OCR English Literature, Paper 2 - Unseen Gothic

Core Gothic - Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' (1764)

The origin of Gothic Literature: initially playing with the realism of his story, Walpole demonstrated Gothic Horror, using 'subterraneous passages', images of the macabre and the taboo to evoke a perpetuous sense of repulsion.

Modern Gothic - Hills' 'The Woman in Black' (1983)

'Mad with grief and mad with anger and a desire for revenge.' The effect of the supernatural on the psyche, as well as themes of madness, cathartic characterisation - Gothic sublimity.

Modern Gothic - Doyle's 'Dead Man Talking' (2015)

Uses the modern Gothic themes of dislocation and instability with the narrator, Pat, saying 'There was no way I was dead, I had gone to the toilet […]'; Doyle using satire to mock his narrator's ignorance.

Vampires, Werewolves and the Undead

Each is respectfully 'one of three cardinal Gothic monsters' - using one of these figures establishes a Gothic influence, 'The Bloody Chamber' (1979) by Angela Carter uses all three figures across her short stories, divulging a sense of Gothic.

Gothic Horror or Radcliffean Terror

The Gothic as a 'bifurcation into sentimental terror narratives and German-influenced tales of horror' (Wright). Radlciffean Terror characterised by Ann Radcliffe at the end of the eighteenth century, focused on building tension and an atmosphere of obscurity, whilst Gothic's Horror uses images of the macabre, the taboo, evoking repulsion. 'Terror was an ubiquitous signifier for Gothic by the end of the eighteenth century' (Wright).

The Uncanny

'The Uncanny' locates a strangeness in the ordinary - coined by Sigmund Freud's 1919 essay on the subject.

The Numinous Dread

Defined by Rudolph Otto, the numinous dread exudes 'absolute unapproachability, power and urgency, and a force which is most easily perceived as the wrath of God'. Relatable to Wells' 'The Red Room' (1896) as "the shadows seemed to take another step" personifying the setting and building the presence of MYSTERIUM DREMENDUM.

The Byronic Hero

A proud, passionate and socially defiant rebel who harbors remorse over some past moral transgression. Polidori's (1819) 'The Vampyre' uses Lord Ruthven as a reflection on this archetype, portraying a cynical man, a monster.

Gothic Sublimity

The Gothic Sublimity creates an image of awe, an awful sense of beauty. Creating terror in opening the mind to its own hidden and irrational powers.

Gothic Paradoxes

A paradox in literature refers to the use of concepts or ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet, when placed together hold significant value on several levels. 'The apparent delight with which we dwell upon objects of pure terror' (Aikin) in talks of the heart's paradox.

Language and Structure Devices

• Enumeratio, the device refers to making a point with long detail.
• Epizeuxis, repeats one word for emphasis.
• Prolepsis, flashforwards.
• Analepsis, flashbackwards.
• Digetic narrator, a narrator who participates in the story, and possesses an active role.
• Ronald Bathes 'hermeneutic code', evoking mystery, and 'proairetic code', building action and suspense.

Fuseli's 'The Nightmare' (1781) Painting

Gothic painting that many of writers allude to in order to reference themes of madness, dreams and the supernatural.

Romantic Androgyny and the Female Gothic

The female Gothic 'revelled in depictions of extreme and uncontrolled emotion'.

Imperial Gothic (late nineteenth-century Gothic literature)

Imperial Gothic saw the revival of Gothic tropes such as inexplicable curses, demonic possession and ghostly visitations - inspired by the social anxiety of society transgressing into barbarism, a lapse into fears of Occultism and Spiritualism.

The Faustian Archetype

A man that surrenders moral integrity in a bid to achieve power and pursue ambitions. Relatable to Beckford's 'The History of Caliph Vathek' (1782), where "Carathis [was] to obtain favour with the Powers of Darkness".

Obscurity

Obscurity is a key element of the experience of the sublime. It includes both physical and mental obscurity - darkness, fogginess, confusion and things not seen or understood clearly.

Bifurcated Ideology

The possibility of contradictory moral behaviour, used in the Gothic to format characters of a distrustful nature. Relatable to Lewis' 'The Monk' (1796) features Ambrosio, a monk who defies Christianity as he commits crimes of rape and necromancy.

The Supernatural and the Preternatural

What is above nature, mysterious, inexplicable.

The Revenant

The revenant is a term used to describe the past, 'what comes back'. This might, for example, be an evil deed from the past for which retribution is now sought (the sins of the father) or a fear which we thought we had banished. The relevant includes ghosts, hauntings and the return of the unwanted, perhaps repressed, elements from the past.

Reoccurring EBIs

• discuss atmosphere,
• ensure conversation on critical reception,
• ensure conversation on audience reception OVER TIME,
• A02 is the primary assessment objective, make sure it has greatest presence in the essay.