To what extent can the Gothic genre be understood as reaction to Essay

To what extent can the Gothic genre be understood as reaction to Enlightenment ideals of reason, harmony and social progress - Essay Example The term in fact encompasses Gothic imagination, Gothic characteristic and a lack of awareness for science and technology. A future characterized by Gothic genre would be signified by a fiction depicting the dark future or an oncoming dark age. Some of the most dominant instances are the characters of Frankenstein and the Dracula. Keeping in mind the basic Gothic components, the paper picks up three novels, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and Castle of Otranto Walpole to understand the Gothic genre as a challenge to the enlightenment concepts of reason, social advancement and harmony. Although the Gothic genre claims to have initiated from the feudal traditions as referred, yet it is actually an eighteenth century production and innovation and also originates in â€Å"fake origins† because it leads to a fabrication of origins and also â€Å"Fabricating a fabrication† (Botting, 2). The novel The Castle of Otranto is often referred as the fir st Gothic novel. A close reading of Walpole’s work which later inspired a short story, poem and even a film, shall help identify supernatural elements like omens, prophecy and visions. It enfolds a castle with its haunting mysterious ways – â€Å"blasts of wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of darkness† (Walpole, 1766, p.23). The characters are blessed with lack of reason and more of overwhelming emotions. This disturbs the harmony time and again with the shrieks of women and dramatic reactions. The female characters are under patriarchal domination of male tyranny. The women had none to turn to except God as they are... Although the Gothic genre claims to have initiated from the feudal traditions as referred, yet it is actually an eighteenth-century production and innovation and also originates in â€Å"fake origins† because it leads to a fabrication of origins and also â€Å"Fabricating a fabrication†. The novel The Castle of Otranto is often referred as the first Gothic novel. A close reading of Walpole’s work which later inspired a short story, poem, and even a film, shall help identify supernatural elements like omens, prophecy, and visions. It enfolds a castle with its haunting mysterious ways – â€Å"blasts of the wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of darkness†. The characters are blessed with the lack of reason and more of overwhelming emotions. This disturbs the harmony time and again with the shrieks of women and dramatic reactions. The female characters are under the patriarchal domination of male tyranny. The women had none to turn to except God as they are under the whims of men’s orders – â€Å"Words cannot paint the horror of the Princess’s situation†¦She addressed herself to every saint in heaven, and inwardly implored their assistance†.