Gothic literature & romance in romantic period

Hi there…..

In this blog we're going to talk about a very interesting topic: Gothic literature and Gothic romance in the romantic age. Which is assigned by Megha ma'am. Before talking about Gothic literature and Gothic romance in the romantic age,let us get some information about what is Gothic literature, the development of Gothic literature, themes or we can say that the characteristic of Gothic literature and after that the Gothic novelists. 

∆Gothic literature:

As we all know, the Gothic novel is the European Romantic kind of literature. Gothic literature generally can be defined as writings that include dark and picturesque scenery, startling and narrative narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of mystery, fear,and dread. This literature will revolve around a large ancient house that conceals a terrible secret or serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening character.

Gothic writers also used supernatural elements, touches of romance as well as famous historical characters, adventure narratives and travel in their novels. The type is a subgenre of Romantic literature.

∆ Development of Gothic literature ( General ) : 

Gothic literature generally developed during the Romantic period in Britain.Horace Walpole firstly introduced "Gothic" as a literature in his work or we can say that in his story "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story". The supernatural elements in the story, through, launched a hole new genre , which took off in Europe. 

∆Characteristic/Theme of Gothic literature/novels: 

After a very brief introduction about Gothic literature let us move forward on Gothic writers or novelists….

-Gothic Novelists :

 1)Ann Redcliffe - The Mysteries of udolpho (1794) 

 2) Matthew Gregory Lewis - The Monk (1796)

3) William Thomas Beckford - Vathek (1986)

4) William Godwin -Caleb Williams ( 1794)

5)P.B.Shelley

6)Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (1818)

Let us discuss first two writers amoung all these six Gothic novelists.

1)Ann Redcliffe: 

•Born: 9th of July, 1764 in London, England.

•Died: 7th of February, 1823 in London, England at the age of 58.

•Notable works:

-The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789)

-A Sicilian Romance (1790)

-The Romance of the Forest (1791)

-The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

-The Italian (1797) and so on…

Ann Redcliffe was a pioneer in developing a of terror, and her influencial novels stand apart in their ability to infuse scenes of terror and suspense with romantic sensibility.she was the most popular as a Gothic novelist in England during her time. Her father was in trade and in 1787 Ann married William Redcliffe  at the age of 23 and William encouraged her literary pursuits. If we talk about the journey of abroad, she only visited Holland and Germany. The journey was described in her A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794  (1795).

∆The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794):

Book: The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Redcliffe.

As we can see in this picture that The Mysteries of Udolpho is a novel. This Gothic novel was written by Ann Redcliffe. Which was published in 1794. Most famous Gothic novel during romantic period. The novel deals with the story of Orphaned Emily st. Aubert , who is subjected to cruelties by her guardians , threatened with the loss of her fortune,and imprisoned in a number of Castles but finally freed and United with her lover. Many strange and fearful events ( now classic devices of Gothic romances ) take place in the haunted atmosphere of the solitary castle of Udolpho, set high in the dark and majestic Apennines.

Also we find some characters in this novel like, Emily St. Aubert, Monsieur St. Aubert, Valancourt, Madame Cheron, Montoni, Count Morano, Annette, Ludovico, Cavigni, Verezzi, and Bertolin, Orsino and so on. This is how we can find The Mysteries of Udolpho in the English Gothic literature by Ann Redcliffe. 

2) Matthew Gregory Lewis: 

•Born : 9th of July, 1775 in London, England.

•Died : 14th May in 1818 at the age of 42.

•Notable works: The Monk 

Matthew Gregory Lewis (Monk Lewis) was an English novelist and dramatist who became famous overnight after the sensational success of his Gothic novel The Monk (1796) . Thereafter he was known as "Monk" Lewis. He was educated at Westminster school and Christ church, Oxford.

∆The Monk:

The Monk , written by him when Matthew Lewis was 19. He was highly influenced by leading Gothic novelist Ann Redcliffe, and also with German Gothic literature. He wrote about horror rather than romance. His other famous work was a triumphant of a very different nature, the journal of a west India proprietor which was published in 1834 , attesting to his humane and liberal attitudes.

The Monk: the story's violence and sexual content made it one of the era's best selling and most influential novel. The novel is the story of monk, Ambrosio , who is initiated into a life of depravity by Matilda, a woman who has disguised herself as a man to gain entrance to the monastery. Ambrosio eventually sells his sou to the devil to avoid being tortured by the Spanish Inquisition, but the devil throws him from a precipice to his death on the rocks below. 

The book differed from other Gothic novels of the time because it concentrated on the sensational and the horrible rather than on romance and because it didi not attempt to explain the supernatural events of the plot. 

Conclusion:

To sum up, we can say that , the supernatural elements in the story, through launched a whole new genre, which took off in Europe , during the the romantic age . As we can see in both these novelists Ann and Matthew Lewis's works the horro- ness  and kind of romance in their works. Even we can find America's Edgar Allen Poe got ahead of it in the mid 1800s and succeeded like no one else. In Gothic literature he found , he found a place to explore psychological trauma, the evils of man, and mental illness. Any modern-day zombie story, detective story, or Stephen King novel owes a debt to Poe. There may have been successful Gothic writers before and after him, but no one perfected the genre quite like Poe. This is how we can find Gothic literature in romantic period.

Thank you.