英语专业毕业论文范文2(3)

I. Origin and Development of Gothic Novels

The word ―Goth,‖ coming from the name of an ancient tribe in Europe, and its derivative form ―Gothic,‖ which reminds people of mysticism, terror, and dark, were frequently used to describe medieval things in the 18th century. According to a highly-popular dictionary, the word ―Gothic‖ means

a kind of architecture built in the style that was popular in Western Europe from the 12th century to the 16th centuries, and which has pointed arches, windows, and tall thin pillars and a novel written in the style popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, which described romantic adventures in mysterious or frightening surroundings. (Hornby 883) 注意引语段格式

Now it generally refers to a genre of literature, which is ―full of depicts of murders and supernatural things to thrill readers‖ (Han 36), combines both horror and romance and ―deals with the strange, mysterious, and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in readers‖ (Zhao 283).

From the above quotes, it is known that some basic elements in Gothic novels include: setting in a castle, which often contains secret passages and staircases, dark or hidden rooms; an atmosphere of mystery and suspense that arouses fear and terror; supernatural events, such as ghosts or unknown giants coming to human life; high and overwrought emotion, like anger, sorrow, especially terror from which the characters suffer; heroine in distress, which appeals to the sympathy of the readers; and romance,

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such as powerful love between the heroine and the hero.

The first Gothic novel is The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story, written by the English author Horace Walpole. The work is remarkable because it is the first attempt to find ―a tale of amusing fiction upon the basis of the ancient romance of chivalry‖ (Walter 115) and it ―start[s] a fashion and set[s] an example for other Gothic novelists‖ (Zhang 5). In addition, the novel was ―an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern‖ (Horace 19). Horace Walpole opens the door of Gothic novels and a lot of other Gothic novelists follow suit. Among them, Ann Radcliff and Mathew Gregory Lewis are two most famous ones for their respective work The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Monk. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), through which Ann Radcliff made the Gothic novel socially acceptable, was an unparalleled success at that time, and was also frequently referred to by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. In the mid-1790s the Gothic novel reaches its summit, and David Punder comments, probably an exaggeration, that ―this body of fiction may well have established the popularity of the novel-form‖ (David 61). 注意文内引文规范。每个文献须在文末参考书目中出现。

Besides its popularity among the public, the Gothic novel has a notorious fame for a long time and has been criticized as crude by many critics. In the preface of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth commented on Gothic novels as:

The invaluable works of … Shakespeare and Milton are driven into neglect by frantic novels, sickly and stupid German Tragedies, and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse. (Wordsworth and Coleridge 248-249) In spite of criticism from many literary figures, Gothic novels still attracted a lot of readers and the Gothic influence was amazingly continuing. ―It has been estimated that the reading population of Britain increased from one and a half million in 1780 to between seven and eight million by 1830‖ (Lin 24), and ―Gothic novels have exerted significant influence on the literature of later generations and on every European literature. They have exerted great effect on the American literature, Hawthorn and Allen Poe in particular‖ (Zhao 283). It is not so hard for us to find out that many works of great literary celebrities bear Gothic elements. In the Romantic period, some famous

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works are: Percy Bysshe Shelley‘s first published work, Zastrozzi (1810), was publicly-known as a Gothic novel; Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus (1818); Coleridge‘s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) and Christabel (1816); Keats‘ La Belle Dame sans Merci (1819) and Isabella (1820); and The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori. Charlotte Bront?‘s Jane Eyre (1847) and Emily Bront?‘s Wuthering Heights (1847) are also acknowledged as Gothic novels as well as Elizabeth Gaskell‘s tales ―The Doom of the Griffiths‖ (1858), ―Lois the Witch‖ (1861), and ―The Grey Woman‖ (1861). Charles Dickens is another mainstream writers heavily influenced by Gothic novels. In his great works, such as Oliver Twist (1837-8), Bleak House (1854), Great Expectations (1861) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), we can easily feel the Gothic mood and themes. Edgar Allan Poe was a prominent and innovative re-interpreter of Gothic literature in the 19th century American literature, with his well-known works as The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), ―The Black Cat‖ (1843), and ―The Murders in the Rue Morgue‖ (1841). II. Austen’s Attitude towards Gothic Novels

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