A Discussion of the Gothic tradition in the novels “Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen and “The mysteries of Udolpho” by Ann Radcliffe.
The genre of Gothic fiction has been a strong writing tradition since its birth in 1764 with the publishing of Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”. The genre is a mix of both romance and horror with its clearest distinctions being a love of foreign setting and gloomy old buildings, a strong hero, swooning heroine and the constant looming of a monster or mystery. The parents of said swooning heroine also often have a penchant for dying very early on. Both Jane Austen and Ann Radcliffe make use of these aspects of the genre to very different results, while Radcliffe uses them freely and without irony to create a true piece of Gothic fiction, there is an unsubtle subversion of the genre in almost every line of Austen’s famous first novel.
At the time of “Northanger Abbeys” first writing Gothic fiction was at the height of …show more content…
Catherine in fact has a flourishing family of ten siblings, none of whom seem even close to deaths door. Emily St Aubert on the other hand has a family with a shockingly high mortality rate with both her mother and father dying in quick succession. Her Mother is the first to go passing away from an unknown but serious illness "Alas! Madam St Aubert knew not that she left it forever". While her father who falls sick out of grief takes Emily on a countryside jaunt as prescribed by a doctor before dying and leaving Emily alone in the world "St Aubert lifted up his eyes; the spirit of a father returned to them, but it quickly vanished and he spoke no
The genre of Gothic fiction has been a strong writing tradition since its birth in 1764 with the publishing of Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”. The genre is a mix of both romance and horror with its clearest distinctions being a love of foreign setting and gloomy old buildings, a strong hero, swooning heroine and the constant looming of a monster or mystery. The parents of said swooning heroine also often have a penchant for dying very early on. Both Jane Austen and Ann Radcliffe make use of these aspects of the genre to very different results, while Radcliffe uses them freely and without irony to create a true piece of Gothic fiction, there is an unsubtle subversion of the genre in almost every line of Austen’s famous first novel.
At the time of “Northanger Abbeys” first writing Gothic fiction was at the height of …show more content…
Catherine in fact has a flourishing family of ten siblings, none of whom seem even close to deaths door. Emily St Aubert on the other hand has a family with a shockingly high mortality rate with both her mother and father dying in quick succession. Her Mother is the first to go passing away from an unknown but serious illness "Alas! Madam St Aubert knew not that she left it forever". While her father who falls sick out of grief takes Emily on a countryside jaunt as prescribed by a doctor before dying and leaving Emily alone in the world "St Aubert lifted up his eyes; the spirit of a father returned to them, but it quickly vanished and he spoke no