Scarica Romantic and Gothic Novels: A Literary Analysis e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The Romantic novel The main characteristics of the romantic novel were: deeper psychological analysis; use of dialogue to present the personality of the characters; use of prose to explore the relationships between the social classes. During the second half of the 19° century developed more than just one trend of novel. The term Gothic indicated what was medieval and represented the excess, the wild and dark. In fact, the gothic novel had a complex plot, full of elements of horror and supernatural, murders and mysterious events. It took place in medieval places, ruins or castles full of secret passages and the time was often the night, as the darkness helped to create a mysterious atmosphere. There are supernatural characters, such as vampires or monsters, and they are stereotypes: the heroines are shy and seduced by the handsome and cynical villain, but they will be saved by the heroes. It was based on the theory of the sublime, conceived by Burke and defined as the mix of intense emotion, caused by the view of an immense natural phenomena. The Gothic novel became popular with Maturin's work and “Frankenstein” of Mary Shelley, wife of Shelley and daughter of Wollstonecraft and Godwin. An Italian gothic novel is “Malombra” by Antonio Fogazzaro. The Historical Novel had fortune thanks to Walter Scott, whose major concern was to portray the fights which led to the creation of Britain. His most important novel is “Ivanhoe”, set in the time of Richard the Lionheart, and represent the conflict between the Saxons and the Normans. Another important work was “Kenliworth”, whose main character was the Earl of Leicester. His works influenced Manzoni and Hugo. The greatest novelist of the novel of manner was Jane Austen. In her works, characterised by an insight into human nature, she portrayed characters of all social classes and tackled themes such as the conflict between the individual freedom and social conventions. The novel of Purpose, which aimed at spreading political and philosophical ideas Other important writers were: -. William Godwin, an admirer of French Revolution, who thought that all men are born equal and they are shaped by the environment; his thought influenced Wordsworth and Coleridge. - Mary Wollstonecraft, a pioneer for women's rights, who advocated the equality of sexes and that women could receive the same education of men. - Charles Lamb, the great essayist of this period, writer of “Essays of Elia”, where he wrote about himself and “Tales from Shakespeare”, a prose version for child of Shakespeare's plays. - Thomas de Quincy was addicted from opium and write a work where he described the experiences felt under its influence. Frankenstein Mary Shelley dedicated her masterpiece to her father, Godwin, and used many of his ideas, such as social justice; she was also influenced by Shelley, because both of them were interested in science and were aware of the latest discoveries in evolutionism and electricity. The themes are: the responsibility of science to mankind; the fear of revolution and the interest in revolutionary ideas; the solitude (of the monster); the life without rules (Rousseau). The novel it's written in the epistolary form, which was thought to give more realism. However, there are three different narrators and none of them in omniscient, but 1° person narrator: - Walton, who send letters to his sister Margaret Saville (M.S.= Mary Shelley) - Doctor Frankenstein's autobiography - A different narrator who sends letter to Margaret Mary calls it “The modern Prometheus” because he went over God's limits in the same way humans (Doctor Frankenstein) wants to get over their limits by using the scientific discoveries. The Novel represented a universal reflection on the uncontrolled scientific experiments, whose main aim was to raise people's consciousness
