Though Gothic Writing, Research Paper Example

Though Gothic writing is at present viewed as important for an understanding the element of modernity, it is still mainly characterized as a literature of fear ,as well as anxiety. Gothic and the Comic Turn argue that, partially through its aspiration to be taken sincerely, gothic disapproval has deserted the comic doppelganger ,which has forever inhabited the gothic mode and which in certain texts emerges as overriding. Tracing an historical route from the late romantic period through to the current day, this book investigates how differences of comic parody and appropriation have interrogated the complexities of modern prejudice.Gothic and the Comic by Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik is an Anglo American phenomenon literature that offers criticism of the modern literature. The gothic element generates some fear among the readers. The book creates some feelings of horror, revulsion, and terror. In this skillful exploration of the authors, they weave together an analysis of the gothic mode with geographical, historical, as well as cultural contextualizing. Theirs is constantly illuminating study that moves the audience to a more complex appreciation of the author’s work. The authors provoke interesting questions regarding the persistence of the gothic imagination. Well-written and compellingly argued, Avril and Sue employ diverse views offered by feminist and other recent techniques to highlight just what it is that makes du Marurier interesting. To this matter, the authors mention that :

Given its hybridity and popularity, it is perhaps no coincidence that the rise of the Gothic novel is roughly contemporary not only with the birth of melodrama but also with the rise of the circus and of opera as a popular entertainment (325).

Importantly, the authors demonstrate that gothic overtones are not merely formulas, but important resources that Maurier employed with substantial creativity to work out her anxieties as a writer and a woman. However, in the midst of the confusion of “spoofs” and “ironic slasher films” comic gothic has possibly been easily dismissed as parody in its lower sense. The authors offer a fresh view of gothic fiction, by arguing that the value of the comic turn in gothic texts primarily disregarded. Gothic writing has certainly expressed fragmentation of the modern subject; however, this expression is characterized by skepticism, irony, and the enjoyment of comic incongruity even as it engages with isolation, fear, anguish, and alienation. This creation has been made evidently important with the determination of creative inputs that writers and other members of the crew dedicate themselves to, as the narrative notes:

The creators of early Gothic and early opera are, then, both castigated for ignoring generic conventions; for embracing surface rather than depth; for delight in excess: the result is absurd and monstrous works that will make you laugh as well as cry (325).

This implies the fact that when it comes to developing the most convenient and most interesting process of presenting ideas through works of art that are presented through either written or presented literature.

Like in the “The Gothic”, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman examines the gothic comic effect through the entire essay. The author offers an interesting perspective regarding the gothic feminist. The novel is intended for college preparatory English class,which focuses on American Literature in its historical context. The narrative apparently dramatizes the Gilman’s own struggle with writing, depression, and living in a male-dominated society where the story was rejected because of a melancholy nature of the society. During this time, women lived in fear because  the society was hostile as they expected young  women to turn wages over to their parents. The short story demonstrates a conflict that exists between the society and the woman with mental postpartum depression that was not discovered during that moment. The Yellow Wallpaper is a feminist short story that revolves around a woman who has given birth. The narrative is told in first-person from a woman’s view that shows conflict, which is created between her  husband and Her. The “The Yellow Wallpaper” has some aspects ,which connect it to the Gothic genre. This first-person narrative reads like a diary, and the audience follows the narrator as she chronicles her worsening mental state. John ,who is her husband controls her by isolating her from the rest of the world in a room because of her alleged illness. Therefore, the major conflict as seen in the “Gothic and the Comic Turn” revolves on a woman. The conflict has emerged among the narrator and the husband due to lack of trust that is inflicted upon their relationship. For instance, the wife says “You see, he does not believe I am sick”. This demonstrates that the husband does not trust her despite being a doctor where he plays a big role in her “nervous breakdown”. The husband seems to derive pleasure from the suffering of her woman. To impose this idea, the woman in the narrative points out:

“…Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose”

“…it is an airy and comfortable room as any one need wish and of course, I would not  silly as to makeh him unconfortable just for a whim”

These lines basically impose on how the woman was viewed and treated by the man; as if pointing out that he sees her at a rather lower state of recognition compared to himself as the man of the house.  In this case, isolation is a theme that clearly demonstrates the gothic aspect of “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator is isolated in a big room. The tension between the narrator and her husband creates tension and fear because we see that the narrator rebels against her husband by keeping a secret journal that she expresses her feelings and thought toward her husband amongst other things. The narrator is seen breaking free from the oppressive forces by her husband through writing in her secret journal. The other conflict in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is seen when the narrator develops with the yellow paper in the room. The narrator has been placed in a room that is described in the most atrocious manner. The room in which the narrator is placed had a window that was barred and yellow wallpaper patches all over. The major conflict is not with the room; however, with the yellow wallpaper that she apparently describes her feeling towards it in the short story. The wallpaper primarily symbolizes the narrator’s present feelings of entrapment. This reminds her of the experiences the women in the society passes through where she feels that women are constantly trapped behind the wallpaper she  tries liberating herself from such situation by tearing apart the wallpaper.

After the reader is filled in on John’s sentiments regarding the narrator’s present emotional state, she changes the topic as it seems the discourse of her state upsets her. She then goes on to explain the weird old house where her and John has taken up residency. She describes the “delicious” gardens with “grape covered arbors,” and the decrepit greenhouse, but once she starts to describe the house itself, she instantaneously concentrates on their bedroom, and then to the wallpaper. It is easy in the two stories to unveil how the characters are being isolated and its effects to the characters. The entire story revolves mainly on the  wallpaper that would be considered by the majority to be merely feminine giddiness. The woman requested her husband many times to remove the wallpaper, but the husband ignored her where she secretly arranged the re-papering herself. This could be accounted for as the woman narrates:

“Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!”

This frustration shows how the Victorian woman had little control over her life that it was through these frivolities , like clothing and even wallpaper that these women exercised their independence. It appears significant; thus, that the narrators’s madness is expressed via the primary feminine symbol of wallpaper. This could be further accotined for as she mentions:

“I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. Besides I wouldn’t do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued”

Therefore, in the two stories, although frightening , as well as wonderful gothic stories, will possibly continue to be thought of feminist terms-and possibly rightly so. Modern women, by reading these texts , may gain a new view of the present situation, where they will learn to avoid the past drawbacks. The Gothic tale will enable the society to prevent some psychic horrors in the prospect.