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Sabriel: The Use Of Gothic Elements In Frankenstein

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In history, many stories contained gothic elements. One of the first pieces of literature that got popular was Frankenstein and the author Edgar Allen Poe popularized the genre. Writing and film production was popularized by gothic elements to give us the horror genre . Some gothic elements include imagery and mutated humans. Sabriel a fantasy novel written by Garth Nix contains gothic elements that includes key detail about the plot. Sabriel, the protagonist, is a teenager that is in a magical, fantasy world. She learns how to cast spells and conjure magic. While she is going to her school, they get attacked by a mysterious monster. It delivers a message that Sabriel’s father is in danger and she must now descend on to her journey . Sabriel …show more content…

For example “ An intensely dark shape stood there, as if someone had cut a man shaped figure out of the night” (21). The monster is described as a man who is standing in the darkness. The monster’s color was unknown due to the shadow it was in so they describe it as dark as the night. A man shape can be pointed out as it is a reflection of the human mutation considering pointing for a mutation. The overall feeling is dark and fearful. It gives the reader a way to understand what Sabriel was looking at while she was about to fight the beast. Also, in the beginning of the story, there is talk of necromancy which is also an element of gothic times. The book states, “ He gestured at the fire and spoke a word, and it roared into life, the frost melting at once, the raindrops sizzling into steam… He refused to meet her glance and she looked down once more at the little girl bawling in her arm” (10). This piece of evidence shows proof of necromancy. He casted a spell using the flame and brought a baby back from the dead. The personification of “roaring into life” alludes to the baby coming back. He uses his power to bring back the dead while casting a shadow of who …show more content…

Only totally evil one would want to. And evil breeds evil , evil taints places and makes them attractive to further acts of . . ." (73). Mix explains that a powerful harmful spell has been casted. It has the power to hurt a lot of people. And whoever casted it must be very intelligent of the arts of magic and necromancy. The caster is extremely powerful to the point where it compares to her father. This makes her very nervous, a feeling she had never really felt before. It pushes her to an edge. She constantly repeats the word evil to add emphasis. However, there are sections in the book that are not gothic, but very lit and joyful. In example, " On these nights, Sabrina would lock herself into her study( a privilege of the sixth form-previously she snuck into the library), puts the kettle on the fire and tea. . ." (19). She is happy reading in a room by room for by herself. It shows a happy nice feeling that expresses side of her. Drinking tea is often associated with calmness and peacefulness, straying away from the calmness. But, the quotation also contains more than meets the eye. Once again " On these nights, sabriel would lock

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