Jekyll and Hyde, The Mortal Immortal (End of Northanger Abbey - Not included)

   The Mortal Immortal as well as Jekyll and Hyde are both moving into what I will call the "realistic mysticism" aspect of Gothic literature. In previous novels we have a general dark setting, but the characters are mostly lively and comparatively "upbeat" in their relative conditions. These short stories / novellas are moving into almost a new sub-genre that still keeps the dark setting of the Gothic novels, but the characters themselves actually seem dark and obviously "evil".
   Take for example the Mortal Immortal, There are no more Heroines that take on a journey or a perfect un-fallible male that comes to her rescue. Instead there are extremely stagnant characters. You have a woman who for all purposes, somewhat disgraces Winzy in the fact that he does not have a good income. He goes and gets a job with an Alchemist that he originally does not want to do in order to earn a living, when she ends up leaving him anyways. She is in no way a heroine. She is self centered and arrogant. Winzy is by no means a saint either. He is unable to overcome the obstacles that are placed in front of him, and ends up with "the short stick" in a way that puts him to Immortal torture.
   Jekyll and Hyde is a novella that I have not yet finished, yet the characters are obvious. Hyde is the "evil" person that will trample a girl in the street and think nothing of it. Richard is the man who Gossips to his friends and will probably start the whole problem, and Utterson is the "Hero" but he has obvious internal problems that are leading to conflicting actions.As the story progresses, we will see if these assumptions are correct.
   On a personal note, I do enjoy reading these novellas more. It has nearly the same length of a story line, but leaves out details and leaves room for imagination on the story.

Northanger Part 1

   This book is very good about being nearly satirical on the elements of gothic literature. There are multiple occasions on which that this is very obvious, and several others that are a little more deeply interlined  in the novel.One of the most obvious in the early parts of the novel is that of the heroine.
   A few examples of the obvious satire is seen in the first few pages of the novel. The way Catharine is described is bluntly claimed to be nothing of the heroine type. The is described as having a novel family. A father that has a good living, a mother that has lived through the birth of many children, and about 9 siblings that are all healthy and well. Her persona is described as somewhat boy-ish at a young age, until she became a teenager then started to act more feminine. She was described by her mother as being "almost pretty". Catherine's intellect is also brought to the table. In short... she is not dumb, for she can learn things she is interested in as quickly as she likes, but does not take onto things that she does not enjoy (such as certain stories given as an example). Lastly, she does not enjoy playing music, while she does like listening to it. All of this together gives you the picture that is nearly opposite of that of Adeline. She is on almost every aspect normal. She has not one extremely admirable trait, besides the fact that she is reserved and polite (innocent) as Adaline was.
   All of these traits are completely deliberate. Catharine is supposed to be the "average reader" putting herself in the place of these mythical heroines. They let their imagination run wild and do not take into consideration the reality of the situation. I am pleased to have read something that makes note of this, and actually acquired great recognition for having done so.

Post 4 - Romance of the Forest - Final

After reading The Romance of the Forest, Many of the gothic elements are obvious that were hidden throughout the book. Take for example the three objects I will talk about in this post: Setting, Characterization, and a romantic moral.

As far as setting goes, this is the most obvious. When you look at the opening scene, you see a small caravan of people on the run though a mysterious and eventually dark forest. The people themselves have no idea where they are going (other than the aspect of south and away) and the reader is none the wiser. When they arrive at the Abbey that they insist on staying on, it is not a nice abbey that is maintained like all probability would suggest. This dark setting that later reveals the dead body of Adaline's father as well as the message he left for any passing being to the location. After the escape from the abbey, Adaline is abducted and later escapes again to the small village in Savoy. Here the settings vary from countrysides to prisons off and on till the end of the novel.

Characterization has many polar opposites as well as many defined "gray characters" that never change throughout the novel. Take for example the present Marqius. He from the beginning of the novel has an evil plan, that is not yet later revealed to the reader. Throughout the entire novel, he plans to kill Adaline in order to maintain his estate. He manipulates and deceives even those who he hires to do his dirty work (which later comes and bites him in the butt). Theodore and well as Louis are constantly "virtuous" characters that never sway from their path of righteousness. I would actually argue that Peter is the most virtuous character in the entire novel. He is always loyally at Adaline's side no matter what the situation. La motte is a good example of a gray character. He is manipulated by the marquis on many situations, but his morals allow him to rescue Adaline in various situations although he usually does so at the last minute as if it takes a lot of contemplation of the decision.

The Romantic era and ideas are obviously portrayed in especially the character of M. Verneulli as well as La Luc. They have long conversations of the meaning of life and what it is to be at peace even with sorrow in the heart. These ideals are extremely prevalent when both of them start on what is nearly a monologue along the trails thought the mountains.

Post 3 (Sept 9th) Romance of the Forest

The Romance of the Forest is, in my opinion, far more subtle yet far more realistic than The Castle of Otranto. This fact makes it more believable and makes the reader feel more engrossed in the storyline. The Castle of Otranto and The Romance of the Forest both use the supernatural in various ways in order to create a sense of fear and/or awe at certain times along the plot, but this is achieved in very different ways. In the former, the supernatural is nothing less than ridiculous in nature. Helmets falling out of the air, giant feet in libraries, and stories of random giants will not exactly invoke a sense of awe in most rational thinking people because no one can relate to these appearances. In the later, weird sounds, moving shadows, faded voices, and objects that seem to be constantly misplaced is something that everyone can relate too. This makes the reader actually make connections with the characters and truly empathize with it instead of simply sympathizing with them.

On the other hand, and on a more personal note, The Romance of the Forest has an extremely "round-about" way of getting everything done. Compared to The Castle of Otranto, the dialogue lasts for several paragraphs when the actual conversation might actually be 5 sentences long. They will often interrupt the person talking and give them a lecture about how they are talking to much for a few minutes then let them proceed after which they feel that have to start from the begin again. It gets extremely irritating in most cases, and makes the story progress extremely slow.

Overall I do enjoy reading The Romance of the Forest more than the prior, but it does have its flaws that drive me slightly crazy.

The Castle of Otranto

   The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was, in my opinion, an extremely "slow" and many of the characters personally irritated me with their actions. One might argue that the whole story starts off with an action packed scene that involves chaos and death. I agree that this might be true, but from this point on (with the acception of Manfred's temper tantrums) there are no entertaining scenes until the 5 minute battle between Theodore and Frederic. After this point, the only "Exciting" things that happens is near the end of the last chapter when Manfred ends up accidentally killing his Daughter Matilda.
   To accompany the rant that leads this post, I absolutely detest the way people act in this book. The mass population takes everything for granted, and the main characters all seem to have the worldly understanding of a 10 year old.
   As for the Romantic aspect of this novel I cannon complain. You can easily see the romantic aspects of the novel. Nearly all of the Charachters including Manfred, Matilda, Isabella, and Theodore all have major fits of passion that leads too them making decisions that any "normal" individual would not if there were in the correct state of mind. And example of this would be when Manfred sentences Theodore to be held captive under a Giant helmet that landed on his son just minutes before.
   Other Gothic elements are present thought the entire novel. Take for example the candle blowing out in the caverns below the castle. Another example would be the giants that people keep seeing but really don't seem to have anything to do with the main story line. Another example would be the "Curse" t hat is placed on Otranto at the beginning of the novel.
   Overall, I hope I enjoy the next novel more than I enjoyed this one. I also hope that the average IQ of the characters raises to at least room temperature.