SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...
SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...
SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...
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119<br />
CHAPTER IV<br />
‘THEIR DARKEST AND MOST THREATENING FORM’:<br />
INCEST AND THE GOTHIC<br />
As the moon was now at its height, [Manfred] read in the countenances of this unhappy<br />
company the event he dreaded. What! is she dead? cried he in wild confusion—A clap of<br />
thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations; the earth rocked, and the clank<br />
of more than mortal armour was heard behind. Frederic and Jerome thought the last day<br />
was at hand. <strong>The</strong> latter, forcing <strong>The</strong>odore along with them, rushed into the court. <strong>The</strong><br />
moment <strong>The</strong>odore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred were thrown down<br />
with a mighty force, and the form of Alonso, dilated to an immense magnitude, appeared<br />
in the centre of the ruins. Behold in <strong>The</strong>odore, the true heir of Alfonso! said the vision:<br />
and having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of thunder, it ascended<br />
solemnly toward heaven. . . (Castle of Otranto 112-3)<br />
Threats to virtuous young ladies; confused identities; supernatural visions; storms<br />
mimicking human passions; wavering moonlight; collapsing castle walls; and perverted,<br />
incestuous sexual menace: all hallmarks of the new literary form arising in England in the<br />
mid-eighteenth century. <strong>The</strong> conventions which began to be associated with Gothic<br />
literature of flawed, deluded, and often mad characters; elevated, archaic language; and<br />
emotional instability seem to belong to a wild, disordered, and barbaric past. <strong>The</strong> past<br />
encroached, in many Gothic tales, on modern life that was supposedly based on<br />
philosophical and scientific advancements rather than tradition or superstition.<br />
Though “Gothic” began to be applied to literature with certain characteristics and<br />
conventions, it cannot be precisely defined. It crosses boundaries both literary and social