Gothic Fiction and the Separation of Barbaric Past

Gothic Fiction and the Separation of Barbaric Past Gothic fiction challenges the separation between an apparently barbaric past and the civilised world, showing that the two can overlap.Gothic fiction is one of the most outstanding genres of the nineteenth century, the era of a significant societal and technological changes. These changes at that time have greatly contributed to the unique features of the gothic genre. This essay will be showing the overlap between the barbaric past and civilised present by discussing the general overview of the nineteenth century as a developing age and how the savage past was still present in the dark corners of the civilised world, as well as, the popular idea of moral degeneration existed in the period. This essay will also investigate the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and the short story The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards.[G1][G2] First and foremost, gothic fiction portrays the Victorian society as an advanced period of time in both scientific field and human behaviour. It is the transferring phase between the ancient and the modern world. In this period, the scientific way of thinking replaced magic-based method of explaining. Scientific topics appeared in most gothic fictions from the story of the old scientist in the Phantom Coach to the taste of Dr. Jekyll[G3] being rather chemical than anatomical (Stevenson 1886, p. 32). All reflect the dominant and undeniable existence of science. Its role was so important that people reject as false all that cannot be brought to the test of laboratory or dissecting room (Edwards 1864, p. 4). This is a significant advancement of the Victorian society as their ideas were shaped by logical thinking and scientific developments instead of magical thinking. In the new era, they observed continuous series of new inventions in science and [G4][G5]technology which motivated them to test the nature to prove the reality. To them, an idea or a phenomenon could only be true if it could be tested in the laboratory, thus, they rejected superstitious or supernatural ideas. Moreover, there was an advancement in human behaviour and awareness in that society. In order to maintain their reputation, they had to act responsibly to their good name as can be seen here in Mr. Utterson[G6] who enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years (Stevenson 1886, p. 3). Based on their occupation and class, they had their own code of conduct which meant what kind of behaviours are accepted and suitable for their class. Characters like Dr. Jekyll, [G7]Mr. Utterson[G8] in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[G9][G10] and the lawyer James Murray in the Phantom Coach belong to the higher class in the Victorian society. They live a decent life in a well-to-do neighbourhood and hang out with peers having the same social status. There were certain rules that they had to obey s o that they could be respectable and most importantly, they could not have any desire or enjoy certain pleasures such as [G11]drinking alcohol or visiting prostitutes like people in the lower class. However, the new society was definitely not perfect, it was not entirely civilised because of some remaining factors of the past. Despite the upward changes benefiting the society, some vicious pieces of the past still remain and hide   in the dark. The nineteenth century seemed to be civilised and developed but when taking a closer look, people might find out that the past still lingered in the dark side. Although most of the barbaric elements had already disappeared, they were not completely gone. The existence of Mr. Hyde is a typical example representing the past in London from his physical features to his behaviours. On describing his appearance, Stevenson reveals the following quotes Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity (Stevenson 1886, p. 19) and he gave Mr. Utterson the feeling of unknown disgust, loathing, and fear ([G12]Stevenson 1886, p. 19). The description of Mr. Hyde evokes the readers a sense of villainy and his bad intention for others. His ugly features are typical to Gothic fictions villain. Corresponding to his outward look, his monstrous behaviours reflec t himself as sinister and barbaric by the act of trampling the girl (Stevenson 1886, p. 6) and the murdering Sir Danvers Carew (Stevenson 1886, p. 28). In an advanced society, people do not use violence to discuss an issue, they use reasons and logic to solve problems. However, Mr. Hyde is not a part of the modern world but having more resemblance to the people in the past who are not fully evolved and tend to be dominated by anger and violence. He usually appeared in the dark night of London, enjoyed degrading pleasures that no gentlemen would ever do without taking into consideration his reputation. In addition, the coming back of the past is most clearly demonstrated in the Phantom Coach. Edwards (Edwards 1864, p. 7) suggests that the existence of brutal past in the modern society through the ghosts with fiery unnatural lustre eyes, livid face and bloodless lips. They suggest the return of the past in the civilised world. In the period when people no longer believe in supernatura l stories, witnessing the corpses carriage is the most obvious evidence for James Murray about the frightening past remaining in the civilised world. They represent the terror and fright existing at dark night. The past does not mean that it has entirely extinct, it shows up when people least expect it. Behind the fanciness of the nineteenth century remaining the decaying past that is hiding in the night and waiting to come back unexpectedly.[G13] It is the idea of degeneration that fosters the existence of the savage past in the developing society. When the society is on its way to be more developed, human behaviour, on the other hand, tends to degrade. Societal and economic advancement brings lots of benefits to the world but at the same time, it restricts humans enjoyment. Stevenson describes Dr. Jekyll[G14] as a person who concealed my pleasures (Stevenson 1886, p. 73) or had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved day-dream (Stevenson 1886, p. 75). He desires to freely enjoy his life without being restrained by the rules, nonetheless, he also wishes to keep his good name as an honourable doctor who is highly respected in the society. The stress from his responsibility and fame has put a strain on Dr. Jekyll to find a way out to [G15]have a desire for himself[G16] without negatively affecting his social status. Therefore, it leads him to create Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately, Mr. Hyde is the downgrade version of human in tha t period from his appearance to behaviour. Contrary to Dr. Jekyll who is described as a tall, fine build of a man ([G17]Stevenson 1886, p. 53), Mr. Hyde was more of a dwarf (Stevenson 1886, p. 53). Furthermore, his inhumane behaviours such as murdering the member of Parliament suggest that Mr. Hyde represents the idea of moral degeneration at the time. He not only arouses a sense of dissipation but his cruel personality also suggests that he is a brutal criminal belonging to the lower class. However, in fact, Mr. Hyde is actually a [G18]moneyed gentleman as what Mr. Enfield calls him (Stevenson 1886, p. 6). He belongs to the same class as Dr. Jekyll [G19]but he is a gentleman representing moral degeneration. Mr. Hyde[G20] is not the only symbol of degeneration; Dr. Jekyll[G21] is as well an example. Stevenson reveals that The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll (Stevenson 1886, p. 93). His separation from his friends, colleagues and his association with a cruel person like Mr. Hyde risks his good reputation[G22]. He also led a downward path of life both physically and morally as he isolated himself from the outside world and lived in the fear of his secret. Dr. Jekyll himself[G23] became degenerating from a respectable gentleman to a fearful person controlled by the savagery of his other personality. In conclusion, taking into consideration the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and the short story The Phantom Coach by Amelia Edwards, it can be seen that gothic fictions demonstrate that within the modern present, the sinister past still lingers in the society and that both of them overlap each other since not one of them is completely overshadow the other. Bibliography Edwards, A. B 1864, The Phantom Coach, Retrieved September 13, 2017 from  http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/PhanCoac.shtml Stevenson, R.L 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[G24][G25], Retrieved 10 January 2016  from http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/The-Strange-Case-of-Dr- Jekyll.pdf

