Gothic elements in selected Bronte novels

Date
1980
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Abstract
The Gothic novel manipulates several stock devices to create an atmosphere of horror, fear, dread and awe. These devices include various agents of terror, (ghosts, graveyards, castles and disembodied voices, for example), as well as a specific focus upon what is suspenseful, fantastic and horrifying in an essentially contrived confrontation between good and evil. Violence and evil are external threats in the Gothic novel; aspects of the environment. Character development is basically unimportant and the emphasis in the presentation of characters is upon their reaction to the same horrifying plot which is intended to excite and terrify the reader. The limited character development, simple plot and predictable conventions which characterized the Gothic novel combined to ensure these novels short-lived popularity and, subsequently, generally facetious critical treatment. While the limitations of the form and the crudities of the Gothic setting are undeniable, I feel that the Gothic novel provided later writers with a set of symbols with which to amplify horror, fear and dread. As the novel matured as a form, and character development became more focal, these emotions were given a psychological, internal origin and the horrors of self-confrontation and alienation became essential conflicts dealt with in characterization. The Gothic novel contributed a rich and accessible collection of images for the presentation of these conflicts and an external and, therefore, tangible, expression of elusive and undefinable anxieties. My purpose in this thesis is to discuss the influence of the Gothic novel on later novelists by defining the use of Gothic conventions in selected novels of Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Villette are novels about women coming to terms with their own personalities and the relationship between the personality and its environment. In these novels, the use of Gothic conventions at moments of intense emotional crisis emphasizes the horror inherent in self-discovery and, in a larger sense, the horror of life. I will discuss both the moments of crisis in the novels and the Gothic conventions which emphasize them in order to demonstrate the powerful emotional contribution made by Gothic imagery.
Description
Bibliography: p. 117-123.
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Citation
Diamond, S. E. (1980). Gothic elements in selected Bronte novels (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/10913