Some hints:
- There's not a clear main character/protagonist whose adventures you should follow, so things can get confusing as you follow a couple of different plot threads at the same time. It's not a bad idea to sketch out a family tree in the inside back cover, so that you can fill in characters as you meet them.
- Page number references that help you identify when various characters become relevant will make your chart/family-tree a useful tool when you have to write on the novel on the final exam.
- Pay attention to the peasant who shows up on p. 20 and gets imprisoned under the casque. He becomes important later.
Deadline: Monday (4/25), 1pm.
5 comments:
Similar to the other gothic stories we've read in class, the first elements I picked up on in The Castle of Otranto were supernatural effects, compartmentalization, and dark setting/imagery. Much of the beginning of the story involves talk of the ghost of Conrad or the large mask that apparently kills him. The setting evokes a lot of gothic imagery, with emphasis on the darkness of the castle and details like Isabella's candle being snuffed out. The darkness also adds an ominous feeling to the secret passage and other compartmentalizations in the castle.
I definitely agree with JRD that, similar to the short stories we read earlier this semester, The Castle of Otranto possesses qualities including dark setting/imagery and supernatural elements that define it as Gothic. However, what I notice is interesting about the reading so far is that it seems to read more as a mystery than as a chilling Gothic tale. When I think Gothic, I think Poe, and when I think Poe I usually think of stories that freak me out a bit if I’m reading them late at night or in the dark; up to this point, The Castle of Otranto seems to me more strange than actually scary (but that’s not a bad thing! So far I find this novel really interesting!).
Scenes in Chapter 1 including the “sighing” portrait as well as the description of the ghost seen by Jaquez and Diego (31), I personally think, could have been played up a bit more; Walpole could certainly have pushed his descriptions further to make them seem more terrifying or eerily mysterious. This “quieter Gothic” that seems to exist within these pages seems to be the biggest difference between this novel and other Gothic fictions I’ve read in the past. I think it’s important, however, to note that since this is probably the first recorded example of the Gothic in literature, the genre does not yet really exist and therefore doesn’t have rules or conventions that can yet be built upon, manipulated, etc. To C18 readers this must’ve been something new and exciting (and possibly even somewhat frightening), and I think it’s great that we get to read an example of that.
I also think it’s great that we get to read a novel in its entirety. So far, pretty much everything we’ve done in this course has been poetry, short stories, or excerpts (also not a bad thing!) and to be able to see a full piece of work by one author, to understand its context and to see how it affects literature produced after its publication, etc. is something really different to this course and really quite interesting.
I agree with SMR on the strangeness factor that exists here rather than the anticipated/expected thrills and chills we easily recall in Poe, and whether or not we could call it a "quieter" gothic can be discussed (the opening discovery of Conrad's chopped up corpse in the courtyard is rather loud way to start a novel), but it is definitely earlier Gothic.
I had to roll my eyes a little when I read that "the princess Hippolita, without knowing what was the matter, but anxious for her son, swooned away," because she fits perfectly in with the model of the distressed damsel, whose job it is to be beautiful, regal, and always passing out. She has no clue about what is happening, sees nothing of the ruckus in the courtyard, but in her station, as a woman, she must therefore faint. However, I thought it was very interesting that Walpole writes about how Conrad's betrothed, Isabella, doesn't care for the young man and doesn't register his death as a major loss. Her loyalties belong to Hippolita and this creates a powerful female dynamic that I don't recall in Poe or in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
As I read this I am also tracking the idea of the eye, and of seeing/watching/gazing/beholding, as I encountered when I was reading about Gothic Drama. The male eye is a powerful thing that gives men the ability to look, while women often are the thing being looked upon; a dominant/subdominant relationship that privileges men's ability to move about the world freely, to see and do things women will never see or do. Manfred "fixed his eyes" on the "horror of the spectacle" and in doing so is able to block out the mutilation of his heir, but away in the chapel Hippolita sees none of this herself, yet she responds physically and emotionally just from the fear of something happening to her son.
Since we've been reading on a variety of topics for the class, we haven't really been given the chance to read any longer pieces or novels except for Tristram Shandy, and I feel like The Castle of Otranto could not be more different from Sterne's tale. For me, the largest difference is the writing styles: Tristram Shandy can be very long-winded at times, as Tristram often goes off on a variety of tangents, and its several volumes before the protagonist is even born. On the other hand, The Castle of Otranto is fairly straight to the point, at the very beginning of the first chapter we get a brief description of who each of the characters are, and then we head straight into the action of Conrad being killed (pgs. 17-18).
I'm interested in knowing which was more of "the norm" in terms of writing styles during the 18th Century; I feel like with these two novels we have two extremes of too much information and not enough, and I would like to see which 18th Century readers preferred.
I thought there were a few elements that echoed the gothic literature we studied earlier in the course. The story has dark/night imagery and supernatural elements. Throughout the beginning of the novel, the ghost of Conrad relays information regarding his death and other topics. The idea of the ghost is mentioned throughout the text, which appears as a Gothic element. His death seemed unusual, being crushed by a gigantic helmet that falls on him. The whole thing seems bizarre, and given the situation of the wedding. The event seems to cast a sense of gloominess over the text, which is embodied by the dark castle. I thought the novel was unique in how the characters were briefly described, but then we are placed right into the story.
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