Gothic and Romantic Narratives 1780 1837

8/10/2019 Gothic and Romantic Narratives 1780 1837

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Jacobin and anti-Jacobin prose writing (1789-

1832)

Revolutionary narratives:

William Godwin, Mary

Wollstonecraft, Mary

Hays, Elizabeth Inchbald

The reional novelists:

!ane "usten, Walter

#cott, Maria Edeworth


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The nature of fiction in the Romantic period

$%%&: #tatute by which authors had the leal riht to assinco'yriht for a 'eriod of $& years (and other $& if areed, at most)*

Its effect was to divide the Enlish readin nation into two and to

confine the fictional readin of those at the lowest tranches of the

boo+ mar+et and readin 'ublic to cha'boo+ versions of old

romance*

y around $-.. the abridements of the old canon were available at

com'arably low 'rices, and the old cha'boo+ canon disa''eared*

Till the $-/.s, 'rose fiction was still considered sub0literary thouh itwas widely consumed*

1rose fiction was rearded as morally danerous, es'ecially for

women, children and the lower classes*


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Reo!utionar" narraties

Revolution and 'olitics: Revolutionary writers develo'ed

a discourse on the benefits and rihts e2tracted from

the 3rench Revolution* Their cornerstone was

education* Without it, society could not evolve* Those

writer su''ortin revolutionary ideas were called

4!acobin5:

The !acobin novel: William Godwin and his circle

1roto0feminist concerns: women writers and revolution

The rihts of woman: education for the se2es: Mary

Wollstonecraft6sA Vindication of the Rights of Woman

($%78), and her followers*


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Reo!ution and po!itics

The 3rench Revolution and its influence*

ritish stances in favour and aainst therevolutionary creed: !acobin vs* "nti09acobin

The ideoloy of rihts and dutiesthe individual vs*#ociety: whereas !acobin intellectuals reinforce adiscourse on rights, and on the duties of the #tatetowards the individual, anti0!acobin ones stress the

individual6s dutytowards society* The re9ection of the Enlihtenment: Romanticism

and the revision of the sentimental (cfr* !ane"usten6s Sense and Sensibility)


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# reo!ution in ideo!og"

The fiction of the $%7.s: the 'hiloso'hical novel ;riti


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Jacobin and anti-$acobin fiction

!acobin novelists 'refer>

The use of first0'erson confessional narrations

To foreround the role of the individual and their

rihts To em'hasize the duties social institutions have with

res'ect to individuals

To defend the world of emotions and sensibility


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Jacobin and anti-$acobin fiction

Whereas anti09acobin writers choose Third0'erson narrations

To em'hasize sociability and the individual6s duty to

social conventions and laws ?etached and authoritative narrators

To illustrate the dialectic between the 'rofessionalmiddle class and the landed entry

To defy sensibility


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%i!!iam &odwin and his circ!e

Representative of British radicalism: his role aspolitical reformer

Father of the philosophical novel

He manifests his interest for the historical. He

proposes that the genuine purpose of history is to

understand the machine of society, and to direct it to

its best purposes. He makes a case for thesuperiority of individual history over general

history!, especially from the novelist vie"point.

For him,biographyis effective: it allo"s to estimate

the social capacities of humankind.

#$%&. Things as They Are or the Adventures of CalebWilliams: social reformation is needed for individual

reformation

1797. St. Leon' #(#$. Mandeville.


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'roto-feminist concerns women writers and reo!ution

Mary Wollstonecraft and the need for women6s education:A Vindication of

the rights of woman ($%78)*

Mary, A Fiction ($%--): she includes a derisive 'ortrait of the novel0readinwoman, the 'rotaonist6s mother* #he nelects her maternal duties*

The Wrongs of Woman: Or, Maria A Fragment($%7-) har+s bac+ to the +ey

'hrase 4the rihts of woman5* It was 'osthumously 'ublished by Godwin after

Mary6s death* Her main drive in this wor+ was 4the desire of e2hibitin the

misery and o''ression, 'eculiar to women, that arise out of the 'artial laws of

o''ression, 'eculiar to women, thar arise out of the 'artial laws and customs of

society5* ;ritics believe that her 'ur'ose was to fictionalise the aruments of A

Vindication of the Rights of Woman*

!i*abeth +nchba!d,A Sim!le Story($%7$) ,ar" a"s. The Victim of "re#udice($%77)


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The revision of sentimentality

)entimental "as a term considered ne"fangled, modern and difficult to

define.

)ensibility suggested in the #(th century the capacity for highly refined and

sensitive emotional e*pression, as "ell as giving its readers the chance to

e*ercise their o"n sensibilities.

+lara Reeve in The Progress of oman!e#$(! complained that sentiment is

both over-e*hibited and degraded by "riters "ho, by making a arade ofsentiment, have brought even the "ord itself into disgracerestrictions to

sentimentality.

/ane 0usten makes the criti1ue of sensibility central to her fiction: "orthanger

Abbey#(#(!, Sense and Sensibility#(##!