Ernest Hemingway and Hollywood Essay example -- Biography Biographies

Hemingway and Hollywood "I try, when I'm writing a screenplay from somebody's original work, to be as faithful to it as I can be, within the limitations of a screenplay and remembering that the novel medium and the screen medium are entirely different" -Screenwriter, Casey Robinson, (Laurence 12). Hollywood attempted twice, but it still could not produce a film adaptation of A Farewell to Arms that Hemingway considered to do literary justice to his classic novel. The first effort was in 1932 when Paramount producer Frank Borzage used ridiculous publicity stunts to lure audiences, such as sending letters to women stamped REJECTED BY CENSORS. They read: Dear Madam: War-time! Suppose you were alone in a dark, drab, Swiss hotel room! In a few weeks you were to become a mother-and the man you loved was miles away-on the shell-torn Italian front. You write letter after letter to him-twenty one of them-and they are all returned stamped REJECTED BY CENSOR: This is just one of the dramatic situations in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, which comes to the _____ Theater on ___ (date). As you read in the novel, you'll see A Farewell to Arms on the screen! (Laurence 42-3). This was just one of the many shameless ploys Hollywood used over the years to exploit the celebrity status of the revered author; however "the effectiveness of such a publicity piece depended on the recipient's not having read the book-else they would recognize that no such situation exists in the novel" (43). Studios knew what they had to do get the ratings they sought; it was gratifying for the public "to believe that going to a movie was as good as reading a book" (43). By the time devoted Hemingway readers saw the film ... ... Arms he once said "(they did not ) also get the right to my sanction of the picture version" (Laurence 44). Despite the sum of money he made, Hemingway suggested "that the best way for a writer to deal with Hollywood was to meet the producers at the California state line: 'You throw them your book, they throw you the money. Then you jump into your car and drive like hell back the way you came" (Oliver "A Hemingway Retrospective") Works Cited: Laurence, Frank. Hemingway and the Movies. Jackson: University Press, 1981. Oliver, Charles ed. A Moving Picture Feast: The Filmgoers Hemingway. New York: Praeger 1989. Oliver, Charles. "A Hemingway Retrospective: Hemingway and Hollywood." http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/books/1999/hemingway/stories/hollywood/ http://mason-west.com/Hemingway/films.php: Films based on the works of Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway and Hollywood Essay example -- Biography Biographies Hemingway and Hollywood "I try, when I'm writing a screenplay from somebody's original work, to be as faithful to it as I can be, within the limitations of a screenplay and remembering that the novel medium and the screen medium are entirely different" -Screenwriter, Casey Robinson, (Laurence 12). Hollywood attempted twice, but it still could not produce a film adaptation of A Farewell to Arms that Hemingway considered to do literary justice to his classic novel. The first effort was in 1932 when Paramount producer Frank Borzage used ridiculous publicity stunts to lure audiences, such as sending letters to women stamped REJECTED BY CENSORS. They read: Dear Madam: War-time! Suppose you were alone in a dark, drab, Swiss hotel room! In a few weeks you were to become a mother-and the man you loved was miles away-on the shell-torn Italian front. You write letter after letter to him-twenty one of them-and they are all returned stamped REJECTED BY CENSOR: This is just one of the dramatic situations in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, which comes to the _____ Theater on ___ (date). As you read in the novel, you'll see A Farewell to Arms on the screen! (Laurence 42-3). This was just one of the many shameless ploys Hollywood used over the years to exploit the celebrity status of the revered author; however "the effectiveness of such a publicity piece depended on the recipient's not having read the book-else they would recognize that no such situation exists in the novel" (43). Studios knew what they had to do get the ratings they sought; it was gratifying for the public "to believe that going to a movie was as good as reading a book" (43). By the time devoted Hemingway readers saw the film ... ... Arms he once said "(they did not ) also get the right to my sanction of the picture version" (Laurence 44). Despite the sum of money he made, Hemingway suggested "that the best way for a writer to deal with Hollywood was to meet the producers at the California state line: 'You throw them your book, they throw you the money. Then you jump into your car and drive like hell back the way you came" (Oliver "A Hemingway Retrospective") Works Cited: Laurence, Frank. Hemingway and the Movies. Jackson: University Press, 1981. Oliver, Charles ed. A Moving Picture Feast: The Filmgoers Hemingway. New York: Praeger 1989. Oliver, Charles. "A Hemingway Retrospective: Hemingway and Hollywood." http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/books/1999/hemingway/stories/hollywood/ http://mason-west.com/Hemingway/films.php: Films based on the works of Ernest Hemingway.

