19th century was a period of social and historical change. It was a time of rapid change due to industrialization.
After the Industrial Revolution the aristocracy declined and middle classes became more powerful.
Agriculture declined and industry emerged.
Merchants, financers and manufacturers formed the upper middle class.
Middle class was the link between aristocracy and lower classes. They were the dominant force who made Money by commerce and industry.
Aristocrats’ social power continued longer than their political and financial power.
During the first half of the century most popular fiction grew out of the traditions of romance and Romanticism.
The influence of the Romantic movement was most apparent in the late 18th century Gothic novel.
In the first three decades of the 19th century romance and gothic were the main sub-genres.
Romanticism was predominant at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.
Novels in the 18th and 19th centuries were written largely for a female audience. So there was a necessity to conform to a moral code. Conventions were important. Religious and social morality and conformity had a formative influence on the novels. So in the end virtues would be rewarded and vices punished.
Conflict between passion and reason is a romantic element as in Jane Eyre.
Gothic Elements Gloomy atmosphere Supernatural phenomena Mystery and terror
Suffering in the hands of a villain Superstitions
Revenge İd
Natural images Murder
Desolate landscapes Dark forests
Ruined castles Feudal halls Winding stairways Curses
Gothic is dark romanticism attempting to disturb or unsettle the orderly, civilized course of society.
Gothic Works deal with the dark side of humanity or unveil socio-cultural anxiety.
Tales of mystery and horror intended to chill the spine and curdle the blood.
In gothic fiction interiors are linked with danger. Threats come from within the house, within the family and within the self.
Gothic literature plunges its characters into mystery, torment and fear in order to pose disturbing questions to our familiar and comfortable ideas of humanity, society and the cosmos.
The uncertainties and contradictions of the psyche.