Essay Example on the Dark Secrets of Gothic Literature

Expressing Social and Personal Anxieties: Gothic Writers and Their Works

Gothic literature is a form of writing that that employs styles such as the use of dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices. They also employ the use of exoticism atmosphere, mystery, fear and the dread. Mostly the gothic works revolve around a large, ancient house that hides a big secret or even maybe the house would serve as a refuge for a threating character. The study will also elaborate on the assumptions or believes those Gothic writers were challenging.

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Despite the use of dark and picturesque scenery in writing the gothic writers have also employed the use of supernatural elements, a bit of romance, travel and adventures narratives so that they can entertain their readers. The essay explores how the Gothic writers such as Poe, Hawthorne and Dickinson expressed their social and personal anxieties during their time.

Gothic Literature and the Expression of Social Issues: Slavery, Women's Oppression, and Class Division

On the first part of the essay, it will discuss how the gothic writers expressed their social and personal anxieties during their time. The medieval works are believed to appear in Europe during the time in that there were radical changes in tradition, gender roles, oppression and race. During this period, the people in Europe and America believed that their physical appearance and blood determine personal character. The gothic writers to be able to demonstrate this physical appearance they use monsters and villains (Armitt150). For example, to illustrate a role associated with evil, they use dark eyes, heavy eyebrows, and dull complexions.

For the writers to express their social and personal anxieties, they use the horrors in their work. Like in her novel Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison expressed the fear of slavery. In her book, she shows the relationship between the races that is the African American and the whites. She expressed the experience of the African American as the white has the anxiety and fear surrounding the presence of the black in society. She also reveals the desire of the whites to maintain their status quo and control over the blacks (Armitt 150). To demonstrate about this concept, the slavery she uses black as dead, impotent or even under complete control.

The writer has also used the horror genre to express the role of women in society. During the mid-1800s, women were expected to be subservient to the men, and they had few rights. Women could not own property, and they also had no powers to vote. According to culture, women were not supposed to express themselves openly in the presence of men (Monnet 76). Women were supposed to be pure and supportive of their men all the time.

However, as can be seen in the gothic work, all those beliefs were changing. The characters used in those novels showed that women were not victims, but rather the men were (Beville 61). They demonstrate their work in stories, by use of women as demons or villains who were punished at the end. Like in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818) she expressed fear and anxiety.

Also, the gothic writer used romances to express their anxiety and social. The authors apply the concept of love through the use of emotions and imaginations. In his novel, The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe discussed the romances of a fiction character James Fenimore Cooper. The kind of love in the gothic literature involves terror, personal torment and supernatural (Beville 61). Poe used imagination to express the type of romance that was going on in society, which requires self-destruction.

In this second part of the essay, it will discuss the beliefs and assumption the gothic writers were challenging. The ideas and the assumptions that the medieval writer challenged were slavery, women oppression and the division in terms of class. During this era, almost 15% of the population was considered as property. There were about 3,200,000 slaves during this time (Monnet 76).

The white-owned the slaves as their properties and they could do whatever they wanted with them. Due to the problems of oppression suffered by the slaves, the gothic writers rise and try to explore the dark side of the community culture and identity (Armitt 150). They explore the evils and threat of threats of slavery. The writer such as Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthrone and Herman Melville realized a video to show the dark side of the society.

Another believes that the writers were challenging was the women oppression. During these periods, women were also considered as property to the men. They had no rights to own property or even to vote. They were supposed to stay back at home and take care of the children and their husbands, and they were not supposed to rise to the position of social authority.

The culture expected that women could not express themselves in front of men, and they were supposed to be pure, pleasant and be supportive of their men at all time (Monnet 76). Due to this oppression of the women, the authors focused on it and wrote a novel about it. However, in the story, the issues were the other way round the men was victims now. They created the female character that was strong and independent.

Challenging Beliefs and Assumptions: Gothic Writers' Critique of Societal Norms

The other assumption that the authors were challenging was the division of society in classes. The community was divided into two type's one belonging to the rich and the other belonging to the poor. They were classified according to to the social and economic difference (Armitt 150). From those different classes that were witnessed in society give rise to the authors to advocate for it. The poor suffered in the hands of the rich. Each class lived on their side, and there was no interaction of any kind between the two categories.

Conclusion

In summary, the essay dealt with the gothic writers and their work of fiction. Gothic literature involves the use of dark, mystery, fear, dread, and the use of startling and melodramatic devices. It also used some element of supernatural, travel and adventure. The study tried to elaborate the how the gothic writers tried to expresses their social and personal anxiety. It also explores the beliefs that they decided to challenge.

The way that the gothic writers express their concern is by the use of monsters, horrors and terror. To demonstrate a specific behaviour or activity in society, they use different beast. For example, to illustrate a character associated with evil, they use dark eyes, heavy eyebrows, and dull complexions. On the other cases, they tried to challenge the worst behaviour that was happening in society at their time. The assumption is slavery, oppression of women and division of community in different classes.

Works cited

Armitt, Lucie. "Twentieth-century gothic." a Terror and Wonder. The Gothic Imagination, British Library, Londres (2014): 150.

Beville, Maria. "Gothic memory and the contested past: Framing terror." The Gothic and the Everyday. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2014. 52-68.

Monnet, Agnieszka Soltysik. The poetics and politics of the American Gothic: Gender and Slavery in Nineteenth-century American Literature. Routledge, 2016.