Midterm

Question 1

Romanticism (5)

Answer 1

1) 18th Century
2) Return to emotions
3) Interest in altered states
4) Romanicization of Medieval period in the gothic
5) Beyond reason

Question 2

The Sublime

Answer 2

Makes pain delightful by introducing elements of distance

Question 3

How does the sublime work in the Gothic?

Answer 3

Pain is fictitious, making it not unethical to derive pleasure from it

Question 4

The Uncanny (2)

Answer 4

• Something being strangely familiar rather than simply mysterious
• Occurs when an everyday object/event is experienced in an unsettling way

Question 5

Characters in the Castle of Otranto (7)

Answer 5

1) Manfred - Duke of Otranto
2) Hippolita - his wife
3) Matilda - his daughter
4) Conrad - his sickly son
5) Isabella - Conrad’s fiance
6) Frederic - her father
7) Theodore - young peasant, true ruler

Question 6

What are the major themes of the Castle of Otranto? (3)

Answer 6

The Return of the Repressed

• restoration of “just” order
• which Manfred is guilty of resisting
• tainted justice (both the innocent and the guilty suffer)

The Gothic Hero

• Manfred is dark, troubled, and conflicted
• not evil, just out of options
• why does he cling to his power?

Horror

• a result of the uncanny
• fragmented ghostly body/helmet
• reanimated statue and painting
• sexual violence and incest

Question 7

Characters in Vincent (3)

Answer 7

1) Vincent Malloy
2) Abercrombie (dog)
3) Aunt

Question 8

Themes in Vincent

Answer 8

1) The uncanny - zombie dog
2) Return to emotions (deprived of the women he loves)
3) Intrest in altered states (delusions)

Question 9

Characters in The Witch (7)

Answer 9

1) Thomasin
2) William - father
3) Katherine - mother
4) Caleb - son
5) Mercy and Jonas - twins
6) Samuel - killed son
7) Black Philip - goat/Satan

Question 10

Themes in The Witch (3)

Answer 10

Witches

• feminist or subversive symbol
• always old, ugly and resentful of younger women
• abandonment of reason
• women are dangerous, if they are not controlled they will renounce all aspects of femininity

New England Gothic

• violence against women
• concerned with secrets of the past
• utopianism and its discontents

God and Puritan Theology

• everyone deserves to go to hell unless chosen by God
• if the devil is real, God must be too (God is absent in the film)
• a united Puritan family with a loving father instead of a dismissive patriarch
• Thomasin strays from her family and joins a coven

Question 11

Characters in Olalla (4)

Answer 11

1) Scottish soldier
2) the mother
3) Felipe - son
4) Olalla - daughter

Question 12

Themes in Olalla (3)

Answer 12

Vampirism as Biology

• human decay and degeneration
• Olalla is aware that she is just a bump in her family’s decline
• biological rather than supernatural

Repetition

• constant repetition of traits eventually produces a fatal flaw
• Olalla’s love of the soldier may be a repetition of her family’s past

Gothic Pastiche

• dramatic setting (crumbling home)
• Catholic background (crucifix, doesn’t fear religion)

Question 13

Characters in Carmilla (6)

Answer 13

1) Laura
2) Laura’s father
3) Bertha - killed by Carmilla
4) the General - friend of Laura’s father, Bertha’s uncle
5) Doctor Hesselius - the authenticator
6) Carmilla

Question 14

Themes of Carmilla (3)

Answer 14

Carmilla: Female Vampire

• comes across as gentle and loving
• enters Laura’s life twice
• does she do this by her own will?

Laura: Innocence

• hopeless confusion toward her relationship with Carmilla
• her life pre-Carmilla is an idealization of a young Victorian girl’s life
• Carmilla is a mental and physical danger to Laura

Female Desire and Sexuality

• vampirism as eroticism
• mostly about women, men are secondary characters
• Carmilla is a seductress and sexually emancipated
• an example of a Freudian hysterical narrative

Question 15

Characters in Frankenstein (4)

Answer 15

1) Victor Frankenstein
2) The monster
3) Robert Walton
4) the De Laceys

Question 16

Themes of Frankenstein (5)

Answer 16

The Limits of Ethics and Science

• Frankenstein’s intentions are pure: to cure death
• studies life in order to understand death

The Status of Humans in the Natural World

• what is the monster’s life form?
• if he is physically and mentally stronger than humans, what does that mean for us?
• the struggle to find a sense of identity

Parenthood

• Frankenstein abandons the monster out of an irrational fear
• sense of guilt, plays victim
• an unnatural parent, God-like figure

Nature vs Nurture
- what caused the monster’s behaviour?

Otherness

• the monster is impossible to rationalize/comprehend (the uncanny)
• never will be accepted into society

Question 17

5 step analysis

Answer 17

Look for

1) Repeated words/phrases
2) Semantic clusters
3) Contrasts (implicit or explicit)
4) Anomalies
5) Pick one that is the most significant and write about it