Gothic Literature

A discussion of the theory of excess within Gothic Literature and the differences between male and female Gothic with a focus on Matthew Lewis's "The Monk" and Ann Radcliffe's "The Italian".

2,440 words () | 10 sources | MLA | 2002 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Gothic Literature pushed the boundaries of the romance narrative to create stories that were fueled with fantasy and desire which expanded the realm of the imagination by exciting mystery and intrigue, bringing to the foreground an animated spectacle of terrific apparitions and horrifying spectres. In particular, it demonstrates how within the novels "The Italian" and "The Monk", both Lewis and Radcliffe contrive to produce emotions and passions from an animated and mysterious literary fiction. It looks at how Radcliffe's use of excess is to create suspense and mystery, fear and anticipation, in a more passive manner that evokes reader empathy while Lewis theatrically uses excess to heighten the realism and wickedly expose the precarious features of Gothicism. It shows how both undeniably use it to create excitement and passion at a socially transgressive time.

From the Paper:

"It is the Monk Schedoni in The Italian who warps the Marchesa's already vicious mind into acts of iniquitous behavior. Although the Marchesa's aristocratic values concerning "bad blood" between Vivaldi and Ellena start the cogs turning in the wheel of evil towards Ellena, it is the Monk who systematically perverts the thoughts of the Marchesa from wrong to evil: "He wished to prepare her for measures, which might hereafter be necessary to accomplish the revenge he meditated, and he knew that by flattering her vanity, he was most likely to succeed." (Italian 130) However Schedoni uses the Marchesa for his profane revenge on the consequences of primogeniture and seeks to repair the damages caused from his exclusion of his family on that of the Marchese di Vivaldi."