SH+2015+P4+Gothic+Literature

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= = =** Jacob Magnusson: Gothic Literature and its Culture **= In gothic literature, the difficult times of the middle and dark ages generates a culture that will bring on a sinister and morbid aspect into the piece. When the writer puts these aspects in their pieces, they show the modern people how the world was completely “horrible”, where in reality, it was just a difficult time for many. Domenic, Kwan, Reidy, and Vore paint an image where, “It not only evokes the atmosphere of horror and dread, but also portrays the deterioration of its world. The decaying, ruined scenery implies that at one time there was a thriving world. At one time the abbey, castle, or landscape was something treasured and appreciated. Now, all that lasts is the decaying shell of a once thriving dwelling” (Domenic, Kwan, Reidy, Vore). The persuasion the author uses to change the perception of the audience, is through the setting. The decaying remains of a once glorious place with the dark, sinister, and morbid concepts, pull along the reader and the modern audience to see this time and the culture as a horrific and terrifying time, without any shred of light in the darkness of the time. The author will only pull the bad, and that’s what shows to the world: an era of disrepair, poverty, and terror to all.

= Works Cited = Anne Domenic, Alexandra Kwan, Nicole Reidy, David De Vore. “The Gothic Novel.” University of California, Davis, 30 Jan. 2002. Web. 2 August 2015

Authors of gothic literature often write very repulsive and grisly pieces, such as in the stories Dracula and Frankenstein. Both of these writings include a great deal of gore and have an intimidating plot. When reading Gothic literature, people get an insight as to what a supernatural world is like. Bram Stoker writes the frightening statement in Dracula, "I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body." (Stoker). Another eerie statement comes from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, "...his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath." (Shelley). The authors install a sense of fear in the majority of readers with both of these quotes. When written, the author assumed that the reader would be scared of the concepts they were describing, for example, beheading and yellow skin. The word choice chosen between both of these fragments of writing might make the reader feel unsure of what is actually out in the real world. The author assumes the reader has no prior knowledge of the supernatural world and what is in it. Authors similar to Stoker and Shelley, have an imagination of what is beyond our realm and they share it with others through their writing.
 * Khyra Bosworth: Gothic Literature and it's Audience **

= Works Cited = Lombardi, Esther. “Dracula Quotes.” About Education. Esther Lombardi. Web. 2 August 2015.

“Frankenstein: Horror Quotes.” Flashcard Machine. 27 January 2014. Web. 2 August 2015

= Sofia Jacobson: Gothic Literature and it's Aim = Gothic Literature has been created during the 18th century due to the great discovery and exploration on the regions of science and an understanding of the world. At the time being, humans would uncertainty look at the word “god”and its relation with science, with the bafflement of the people's thoughts it resulted to making of gothic literature, allowing to explain the unknown and unexplained. Edgar Allan Poe completes a thoroughgoing example of explaining the unexplained and provides an understatement of gothic literature, “ But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -Darkness there, and nothing more” ( Poe). Allan Poe achieves the purpose of Gothic Literature by bringing up the unknown, questioning the reader's thoughts. He puts forward fear of the unknown, and what control human beings have over that uncertainty. The fact that someone was supposedly tapping on his chamber, and when revealed open no one was to be found is an example of that loss of that mastery control. Looking into the poem A Dream Within a Dream Edgar emphasizes, “ All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream” ( Poe). Allan Poe achieves the purpose once again in gothic literature because he brings up something for it can not be proven. He proves and achieves this by showing their is no way to proving anything is real. In a way, it kind of defies science, since science is about coming to logical explications and conclusions. How an author can achieve gothic literature is to defy the laws of science and go beyond logical explanations.

= Works Cited = Marinaro, Francesca M, “Gothic Novels: Characteristics & examples.” //Study.com// .Web. 01 August 2015. < __ [] >__

Poe, Edgar Allan. //The Raven//. Franklin Square: Harper & Brothers, 1884 .Web. 01 August 2015.

Poe, Edgar Allan. //The Works of Edgar Allan Poe//, New York: P.F. Collier and son. 1903 . Web. 01 August 2015.

=Joseph Smith- Gothic Literature and its History =



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The historical events and setting of the middle ages and evolution of science helped inspire Gothic writers into making their settings in the first Gothic writings ever made. In a summary of the beginning of Gothic Writing, Britannica describes, “Called Gothic because its imaginative impulse was drawn from medieval buildings and ruins, such novels commonly used such settings as castles or monasteries equipped with subterranean passages, dark battlements, hidden panels, and trapdoors” (Britannica). Thus, those historical aspects of the middle ages were crucial in helping to shape the setting of the books. Another major historical point for gothic writing was in the 18th and 19th centuries which were, as Rancesca Marinaro, declares, “a time of great discovery and exploration in the field of science, religion, and industry”(Marinaro). According to her, “people both revered and questioned the existence of God” (Marinaro). People could discuss what was really being controlled by God and what was the work of man. Throughout the dark ages, centuries earlier, people began to question the power of the church and God leading people to struggle with what they believed was real. The Gothic writing style allowed the writers to discuss these ideas through their literature. ======

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