Key terminology -The Gothic

Question 1

What is the Gothic?

Answer 1

works that depict strange or mysterious events, using tropes such as isolated/decaying settings and the supernatural (blends intrigue, terror and pleasure)

Question 2

What is the sublime?

Answer 2

the worshipping of aesthetic and intellectual greatness, particularly associated with the natural world

Question 3

What is agency?

Answer 3

The ability or choice to take action. Useful when describing, power control and position in regards to gender

Question 4

What is Dichotomy?

Answer 4

a difference between complete opposite concepts or objects

Question 5

What is Duality?

Answer 5

the state of combining two different things at once

Question 6

What is ‘the Other’?

Answer 6

something or someone cast into the state of being different or separate

Question 7

What is trauma?

Answer 7

severe or lasting emotional shock and pain, caused by an experience that was upsetting or shocking

Question 8

Define the unheimlich/uncanny:

Answer 8

‘unhomely’ = term from Sigmund Freud’s paper. Means something strange arising from an ordinary situation

Question 9

The abject/abjection

Answer 9

adjective that means sinking into a low condition. Julia Kristeva semiotician used abject as a adjective to describe something that brings discomfort to the self

Question 10

Empire

Answer 10

Normally references Great Britain’s recent colonial past. The gothic engages both explicitly and implicitly with ideas of the empire.

Question 11

Orientalism

Answer 11

‘the Orient’ is seen as exotic, mystical, seductive and violent - these are tropes that can be found in ‘Vathek’