own slides and explained them to the class. Danielle answered questions on Poe and his narration. Rosie focused on the Castle of Otranto, Daisy on the Mysteries of Udolpho and myself on the Monk and we all compared our focus extract to the Tell-Tale Heart. We all worked well but unfortunately didn't reflect on Gothic elements that are essential to a Gothic novel and that have been used from the beginning of Gothic Literature through to the present day. Therefore, here are my suggestions as to the essential elements of Gothic Literature that have been used overtime:
- They all seem to be set in an ancient or partially ruined building and if not are set around caves, secret passage and other unusual places to create that sinsiter atmosphere in most Gothic literature.
- The weather and/or amount of light is often relevent in the Gothic genre as it is used to create or reflect a dangerous and dark mood that often leaves the reader feeling on edge.
- Terror and horrific events are vital in Gothic literature to engage the reader and create the dark, disturbing and threatening atmosphere that is usually associated with the Gothic style.
- Passionate characters seem to appear in much of the Gothic literature as important figures that are often used to present the writer's message to the reader through their flaws that their passion brings out in them.
And that is about it from me Sir!
1.)That was in the presentation
2.)What characteristics seem so essential to Gothic; even over time?
I believe that there are no set of single characteristics of Gothic literature that are essential. However in order for a piece of text to be considered Gothic, a variety of characteristics have to be used together in order for it to be effective.So a different variety of characteristics used as a combination are essential. Angela Carter uses mainly Mysterious Events, Setting, Terror and Foreshadowing in order to convey the Gothic theme of the text. The setting of "The Bloody Chamber" is typically a Gloomy Castle, secluded from society. Terror is used practically within all Gothic Literature over time as it is this main characteristic that highlights that the text is Gothic. Terror no matter in what time it is used shows to the reader that the author wants the characters to be scared due to a certain situation. This situation will usually have an aspect of mystery to it or supernatural as this adds to the readers suspense. The castle of Otranto uses the situation of the "helmet" to show terror and mystery. Where did the helmet come from? Why is the Helmet so big? By arousing questions from the reader, the author is causing them to think about the strangeness of the event.
Mystery is an important aspect as it inflicts confusion on the reader, and forces them to use their imagination in determining what is happening.Not so important characteristics on there own such as the lighting, coincidences or weather are highly important when used with other main characteristics such as Terror, The Supernatural, A Villain as they may foreshadow the later events, which is in itself another characteristic of Gothic.
There are several elements of gothic literature that have remained necessary to a gothic text, even through time. One key element that seems to remain clear even over time is the element of the imaginitive within all gothic texts. Whether that be the likes of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which takes contextual surroundings and converts them into mad scientist and a full grown monster made from dead human body parts, or the more modern likes of Angela Carter, who takes already created stories of folk-lore and tales and develops them into grim 'fairy' tales, claiming to 'extract their latent meaning'. Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' also shows a heightened sense of imagination, as the psychotic minded narrator strangely seeks to kill the old man, and then dramatically 'hears' his heart beating from beneath the floorboards.
Through time in Gothic literature, some of the essential elements became more popular with upcoming writers than others. Coming of the subjects of the obvious such as writers intending to terrify or horrify readers, it's interesting to see that writers over time intended to terrify their readers, as horrifying could be an everyday element.
Another obvious element is the revolutionary changes within society. Some writers like Shelley and Robert Browning dreaded and pre-warned society of changes and how it's moving too fast towards the unknown. Science questioned morality and Christian beliefs, which is evident in many Gothic novels for example Shelley's Frankenstein questioned the creation of God, and whether it's necessary if man could acquire the knowledge to play God. Philosophy also became a big element as writers went beyond what was possible in their supernatural stories, writing about lost souls, heaven and hell and the possibility of supernatural being real opposed to our imagination.
But the MOST important element of developing Gothic literature through time was the role of women. Women characters went a long way from becoming female characters in the likes of Castle of Otronto to becoming heroines. The patriarchy society and women's role was questioned, women characters were becoming more intelligent, strong and independent in Mysteries of Udolpho, The Italian, Dracula, Wuthering Heights and Jane Ere. Women's sexuality was also being put in the spotlight with the likes of Christabel to modern day works of Angela Carter. Women that were previously victims to men's errors, mistakes and secrets were although still dominated by men and potentially having their fate in the hands of a man, were now becoming free in their thinking and speech, sexually demanding and exploring, and had intelligence beyond a man's reach, even if it was untold to a man.
Basically donovan, everything you believe a woman should not be, happened.
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