Miguel Street Essay

Discuss the representation of man and manhood in the 2 short stories of Miguel Street. On Miguel Street, the representation of man and manhood can be seen negatively in these two short stories† â€Å"Bogart† and â€Å"A thing without a name†. Where as a man’s manhood is considered strong if certain characteristics such as aggression, evading the law and their present living circumstances. The story about Bogart illustrates where his manhood being threaten where as Bogart is unable to father a child by his Tunapuna wife so he finds a means to escape this difficulty. He goes elsewhere, run a â€Å"high-class† brothel, meets another woman and successfully impregnates. Once he has achieved his goal of proving his virility, he may return to Miguel Street although he returns as a bigamist as Hat would say â€Å"To be a man, among we man†. He would now be seen as a high standing man of the community, playing with the surrounding children and giving them parties, which is a vastly different from the life he once had by pretending to be a tailor but now is seen The main character in â€Å"A thing without a name â€Å" Popo is a carpenter by profession but he is not considered a man among his peers as his wife was the main breadwinner of the family which did not bothered him as he would continue to make â€Å"a thing without a name†. This however changed when Popo wife left him for another man, it is then that he was accepted as â€Å"one of the gang â€Å"within Miguel Street, as they could related to his pain and heart ache. His man hood was however bruised by the separation of his wife , so he would then retaliate by fighting the other man and going to prison, which eventually made him an hero on Miguel street.

Postpartum Psychosis in the Yellow Wallpaper - 1290 Words

Post-Partum Psychosis and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman’s descent into madness as a result of postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is a condition that affects between one and two of every thousand live births. The condition of postpartum psychosis usually begins within two weeks of giving birth and sometimes within a matter of days. (â€Å"Depression†, 2009) Symptoms of postpartum psychosis are â€Å"delusions or strange beliefs, hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there), feeling very irritated, decreased need or inability to sleep, paranoia, rapid mood swings and difficulty communicating at times†. (â€Å"Postpartum Psychosis†, 2009) The†¦show more content†¦This is not the last time that John’s views will be commented upon with some distain by the narrator. While the narrator recognizes the great care with which her husband is treating her she seems to constantly feel that she is being ungrateful. She calls herself out in her journal for being a â€Å"comparative burden† (Gilman) The room in which the narrator resides has a sturdy bed that is nailed to the floor. The narrator notes that there are bars on the windows and rings hooked into the wall. She wrongly assumes that this room was used as a nursery or gymnasium by the previous owners. As the reader, we are able to instill our own thoughts that this room was in fact built to house someone with a mental disorder. This begs the question of what the house really is, to contain such a room away from decent society. From the beginning of their tenure in the summer home, the narrator’s fixation on the wallpaper in her quarters is ever present. She states that it is the worst paper she had ever seen. It is dull with a vague pattern that follows no rules of how it is l aid out. 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