Essay on Castle of Otranto Preface Analysis

Although Moers’ essay is not entirely focused on the formalist approach, there is a good deal that holds the same values. Moers talks about Gothic fiction as a genre and how the time period influenced Mary Shelley’s alteration of

The Castle of Otranto was written in 1764, by Horace Walpole. This novel is a Gothic novel, and I will be writing an essay about this novel to show, and explain how Gothic it is. I will be picking a specific character to explain and compare to another book to show how both are Gothic, but in their own way. This essay will seek and unfold the differences of Manfred in Otranto, and General Tilney in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. When Northanger Abbey was written is

Horace Walpole can be accredited with the creation of the horror genre and specific characteristics like a “…foreign location, a dark and ominous castle, and a naïve young woman fleeing from an evil, lustful man.” Walpole’s most well know work, The Castle of Otranto, has set a precedent for being the first novel that made fictitious horror popular and has also become the basis for all other horror literature and film. An associate professor at the Federated University of Australia by the name of Meg Tasker, who was noted in the BBC magazine article, The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction, says that Walpole took inspiration from “a whole range of literary sources and folklore, German as well as English and Scottish”. The BBC’s magazine also notes that works by William Shakespeare held influence over Walpole and his novel with the addition of satire and comic relief to break up the more melodramatic heavy moments within the novel. With Walpole’s novel being the catalyst, it influenced a number of writers from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen

Various authors develop their stories using gothic themes and characterizations of this type to lay the foundation for their desired reader response. Although Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Peter Taylor’s “Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time” are two completely different narratives, both of these stories share a commonality of gothic text representations. The stories take slightly different paths, with Poe’s signifying traditional gothic literature and Taylor approaching his story in a more contemporary manner.

The author goes into detail about the dates and important people present during his existence. He mentions what was happening during that time and when certain things happened. For example, in the book he states “The Englishman

Because of this delicate selection of which publisher could have the privilege of reviewing his work, finding a true literary analysis based on facts rather than commercial selling seemed to become a job in itself.

Blue collar Kerrigan home, is filled with love as well as pride for their modest lifestyle, but their happiness is threatened when developers attempt the compulsory acquisition of their house to expand the neighbouring Melbourne Airport. 3 high view crescent, Coolaroo – not aesthetically pleasing ‘eyesore’ opening shot shows sense of pride (satire) Despite all this, sweet-natured family patriarch Darryl (Michael Caton) believes that he lives in the lap of luxury. Blissfully unaware of his family’s lack of style or sophistication, he busies himself by driving a tow truck, racing greyhounds and constantly adding tacky renovations to the house. Kerrigan clan shares and supports his enthusiasm in every way. Though he has no wish to sell,

Gothic literature, which is sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre that links horror and romance into one tale of ‘transgressing the boundaries’. Gothicism was unheard of until the late 1700’s, this movement into a new genre of literature. This was pioneered by the English author Horace Walpole, in his famous fictional book ‘The Castle of Otranto’, or as Walpole alternatively titled it ‘a Gothic story’. Horace Walpole himself had transgressed the boundaries slightly; by introducing this new style of writing he had added a whole new genre into literature. Walpole’s style of writing was unique and captivated the readers mind and

In the book The Castle of Otranto the people of the castle are surrounded by unexplainable events. These events are in most cases damaging to one’s own mind. Those who are seen as great and loving are turn in to violent and unpredictable individuals. Those who were affected include the highest level of nobility, down as far as to the simple servant. While denial is shown by them there is no doubt that they have changed, and only in disastrous ways. Weather the person has good intentions or not they are changed and their intention becomes what they do. A corrupt power which cannot be stopped. People may try to help and form the person to their former self but in The Castle of Otranto this is not the case. When people react to unexplained

Written by Jeffrey Eaton, an Open Letters editor, this source is reliable because the magazine speciality is to critique many works of art and literature. Rather than merely summarizing the main events of the memoir, Eaton actually expresses his dislike about it by providing

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a new literary genre sprung up, the Gothic story. In the United States, the most prominent exponent of Gothic fiction was Edgar Allen Poe, whose “horror” tales conjure up the dark side that many of us at least half-believe is hidden just beneath the surface of the most conventional lives. In this paper we will discuss the Gothic in light of two of Poe’s stories, “Ligeia”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and contrast Poe’s story with a somewhat dark tale of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Minister’s Black Veil.” We will also analyze why Poe’s stories are Gothic’s and Hawthorne’s is not.

When discussing gothic fiction many early authors come to mind, Mary Shelley, the Bronte Sisters, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few, were all exceptional European writers of this style. As for American authors, there are two names that hold top places of honor, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Poe, with his talent for lyrical, poetic prose and conveying the macabre, is considered by many to be the master of gothic fiction. However, Hawthorne with his propensity toward humor and his ability to breathe humanness into his characters is an excellent contender for the title. They both exhibited gothic traditions in their writing, while at the same time adjusting elements of this previously European genre to fit into American surroundings, all the while delivering their own unique contributions to the gothic scene. I will explore and compare some of their works with hopes of identifying what I find to be some of their genius contributions to this dark romantic style.

Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, is acknowledged by many as the first gothic novel. It was the first of it’s kind and many of the conventions used by Walpole, which put it in a literary genre of it’s own, were continued by authors such as Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. Many of these defining characteristics can be seen within the very first few pages of the text and for the purposes of this essay, to identify some of these conventions used and the relevance of this text to modernity I shall focus this analysis on the passage between pages twenty-four and twenty-six from the Oxford World’s Classics edition.

Women in the 18th and 19th century were expected to follow the orders of the males in their lives. They were forced into arranged marriages to connect families in a pursuit for social power and they were expected to abide by anything the males in their lives asked of them. Free will was nonexistent. Much gothic literature effectively highlights the women’s expected role of the time. However, another aspect that seems to surface in gothic literature is whenever there is a woman who is not following the social norms, they seem to be the driving conflict behind the plotline and ultimately lead to any present happy ending.

In the first part of the eighteenth century, the ascent of the novel profoundly adjusted the craft of English account. On the other hand, the built up true to life convention influenced the improvement of the novel to a degree not yet completely figured it out. Amid this period, neither one of the forms can be completely comprehended without the other. (Historical Background: The 18th Century)