2illiam 3od"in4s scrutiny of sentimental masculinity in #let$ood% or the "e$Man of #eeling#(5!

6homas eacock4s satire of sentimental morbidity in "ightmare Abbey #(#(!


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Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility

(1811) 7ts title evokes the contrasting an*ieties of the #$%5s: reason and

feeling, liberty and slavery, revolution and restraint.

8ain characters: the 9ash"ood sisters and their doubles, the

)teeles!

0usten creates a discourse on duties and rights linor vs. 8arianne!

6he ac1uisition of civility 6odd #!: language and manners.

6he revision of clich;s: the discourse of romance 8arianne 5 (=elly 8./)


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# criti0ue of power and estab!ishment in

the &othic noe!

This criti

The re'resentation of institutions in ruins

Imaes of labyrinths, 'itfalls, secret entrances

References to transressive societies andcommunities

The use of non0Enlish values and 'ractices

The obliteration of the familiar and the domestic


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The gothic romance and terror

Terror re'resents the threats 'osed to the

individual, whose e2istence and identity are in

daner

It re'resents two thins:

3ear, re'ulsion, 'ain

?esire, curiosity, 'leasure


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&othic characters

3emale victim and male villain

oth ty'es can be 'resented as tormentedbeins

1rotaonists in othic fiction loo+ for self0mastery, which becomes its own reward

"mbition, desire and lust for 'ower are the'ests and the 'unishment of the othic hero

The fiure of the villain fascinates the othicreadin 'ublic, due to the transressiveindividualism he re'resents


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The doppelgnger

4The hostly double of a livin 'erson, a sinister form of

bilocation5

" term of German oriin: 4doublewal+er5: someone who is

actin the same way as another 'erson #eein one6s own do''elAner is an omen of death

The double will often im'ersonate the victim and o about

ruinin them, for instance throuh committin crimes or

insultin the victim6s friends* #ometimes the double eventries to +ill the oriinal*


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&othic feminism

?iane Bon Hoeveler ($77@)

#he focuses on genreand the meanins of the othic

It was a enre es'ecially a''ealin for midle0class

women in the 'eriod Writers of female othic create female characters who

fall within either of these two cateories: victim or

criminalC the anti0heroine or the dead othic mother

;harlotte #mith, "nn Radcliffe, Mary #helley, !ane

"usten are some of the writers of female othic


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,ar" he!!e"s Frankenstein, or the

Modern Prometheus

(1818 1831)


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,ar" he!!e"s !ife

Mary Bowe Evans6 Fran(enstein: Mary Shelley)s Wedding*uest($77/): a biora'hical0historicist inter'retation Info about #helley6s life

$%7%: Mary Wollstonecraft dies out of a 'uer'eral infectionafter ivin birth to her dauhter Mary

$-$@: Mary ives birth to an illeitimate irl child who diessoon after

$-$D: "nother son is born* Mary, #helley and their circle 9ointoether in #witzerland and hold discussions about the4'rinci'les of life5* 1ercy and Mary marry

$-$%: " third child is born

$-$-: Fran(enstein, or the Modern "rometheusis 'ublishedanonymously

$-$7: /0year old William dies of malaria*

$-88: Mary suffers a miscarriae* 1ercy drowns durin astorm in sailin


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4arratie structure

(") Walton6s narrative: Betters $0&

() ictor6s narrative: ;ha'ters $0$.

(;) The creature6s narrative: ;ha'ters $$0$D

(?) ictor6s narrative: ;ha'ters $%08&

(E) Walton6s narrative: Better & (cont*)


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The structure of Frankenstein

4The com'le2 e'istolary structure of three interde'endent

and interru'ted narratives incor'orates, dis'laces and


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The structure of Frankenstein

4?escribin the narratives as concentric6 or

as frames within a frame6 suests that there

is a 'lace where the te2t is fi2ed, where it has

an im'lied central 'oint* It also disru'ts thenotion of narrative as se


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5uestions of form

4Fran(enstein6s form, an e'istolary narrative, raisesimmediate 'roblems: is it e'istolary6, realistic,

confessional or e2'ressive*** The narrations do not

sim'ly follow a linear 'attern of beinnins and ends,

with one narrator startin from the end of a 'revious storyand thus demarcatin three se'arate bloc+s or stories*5

(ottin $77$, &8)


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ow to e6p!ain the ending

4The te2t is o'en0ended6* It is not finally resolved by

death, by the enactment of the monster6s 'romise to

immolate himself: form the te2tual evidence the

reader can never +now what ha''ens to themonster* > This resistance to closure is 'roduced

by framin6s double loic6, which is >6the tendency

of the frame simultaneously to establish boundaries

and to announce, even to invite, their violation6*This

double loic disru'ts the antithesis of inside andoutside, te2t and reader*5 (ottin $77$, &/)


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%a!tons narratie

4Why does Mary #helley frame the story of ictor 3ran+enstein

with the letters of Robert Walton Robert 'rovides credibility

for ictor both because Walton underta+es the same ty'e of

Gothic and Romantic Narratives 1780 1837

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