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Gothic Romanticism (Darker Romantics) . The Time Period. Expansion, Commerce, & Grandeur Lewis & Clark Social Context Technology, Democracy, and Slavery The Writers Social Vision Romantic Vision. Darker Romantics . A lot of writers wrote against the Transcendentalist
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The Time Period • Expansion, Commerce, & Grandeur • Lewis & Clark • Social Context • Technology, Democracy, and Slavery • The Writers • Social Vision • Romantic Vision
Darker Romantics • A lot of writers wrote against the Transcendentalist • Deeply disturbed by human heart: crime, cruelty, guilt, and self-destruction are key aspects of being human • Emphasize human fallibility and proneness to sin • Hardships in effecting social change • Reaction against Age of Reason (against rigidity/formality) • People are ruled by emotion, not logic and reason • Scientific reasoning discourages intuition and spontaneity
More shift to rural: cities are seen as centers of corruption and ugliness • Description of a fallen world • Emphasis placed on leaving civilization and entering the world of nature (more so for Transcendentalist) • Romantics drew their inspiration from the wilderness and westward expansion • Poetry was seen as the greatest witness to the power of imagination • Directly influenced by intellectual and social ferment (excitement) in New England
Major Characteristics • Focused on the mystery of the world; atmosphere of mystery & suspense • Interest in the past • Focus on the individual • Inspired by myth, legend, & folklore • Supernaturally charged environment • Setting, characterization, and plot are key aspects
Setting • Big reliance on imagery • Dark, gloomy, frightful • Ancient castles, dungeons, flickering lights, screams, ghosts, graveyards • Portrays the deterioration of the world (decayed and ruined) • Nature as a spiritual force- but in a sinister way • When it reveals truth, its revelations are evil and hellish
Characterization • Gothic hero is an archetype • Protagonist • usually isolated (voluntarily or involuntarily) • Villain • epitome of evil, either by his own fall from grace or by some implicit malevolence • Wanderer • epitome of isolation; wanders the world in exile • Personify evil in the form of devils, ghouls, vampires, ghosts, etc.
Plot • Mirrors the ruined world in its dealings with the fall of the protagonist. • This fall from grace usually occurs because the protagonist gives in to the temptations from the villain. • Most of the time we can relate to this type of story because it bears some realistic characteristics (but it is magnified)