"Gothic fiction is erotic at the root" according to Punter. From your reading of Frankenstein and Dracula how far would you agree with Punter's interpretation.

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“Gothic fiction is erotic at the root” according to Punter.

From your reading of Frankenstein and Dracula how far would you agree with Punter’s interpretation.

        In your essay you should consider:

  1. The author’s portrayal of eroticism and sexuality (in all its forms) through characters.
  1. Relevant social/cultural concerns during the period the novels were written.

During the 18th century  and for a long time after poetry was regarded as the most sophisticated and accomplished mode of the written word. The Gothic novel, a relatively new form of literature was emerging from the popular romances published to meet the demands of a of a growing literacy population. Its popularity was also fuelled by the accompanying developments in book production and distribution.  At that time however, the vast majority of critics regarded the Gothic novel as distinctly inferior although this was certainly not the view of the general public, especially the growing female readership. Furthermore, several of the writers associated with the development of the gothic novel were women such as Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe, Jane Austen and Emily Brontë. This development was perhaps one of the largest social and cultural concern during the era, the main focus behind this being the male fear of sexual liberation.

Many of the early manifestations of what came to be called gothic were not in the area of literature at all, but in art, architecture, and in landscape gardening, art forms which provided the contexts for literature. These manifestations of the Gothic form were very expensive and, as a result, almost primarily contained within the rich aristocracy. Consequently, the growing fashion of Gothic resulted in the popularity of the Gothic novel, it was a cheap exciting alternative and with widening literacy it was open to the up-and-coming middle classes.

        The setting of the gothic novel is central to the plot with a range of possible settings as backdrops including: ruins, dungeons, castles, and monasteries among others. Along with this the gothic novels were all set in Europe in the middle ages. A prime example being what is generally agreed to be the first gothic novel, ‘The Castle of Otranto’ written by Horace Walpole in 1764. Walpole placed his novel in Italy in the middle ages and set it in a castle complete with dungeons, battlements, cloisters, galleries and trapdoors and consequently it met all the requirements of the gothic novel. The popularity of this novel spawned a multitude of others within the same genre.  Ann Radcliffe’s ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ was followed by Jane Austen’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ and by this time the gothic novel was more than firmly established.

        Abraham Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847 to parents Charlotte and Abraham Stoker. He attended Trinity College in Dublin in the 1860’s where he was involved competitively in athletics and football and was also an active participant in the Philosophical Society which eventually made him president. He graduated with an Honours degree in Pure Maths. At the age of 22 Bram followed in his father’s footsteps joining the civil service as a clerk in Dublin Castle and during this period in his life he became a fan of the actor Henry Irving, a man he later worked for.  As Stoker matured his interests in literary and dramatical affairs overtook his mathematical interests.  During 1890, Stoker now aged 43, began work on his second novel, ‘Dracula’. It took him seven years to complete and on the 26th of May 1897 clad in its fashionable end of the century yellow cover, ‘Dracula’ was published. One of the most admiring and interesting views of the novel came from none other than the authors mother, Charlotte Stoker, who wrote to her son in London:

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‘No book since Mrs Shelley’s Frankenstein or indeed any other at all have come near yours in originality, or terror - Poe is nowhere…In its terrible excitement it should make a widespread reputation and money for you.’

        Much in the second Gothic writer Mary Shelley’s life was remarkable. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin and was the mistress and, later the wife of the poet Percy Shelley. She read widely in five languages including Latin and Greek. She became pregnant at the age of 16 when she eloped with the poet Percy Shelley to ...

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