Themes in Gothic Literature - term paper [Archive]

mono

11-29-2009, 05:03 PM

The handout I'm using is P. B. Shelley's poem Hymn to Intellectual Beauty (below). I am focusing on its theme of Beauty/Spirit/Goodness being so fleeting, and how mankind pursues it, yet struggles and is taken over by evil, darkness, melancholy, etc.- but I'm not sure if I have identified all possibilities for themes in the poem, so would love some feedback on that.
Good analysis of the theme, and I must mention your bravery in attempting Shelley - not quite the easiest of the Romantic poets. I agree that a common theme in this particular poem involves beauty, spirit, and goodness, and humankind's pursuit for them, often appearing synonymously and simultaneously, but not entirely that it always "struggles," dominated by evil, darkness, and melancholy. Shelley writes that such darker, evil attributes, which persist among unquiet minds of superstition, exist amid "vain endeavors," leading one to doubt; these lead one to a "dark reality." The speaker of the poem writes of the "immortal and omnipotent," individual spirit seeming the most accurate pursuer of truth and intellect, yet this spirit gets clouded, so to speak, by impediments such as age (stanza 5), environment (the metaphors of season and time of day in stanza 7), and the "[f]rail spells" of over-attempts to pursue truth and intellect (stanza 3).

Themes in literature sometimes confuse me - not sure how to identify them correctly (and literature can be interpreted so many ways!). Wondering if there there other themes in this poem, or other elements besides theme, that would work for this assignment?
Though the Romantics, such as Shelley, appeared somewhat later in the Gothic literature genre, I agree with you that this poem could easily fit under such a category with its darker themes. The common attributes of horror and terror, such as in Frankenstein or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, comes more into appearance in "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" by the horror and terror of ignorance, superstition, death, and their accidental, unintended pursuits - the type of idea that "everybody thinks they're right," n'est pas? Shelley takes a much more cerebral than material stance to consider this a Gothic text, in comparison to a "Modern Prometheus."

Here are the texts I must choose THREE from:
The Castle of Otranto - Walpole; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge; Jane Eyre - Bronte; Frankenstein - Shelley; and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Stevenson.

So far, I'm looking at Mariner, Jekyll and Hyde, and Frankenstein. I think they all contain main characters who struggle between "darkness" and light/knowledge (wondering also for better ways to express "darkness?"). My conclusion (thesis) about Gothic Lit is that it takes the reader into the darker sides of our natures to learn about ourselves. Am I on the right track?

I don't want anyone to do my paper for me, but am hoping for suggestions or ideas on what you see might connects these works to Shelley's poem. If you're familiar with any of them, especially Mariner, Jekyll and Hyde, and Frankenstein, please share with me! I’m working on this all weekend, and need feedback on this soon! It's due this week. Sorry so long-winded. All suggestions welcome! Thanks!
Comparing Shelley's poem with these works sounds quite adequate, justified, and an admirable pursuit, but selections from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre sound somewhat tempting, too, especially the discovery of Mr. Rochester's mentally unstable wife - a darker, hidden, somewhat Freudian truth brought to light and awareness - just an idea.