English 602: Reading the Gothic
Prof. Cheryl Nixon
Notes and Quotes
Jerrold Hogle, “Introduction,” The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction
(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002)
History of gothic popularity
--Castle of Otranto (1764)
--1790’s-1830’s: explosion of gothic; Frankenstein (1818)
Features of the gothic (p. 2)
--1. Antiquated space
--2. Hidden secrets from past
--3. Haunted characters
--4. Monsters, ghosts (mix life and death)
--5. Reality and/or supernatural
Terror/horror forms of Gothic (p. 3)
--a. Terror Gothic: suspenseful, anxious about threats to safety; kept out of sight
--b. Horror Gothic: violence, shatters assumed norms
Unconscious expressed by Gothic
--a. Unconscious of individual: psychological; repressed, buried fears
--b. Unconcsious as a historical/social dilemma: technology, place of women, city,
race, class, etc
Gothic offers way to express/address fears, desires, anxieties
Castle of Otranto
p. 22-23: “Think no more on him, interrupted Manfred; he was a sickly puny child,
and heaven has perhaps taken him away that I might not trust the honours of my
house on so frail a foundation. The line of Manfred calls for numerous supports. My
foolish fondness for that boy blinded the eyes of my prudent—but it is better as it is.
I hope in a few years to have reason to rejoice at the death of Conrad”…
--“Curse on Hippolita! Cried Manfred: forget her from this moment, as I do… Instead
of a sickly boy, yu shall have a husband in the prime of his age, who will know how
to value your beauties, and who may expect a numerous offspring…”
--“--in short, Isabella, since I cannot give you my son, I offer you myself”
--obsession with family line (“frail a foundation”): true horror
--obsession that overwhelms sorrow for child
--haunted character: Manfred “haunted” by line running out?
--is this the “horror gothic” of violence that shatters norms? (not “terror gothic”)
--less sexuality and more family lineage obsession