Friday, June 26, 2020
Transformation and Transgression in Gothic Literature Analyzing Stoker and Carter - Literature Essay Samples
The Gothic is undeniably intertwined with transformative states, both literally, such as with the presentation of supernatural beings that lie between life and death, and also thematically, with the idea of transitional time periods and settings. One of the great contradictions of Gothic literature is how, while transformations are integral to the genre, there remains a divide between novels that use this to portray a transgressive message, and others that promote conformist morals. This contradiction becomes even more apparent when comparing Angela Carterââ¬â¢s 20th century The Bloody Chamber with Bram Stokerââ¬â¢s 19th Century work Dracula, as while both present transformations, the former uses this as a positive force whereas the latter can be viewed as cautionary and moralistic. Both Carter and Stoker combine the gothic trope of the ââ¬Ëabhumanââ¬â¢ with the idea of transformation to convey wildly different ideas on sexuality and gender. Dracula is perhaps most famous for its eponymous vampire, who acts as the main antagonist of the novel. The vampire itself can be seen as a being that is inherently transformative, anthropomorphic on the whole but with uncanny corpse-like differences such as ââ¬Å"sharp, protruding teethâ⬠and ââ¬Å"pallidâ⬠complexions. Yet what makes the Victorian vampire so distinct ââ¬â in opposition to the original folklore is its sensuality and ââ¬Å"voluptuousnessâ⬠, shown also through the vampire women and mid-way through the novel with the vampirisation of protagonist Lucy. Lucyââ¬â¢s literal transformation from an innocent into a ââ¬Å"bloodstained, voluptuousâ⬠creature with a complexion that resembles ââ¬Å"Medusaââ¬â¢s snakesâ⬠, epitomises the role of the vampire in Stokerââ¬â¢s novel. Earlier gothic novels often focused on individual vampires, such as Polidoriââ¬â¢s the ââ¬ËVampyreââ¬â¢, and most significantly the lesbian vampire of Carmilla, from which Stoker bo rrowed heavily. However, what makes Stokerââ¬â¢s vampires distinct is not the threat of a Dracula alone, but the threat of mass transformation ââ¬â an anxiety that is undeniably intertwined with female sexuality. Even before her transformation Lucy showed signs of breaking Victorian sexual taboos, expressing a desire for polygamy when she proclaims ââ¬Å"why canââ¬â¢t a girl marry three menâ⬠. Thus her transformation and extermination by her fiancà © who drives a phallic stake ââ¬Å"deeper and deeperâ⬠into her can be read as a policing of female sexual expression, and some modern critics have even interpreted the sequence as a euphemized form of corrective rape. In contrast, the transformation of Carterââ¬â¢s protagonist in The Tigerââ¬â¢s Bride can be read as an absolute rejection of traditional sexual morals. The protagonist of the story learns that to defy the patriarchal system ââ¬â expressed through her father who ââ¬Å"lost me (her) to the be ast at cardsâ⬠ââ¬â ââ¬Å"the lamb must learn to run with the tigersâ⬠. Carter uses the tiger and lion as representations of men and women, and in the climax of the novel this biblical imagery becomes literal. In an almost magical realist manner the narrators skin is licked off by the beast, revealing a ââ¬Å"nascent patina of shining hairsâ⬠. It is possible to view this as a Sadian approach to morality, with Carter appropriating the traditional Beauty and the Beast story to one where beauty becomes beast and escapes her sacrificial role as lamb or as Carter calls it ââ¬Å"existing in the passive senseâ⬠. From a sex-positive feminist perspective, Carter, unlike Stoker, uses the gothic trope of transformation from human to abhuman to embrace female sexuality as a method of overcoming a system of oppression. In her novel The Sadian Woman she claims ââ¬Å"it is eat or be eatenâ⬠, and the transformation of the Tigerââ¬â¢s bride is perhaps best read as a fictionalized version of this view. In the context of the 1970s this approach was radical, as even feminist opinion was divided upon Carterââ¬â¢s arguably sympathetic take on the original sadist Marquis de Sade. Therefore, unlike in Dracula, transformation is intentionally transgressive. Another way both authors convey a sense of transformation through structure and perspective. Stoker uses the form of an epistolary novel to tell his story, constantly shifting perspectives to provide the reader with subjective accounts of the events. This technique is also used in Mary