‘Mad, bad and dangerous’, how accurate is this description of Gothic villains in the texts studied?
The quote ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ was originally attributed to Lady Caroline Lamb in description of Lord Byron. The Romantic poet was infamous for his behaviour: excesses including huge debts, numerous affairs and aristocratic living. In the Gothic context, however, the concepts of ‘madness’, ‘evil’ and ‘danger’ take differing, more threatening forms. The role of the ‘villains’ in ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Dr Faustus’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ are varied, and for the larger part the antagonistic/protagonist dynamics do not necessarily align with a traditional ‘hero/villain’ paradigm.
In Frankenstein, the obvious ‘villain’ seems to be the Creature, …show more content…
Marlowe still presents some elements of the ‘mad, bad and dangerous’ characterisation, however. The apparent ‘villains’, or at least antagonists, of the play are Lucifer and his devil servants, including most visibly Mephistopheles. There is obvious traditionally villainous immorality, threat and mania in the presentation of the devils. The ‘Seven Deathly Sins’ pageantry involves a comic contraction of each of the ‘Sins’ and their ‘dispositions’, with much room for physical comedy in the staging. The ‘Sins’ are petty, cruel, quick to anger or complain. Pride, for example declares they will not speak for the ‘scent’ unless the ground is ‘perfumed and covered with cloth of arras’. Such demands for frivolous and expensive conditions, ‘cloth of arras’ referring to expensive fabrics reserved for tapestries and decoration, show the caricature-ish display of immorality and traditional ‘sin’. Lucifer is present in the scene as the commanding figure of these devils, commanding them on and offstage, sending them ‘away, to hell, to hell!’ like servants or pets. This sort of pageantry and comedic offset to the tenser elements of the play perhaps downplays the threat and ‘danger’ of Lucifer and his devils, however the almost ‘Carnival’ tone does convey some sense of disorder and mania that implies a ‘madness’ in the
The quote ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ was originally attributed to Lady Caroline Lamb in description of Lord Byron. The Romantic poet was infamous for his behaviour: excesses including huge debts, numerous affairs and aristocratic living. In the Gothic context, however, the concepts of ‘madness’, ‘evil’ and ‘danger’ take differing, more threatening forms. The role of the ‘villains’ in ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Dr Faustus’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ are varied, and for the larger part the antagonistic/protagonist dynamics do not necessarily align with a traditional ‘hero/villain’ paradigm.
In Frankenstein, the obvious ‘villain’ seems to be the Creature, …show more content…
Marlowe still presents some elements of the ‘mad, bad and dangerous’ characterisation, however. The apparent ‘villains’, or at least antagonists, of the play are Lucifer and his devil servants, including most visibly Mephistopheles. There is obvious traditionally villainous immorality, threat and mania in the presentation of the devils. The ‘Seven Deathly Sins’ pageantry involves a comic contraction of each of the ‘Sins’ and their ‘dispositions’, with much room for physical comedy in the staging. The ‘Sins’ are petty, cruel, quick to anger or complain. Pride, for example declares they will not speak for the ‘scent’ unless the ground is ‘perfumed and covered with cloth of arras’. Such demands for frivolous and expensive conditions, ‘cloth of arras’ referring to expensive fabrics reserved for tapestries and decoration, show the caricature-ish display of immorality and traditional ‘sin’. Lucifer is present in the scene as the commanding figure of these devils, commanding them on and offstage, sending them ‘away, to hell, to hell!’ like servants or pets. This sort of pageantry and comedic offset to the tenser elements of the play perhaps downplays the threat and ‘danger’ of Lucifer and his devils, however the almost ‘Carnival’ tone does convey some sense of disorder and mania that implies a ‘madness’ in the