The gothic...

so last lesson we talked about the different elements of the gothic - castles, nighttime, blood, remote settings, the past, etc. I was wondering whether people were scared of those things before people started writing about them, or whether actually gothic novels were the cause of certain fears. For example, did people always consider castles to be scary places, or was it only after the Castle of Otranto was published that they became places to fear? I googled it and found that a lot of our fears do actually originate from books. Although some gothic elements derive from fears that all humans have, e.g apparently everyone to some extent is wary of the dark due to an innate fear of the unknown, a lot of the things we are scared of come from gothic novels. Castles and remote places such as moors are considered to be scary, 'haunted' places because of the stories that surround them, rather than because of the characteristics of the places themselves. So, if the first gothic novel had been set in a library, we might today consider libraries to be scary places. crazy times.

the end

hi

Today's lesson:

Not sure what my opinion on Dr Faustus is yet. I feel a bit sorry for him as the good angel wont let him practice magic, and I've always wanted to be a wizard too so I can understand his dilemma. Plus, I'm sure most people would secretly like to rule the world and only don't because they're not clever enough, so Dr F is really only doing what a lot of people in his position would do. I think we should give Dr F a break, and, as the Chorus says, "make patient judgements" and not be too hasty in calling him crazy or arrogant.

I also quite like the way Marlowe uses apostrophes instead of 'e's in his words, for example: "grac'd" and "esteem'd". I think I might start doing that in my essays.

So anyway I really enjoy'd today's lesson, and thanks for the cake Mr F, it was really nice

Abi

also, just noticed that the character of Dr Faustus is really similar to Dr Frankenstein's character.. I think Mary Shelley maybe read Dr Faustus before writing Frankenstein