Consider the ways in which Mary Shelley uses different Gothic settings to contribute to the gothic effects of the novel
Neema Daniel 13AXS Consider the ways in which Mary Shelley uses different Gothic settings to contribute to the gothic effects of the novel Settings are central in generating a mood or atmosphere and even symbolising literary themes. Through Shelley’s presentation of extreme settings like the Arctic and Mont Blanc, in Switzerland, the Gothic effect of isolation is introduced; even simple domestic scenes like the De Lacy’s home can reveal the Gothic notion of dichotomy between the normal and the abnormal. Yet arguably Shelley intertwines Romantic values in her depiction of settings which can intelligently coincide with the Gothic genre, exploring notions of discovery, awe and pursing higher aspirations, but also exploring their futility, which in turn contributes to the Gothic. Shelley’s portrayal of the barren Arctic wasteland in Walton’s letters, paralleling to the main setting in Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient mariner, cleverly contributes to the concepts of discovery and its dangers. The “seat of frost and desolation” presents itself as not only a source of ‘delight’ but as a perilous path to make man “ascertain the secret of the magnet”. Clearly the reader is introduced to the power of the sublime, a force that makes man gape in wonder at the beauty of nature. Yet this does not fully qualify a Gothic criteria fully in that discovery pertains to
Is Catherine Earnshaw a Nineteenth Century Heroine?
Cathy is a nineteenth century heroine. * With reference to appropriately selected parts of the novel, and relevant external contextual information, give your response to the view above. By definition, a heroine is a woman who would typically encompasses the qualities of nobility, courage, independence and strength. Nineteenth century English women would have struggled to accomplish any of these particular acts of heroism within their social environment as ultimately, their roles within civilisation saw them becoming a good wives and mothers and before that, obliging and caring daughters. Catherine Earnshaw appears to begin her life free-spirited, rebellious and with a wild nature. However, her inner desire craves social ambition which, in turn, shows her slowly representing culture and civilisation. Cathy certainly displays some of those characteristics which are present in a nineteenth century heroine in the early stages of the novel, such of that as rebellion and the desire to reject the conformities expected of her. The first time we are introduced to Catherine is through Lockwood who observes that, ‘The ledge… was covered in writing, scratched on the paint’. It is obvious that Cathy was the one to deface the window ledge as it is her name that is etched across it, ‘in all kinds of characters, large and small- Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied to
Through Victors narrative in Volume 1, what social comments about parentage and responsibility is Shelley making?
Through Victor’s narrative in Volume 1, what social comments about parentage and responsibility is Shelly making? Victor’s narrative within volume one provides indication of the suggestively flawed upbringing by his parents that serves to contribute to his later extreme egotism in his quest to defy nature. Reminiscent of Shelly’s own childhood, Victor creates the monster that he fatally chooses to abandon, seized by the fear of his creation’s ‘abhorrent’ features. Shelly comments Victor’s responsibility as a ‘parent’ to the monster, while also noting the later implications of Victor choosing to ultimately abandon the creature as it returns to haunt him. Victor ultimately bears the brunt of his excessive thirst for knowledge, in which he ultimately usurps the role of women and God in his creation. Initially the reader is presented with Shelly’s social comments on the two extremes of parenting; unlike her own parents, Frankenstein’s own parents are surprisingly amicable in feeling sympathy for the orphan Elizabeth who they later choose to adopt. Elizabeth is simply presented to Victor by his mother as ‘a pretty present’ for him to keep, and we see the result of this in Victor’s possessive, and possibly obsessive nature: ‘My more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only’. This notion of Victor’s upbringing is further
Edgar Linton has more right than Heathcliff to be called the hero in "Wuthering Heights". Discuss.
Edgar Linton has more right than Heathcliff to be called the hero of Wuthering Heights. The word hero conjures an image in one’s head of a valiant, courageous, strong individual; one who puts the needs of others before their own, a being who defies evil with their handsome charm and fearless nature. However, this stereotypical image does not accurately depict the full extent to which the term hero covers, as there are many different types of hero including the Byronic Hero, Classic Hero, Medieval Hero, and Romantic Hero. Classic Heroes are those in Greek and Roman literature; they are often of royal birth or even like the Titan Prometheus; half mortal, half god. Although Edgar Linton is not of royal descent, he is from a family of the highest social class throughout the country which allows him to fall loosely into this category of noble birth. Heathcliff on the other hand, is from a discernible background and is brought into the household at Wuthering Heights as a ‘gipsy brat’ after Mr. Earnshaw saw, ‘it starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb in the streets of Liverpool.’ Another characteristic of a Classic Hero is that they perform extraordinary feats. Throughout the novel Edgar Linton displays no obvious signs of having done anything extraordinary; he is a calm, weak natured individual who avoids conflict and allows himself to be easily overpowered both
Wuthering Heights accurately reflects the sharp class divisions of nineteenth century England. Discuss
Wuthering Heights accurately reflects the sharp class divisions in nineteenth-century English society. In the Victorian Era, the three main classes in society were the elite class, the middle class, and the working class; however, further divisions existed within these three class distinctions. In addition, social class was not solely dependent upon the amount of money a person had; money, manners, speech, clothing, education, and values also contributed to a person’s position in the social hierarchy. This is made evident in the novel as when Heathcliff returns to the Grange following his three year absence as a nouveau riche, having money is not enough for Edgar to consider him a part of acceptable society. This is because of Heathcliff’s non-noble birth which is reminiscent of Oliver from Dickens’ novel, ‘Oliver Twist’; a child who could have been of noble birth but because he lived on the streets he was automatically placed at the bottom of society. Unlike the Lintons, Heathcliff was born and abandoned as an orphan on the streets of Liverpool and ‘seeing it starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb’, Mr. Earnshaw brought him home to raise as a son amongst his two legitimate children. As an abandoned orphan, Heathcliff belonged to the lowest station in society. During this time, it was unheard of for a middle class family to raise someone of lower statute
