II. GOTHIC PERSPECTIVES IN THE RENAISSANCE AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURY:

• One of course may submit (with Harold Bloom in Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human) that Shakespeare invented personality; thus he defined the gothic temperament.
• We will examine the nature of the gothic by considering Richard III. CLICK HERE TO FIND NOTES AND AN ASSIGNMENT FOR RICHARD III ON THE SJC SHAKESPEARE PAGE. REFERENCES TO NIETZSCHE and HITLER ARE PROVIDED.
• Please follow the directions for the assignment carefully--the ARDEN EDITION of the play is our text, plus we will view the Ian McKlellen film that links Richard III to a rather well-known historical figure. The link establishes a paradox identified by Aristotle in The Poetics. What is it?
• Note that Shakespeare did not stop with Richard III. Iago in Othello is probably his greatest contribution to the gothic genre; you may consult the Shakespeare page for commentaries on his character--note that there are links to contemporary psychological web sites.
• Some of the Romantics (especially Percy Shelley) regarded Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost as the hero of the poem, and perhaps on a subconscious level Milton did too. At any rate, his SATAN stands as one of the greatest characters in World Literature. We will use the NORTON CRITICAL EDITION of the text to examine what Satan contributes to the gothic tradition.
• ASSIGNMENT: From the text of Paradise Lost, note the following:

  
  Milton’s epic poem dramatizes the creation, fall and redemption of man. Although he consciously did not intend Satan to be the ‘hero’ of the epic, we cannot escape the belief that subconsciously his full creative energies almost regenerated the ‘dark lord.’ Satan remains as one of the greatest characters in world literature. His appeal, restless energy, “vaulting ambition” and brilliant intellect seem irresistible.
  
  Click here to examine Milton’s beliefs,(Scroll down to the Seventeenth Century) and remember the following:
  
  1--PL is patterned on the classical epics--what characteristics do you recall? (Remember especially, the epic simile)
  
  2--Milton uses many, many allusions including:

  Plato’s dialogues--especially the Timaeus and the Republic
  The Iliad and The Odyssey
  Shakespeare--especially: Macbeth, Measure for Measure, Romeo& Juliet
  The Bible, chiefly Genesis
  The Stary Messenger (by Galileo)

  3--For each of the following Books of Paradise Lost, note the following ideas important to our examination of Satan as ‘gothic’...
  
  Book I:

  Use of epic simile in the creation of Satan’s character
  the motif of revenge
  regeneration?
  description of hell
  Satan’s view of God (There is an interesting Othello comparison --V,i,1-20)

Book II:

Satan’s tactics
the birth of sin (note the allusion to Homer)

Book III:

Milton’s view of free will
Satan’s equivocation (note a Richard III parallel)

Book IV:

Study the opening lines carefully--Satan’s soliloquy
Satan’s view of Adam and Eve sexually is important theologically and classically
the relationship between passion and reason is significant
Animal motifs for Satan
Milton’s epistemology

Book V:

The hubris of Satan

Book VI:

in medias res to Book I--the expulsion from Paradise

Book VII:

God on free will and the Timaeus


Book VIII:

the relationship between passion and reason

Book IX:

study the temptation scene very carefully--note Satan’s tactics
passion and reason are important as is the role of sex
equivocation is essential (recall Macbeth)
what epic similes are used to describe Satan
note also the macrocosmic / microcosmic imagery


Book X:

note how evils spreads
there are important allusions to FRANKENSTEIN
guilt--our first parents’ reaction to what they have done, and what they
now want God to do.


Book XII:

note the result of ‘original sin’--and recall Milton’s beliefs
how does Milton define the heroic--is the definition consistent with
how he has developed Satan?
how would the gothic genre accept his definition?

4. NOTE THAT THE NORTON EDITION OFFERS SELECTIONS FROM SOME ROMANTIC PERIOD WRITERS WHO EVALUATED THE POEM (PP. 477 ff.), plus commentary on themes and philosophical concepts relevant to the poem, pp. 461 ff.

III. We will examine Romantic period criticism of Satan's character.

I. Romanticism as paradox : Martin Luther King and Adolf Hitler.

A. Recall the introductory lectures from the British Literature Index.
B. Why can romanticism NOT be defined?

II. What are its common elements?

A. philosophical idealism
B. love of nature
C. sentimentality
D. respect for tradition
E. love of family
F. glorification of the imperfect
G. disdain for the family
H. revolutionary violence
I. coldness and loathing
J. longing for city life
K. beauty in the particular

III. So romanticism cannot be defined--it has to be felt, experienced. Note that how Marlowe's FAUST is not tempted as Goethe's FAUST is.

A. reconciliation of opposites
B. positive and negative romanticism
C. what do you notice about this picture?

IV. On what would the gothic persona focus?

V. The romantic / gothic perspective

A. individualism
B. excess--(The Monk?)
C. the perspective of the solitary participant

VI. Who is the hero?

A. the child of nature--Rousseau and the "noble savage"
B. the gothic villain / the noble outlaw--from Robin Hood to the "Unabomber"
C. the hero of sensibility--what does sensibility mean; characterize the response

VIII. Evaluate these quotes...

A. "The world is indeed full of perils, and in it there are many dark places, but there is still much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled in grief, it grows perhaps the greater." (J.R.R. TOLKIEN)
B. Pratz: (The Romantic Agony)--"The romantic translates all emotional ranges into poetry."
C. Baudelaire wrote:

Just as a lustful pauper bites and kisses
The xcarred and shriveled breast of an old whore,
We steal, along the roadside, furtive blisses,
Squeezing them like stale oranges for more.

Packed tight, like hives of maggots, thickly seething,
within our brains a host of demons surges
Deep down into our lungs at every breathing,
Death flows, an unseen river, moaning dirges.

If rape or arson, poisons or the knife
has wove no pleasing patterns in the stuff
Of this drab canvas we accept as life--
It is because we are not bold enough.

IX. The Byronic hero in literature and life:

A. Robin Hood
B. Richard III
C. Iago
D. Faust
E. Milton's Satan
F. Victor Frankenstein
G. Frankenstein's Creature
H. Dracula
I. Manfred
J. Cain
K. Lara
L. Conrad
M. Childe Harold
N. Byron, Shelley
O. Ambrosio
P. Peter Quint
Q. Miss Jessel
R. Stalin
S. Hitler
T. The Unabomber
U. Prometheus

X. Terms and concepts:

A. sensibility
B. secret sin
C. persona
D. "Heart made for softness"
E. ego
F. terror
G. dreams
H. the subconscious
I. "the Wandering Jew"

XI. WEB RESOURCES:

A. (Click here for a full list of terms relevant to gothic fiction from
Georgia Southern University)

B. Click here to find a directory of best web sites for the romantic period / gothic literature.

C. From LITERARY GOTHIC, This subdirectory offers a detailed account of "gothic psychology" with primary and secondary source references.