Terror and Horror in the Fantastic Novels: Walpole's The Castle Of Otranto, Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula

Résumé du document

The concepts of terror and horror are key factors in the Fantastic and Gothic novel. This literary genre appeared with Walpole's The Castle of Otranto in 1765 and then flourished until 1830; it mainly developed during the historical period of the Enlightenment and can be seen as an alternative to the predominance of the aesthetics of probability, rationalism and utility, trying to expend imagination. The uncertain terrors in the books make the reader an active participant, like the characters, trying to understand unbelievable facts.
We often confuse the two terms of terror and horror, because they are often linked; but there are subtle differences between these two states, and that is the reason why we have first of all to define these two words before analysing their role in the three novels.Terror is characterised by obscurity, it can be defined as an overpowering fear, a feeling of dread and anticipation that usually occurs before something frightening is seen or experienced. It is a mental state. Horror is an intense and painful feeling of repugnance or dislike, with the idea of a shock when one faces something horrible, a displays of atrocity; we often talk about horror when the dreadful experience has already occurred. It refers to more physical effects of fears. To further analyse the role of these psychological modes in the novels, I will put The Castle of Otranto, Frankenstein and Dracula in relationship with one another.

Extraits

[...] Victor Sage, Macmillan Press (1990) Jackson, Rosemary. Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (1981) Ed. Methuen London and New-York Jung, C.G. The Fight With the Shadow (1946). From Jung on Evil, Princeton University Press Punter, David. The Literature of Terror: a History of Gothic Fiction from 1765 to the Present Day. Longman (1996) Radcliff, Ann. : On The Supernatural In Poetry (1826). From Gothic Documents Ed. [...]

[...] ] (Frankenstein, p 318) So we understand that it is first only a problem of 'aspect', and it will end tragically because of a first sight of horror. We saw that during his quest, the scientist totally forgets this nature he used to admire so; here, we can also feel the threat coming from Nature itself, a nature whose laws the protagonist violated trying to create an artificial human being. Sciences and modernity seem to struggle against this powerful nature. In Dracula on of the main factors of terror is the unknown, the idea of being lost in a strange land. [...]

[...] Terror and Horror in the Fantastic Novels: Walpole's The Castle Of Otranto, Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula The concepts of terror and horror are key factors in the Fantastic and Gothic novel. This literary genre appeared with Walpole's The Castle of Otranto in 1765 and then flourished until 1830; it mainly developed during the historical period of the Enlightenment and can be seen as an alternative to the predominance of the aesthetics of probability, rationalism and utility, trying to expend imagination. [...]

[...] The idea of a haunting past is omnipresent in the novel; it is back in the present and causes all sorts of supernatural events. It is indeed the fulfilment of a ancient prophecy which is at the origin of these events. The author tried to represent some elements realistically as well as to render the belief in supernatural things plausibly and we find in the novel on the one hand a family drama, and on the other hand a skeleton kneeling in a church . [...]

[...] (Burke) This specific danger can be found in nature, which can be beautiful and at the same time frightening, like a vast expanse of space for example, that makes the human appear very small, and threatens to absorb it. According to Burke, the Sublime in nature causes astonishment. This idea of a dominant and threatening nature is very important in Frankenstein; indeed, the eponymous character is often confronted to this nature, the great space and mountains of the Alpes; The immense mountains and the precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around, spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence [ . [...]