The Half Brothers
THE HALF BROTHERS The Half Brothers is a short story written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which was first published in November 1958. The story is a very typical example of her strong moral sense and interest in the difficulties faced by ordinary people and how they have to find the strength to live their daily life. It is my intention, in the following essay to explore how Elisabeth Gaskell has represented the suffering of ordinary people during the Victorian period. The title clearly explains what the story is concerned with. One of the first things we find out is that the narrator's mother had not had a very pleasant life, or at least not a happy start of her life. She was twice married and wasn't happy with her first husband. Right at the start of the story, Elizabeth Gaskell expresses her concern for poverty and suffering. The first two events in the story are the death of her first husband and the death of her little baby. The baby girl's death was the only thing the mother had and her death had such a great impact of sorrow and pain that she couldn't even cry or drop a tear but felt as if her heart had been torn apart. Her life just seemed to have stopped for a while. Death is never a good thing in any case and is always painful, especially when someone close to your heart dies. You feel as if a part of you has been taken away from you and that's exactly what happened to
Short story
A breath, a short gasping breath broke the unearthly silence. She awoke, startled, petrified of what was going to happen to her next. Had he gone? She was not to know. The impenetrable darkness mocked her unaccustomed eyes, making her feel more vulnerable then before, if that was possible. Her jaw was broken, allowing the blood to trickle ever-so steadily into her mouth, mingling with her saliva. Her clothes looked like they had been attacked by wild dogs, she found a repulsive comedy in that thought. Her body had been bruised and broken, excruciating welts covered her body like boils. It had happened all so fast, another potential customer had driven up to her as usual, not surprisingly accompanied with the stench of alcohol plaguing his decrepit car. He had been the same as all her customers, subdued and clothed in dark garments that obscured his face and body. He invited her to join him for the night and she, with all politeness, had accepted, that was her 'job' at least. They had then driven to a neon-lighted, hovel of a motel, how very original. From then on the events of the night became a blur until that deed had taken place, which had stripped Emma of her womanhood and innocent and which left her laying in that gutter, her soul fractured, her body and mind scarred deeper than any sword would have been able to inflict. In that state of semi-consciousness, Emma's mind
Oscar Wilde
REALISM Great economic and political changes started in the beginning of the 19th century. Trading class began to struggle for radical political changes. As the political power was placed in the hands of the property - owning class, labor became cheep and living conditions grew worse. Disappointed and haggard working class decided to fight for their rights. People held uprisings, strikes, mass meetings and demanded more democratic reforms to improve their own conditions. All this stimulated the growth of realism and in the presentation of reality Romanticism became too abstract and symbolic. The realistic novels became the most important and most popular genre (7). Realism in literature is an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one century or group of writers, it is most often associated with the literary movement in 19th-century France, specifically with the French novelists Flaubert and Balzac. George Eliot introduced realism into England, and William Dean Howells introduced it into the United States. Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplaces of everyday life among the middle and lower classes, where character is a product of social factors and environment is the integral element in the dramatic complications (13). In the drama, realism is most closely associated
My Nightmare
My Nightmare It was Monday morning, my first day of babysitting. I wanted some extra money and because it was the school holidays, I decided that babysitting for my mum's friend (Elizabeth) was a good idea. I had to look after baby John who was six months old between the hours of 9 and 4, Monday-Saturday, which I didn't mind doing because I loved kids. Elizabeth, had moved away with her husband Steve, a few years ago because of his job, but still they kept in contact. A few weeks ago she moved back to live in our area because she had left her husband, he was beating her. He had got so stressed out with his job, and things did not work out as he had planned them too so he took all his problems out on his wife. She came back to the same house she had lived in before moving away and left him because she was afraid that he would start taking his problems out on John, and she was not going to stand for that. My mum helped Elizabeth to get back her on feet and she was starting a new job so I offered to do some babysitting during the day for her. When Steve lived with Elizabeth I remembered him being like an Uncle to me, he was a really kind man. As I walked over to Elizabeth's house I started to think to myself 'how could Steve of beaten his wife, no matter how hard things got for him he should not of done that.' It didn't take as long as I expected to walk from my house to
My work experience.
My work experience My placement was with a company called Oliver Lintotts Tree Surgery. I have known Oliver for about 2 years as he is my boss's son. When I heard that my placement would be with him I was thrilled as I had worked with him before and tree surgery is a very exciting profession. I knew I could expect hard work and a good laugh. The last time I worked for him, Andy, one of Olivers employees, and I had to dig a trench to drain a field. Towards the end of the day it started to rain and I ended up almost waist-deep in a trench which was quickly filling with water and we laughed so hard we barely noticed. I already own lots of work clothes as I have had experience in tree surgery, carpentry, roofing, plumbing and mixing concrete among other areas but Oliver usually lends me some work boots with steel toe-caps as they are what I am supposed to wear. The night before my first day of work experience I made my lunch, consisting of 4 sandwiches, 3 packets of crisps and 3 chocolate bars, and left it in the fridge. Then I made sure I had clean jeans, t-shirt and jumper for the next day. I got an early night that night as I had to be up at 6:30 to be at work at 7:00. Having woken up at 6:30 I left the house at 6:45 to walk to Heath End launderette where Oliver would pick me up and drive me to where we were working that day. He picked me up at the launderette because his