Shelleyââ¬â¢s Frankenstein to similar effect, inducing a sense of verisimilitude, a common technique in gothic literature to give the story a sense of realism. Carter also uses structure to evoke transformation. Her stories can be seen as the literary equivalent of a ââ¬Å"Chinese boxâ⬠, as while they appear self-contained, some critics such as Sarah Gamble argue that taken together her narrators and protagonists become indistinguishable from one another. Therefore, it is no surprise that The Erl King, which acts as the midpoint, has a structure which reflects its transitional place in the collection; the tense goes from ââ¬Å"the woods encloseâ⬠to ââ¬Å"Erl King will do you grievous harm in the spaceâ⬠to ââ¬Å"I walked through the woodâ⬠in a space of a few paragraphs. Through constantly shifting perspective and tense, Carter evokes a sense of transformation not only in her story but in the language itself. This is further supported by the oxymorons that pervade the piece, such as ââ¬Å"grow enormously smallâ⬠, that reflect the narratorââ¬â¢s contradictory feelings of repulsion and attraction to the Erl King. It is impossible to ignore setting when addressing Gothic transformations in Stoker and Carterââ¬â¢s work. Dracula begins in pre industrialised Transylvania, in a ââ¬Å"cornucopiaâ⬠where ââ¬Å"all superstitions in the world combineâ ⬠. Stokerââ¬â¢s description of Transylvania distinguishes it as a world apart from the modernity of Victorian London, the former remaining a feudal system and the latter now dominated by the bourgeois middle classes. The clashing of the two settings and time periods is a typical feature of the gothic, and the genre has been read by critics as an expression of the anxieties of the demolition of the established order through social change. Indeed, the word ââ¬Å"gothicâ⬠itself is derived from the original Goths who contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. Dracula represents the fin-de-sià ¨cle strain of this anxiety, with the turn of century fears of declining morals feeding into much literature. For example Wildeââ¬â¢s ââ¬â a friend of Stoker ââ¬â The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the decadence movement that surrounded it. Moreover, some postcolonial critics have linked the fear of the ââ¬Å"vampirisationâ⬠of London not only in a sexual light, but a lso as a representation of the collective unconscious: an invasion paranoia caused by Britainââ¬â¢s declining empire and world presence. Either way transformation is presented in a negative light.In contrast, transformation of the established order is presented positively in Carterââ¬â¢s work The Lady of the House of Love. The setting of this story is also that of a gothic world which is externalized in the castle setting, and internalized in the female vampire who herself is ââ¬Å"a cave full of echoesâ⬠¦ a system of repetitionsâ⬠¦ a closed circuit.â⬠Choosing to set her novel on the brink of the First World War, Carter possesses the benefit of 20th century hindsight that Stoker did not have. In the story, the lady of the house represents the last vestige of a patriarchal and mystical system that is on the brink of collapse. Carterââ¬â¢s final breaking of the repetitious lifestyle of the lady of the house caused by the ââ¬Å"rationalâ⬠solider, can be r ead as supporting social transformation as opposed to Stokerââ¬â¢s fin-de-sià ¨cle anxieties towards it.It is clear that transformation pervades the Gothic, as evidenced in The Bloody Chamber and Dracula, narratives in which transformation is evidenced both literally in the characters and settings and implicitly in the structure and subtext. However, what truly distinguishes the novels is how the authors chose to represent this transformation. While Stoker uses the concept to appeal to the contemporary fears of the Victorian reader, using literal transformation to reflect cultural changes such as the changing status of women and the decline of British imperialism, Carter uses it for an opposing motive. The Bloody Chamber can almost be read as a manifesto of sorts, which uses Gothic tropes to highlight the need and importance of transformations within society ââ¬â particularly towards a feminist goal of female empowerment as opposed to repression. Thus, despite writing almost a century apart, Carter and Stoker represent one of the greatest paradoxes of Gothic literature, highlighting how on the one hand it can be deeply moralistic and on the other completely transgressive.
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